Module Catalogue 2024/25

BMN2000 : Essential Biomedical Research Skills

BMN2000 : Essential Biomedical Research Skills

  • Offered for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Dr Pamela Knight
  • Lecturer: Mr Kok Lun Pang, Dr Moe Kyaw Thu, Dr Nadine Nograles, Ms Steffi Tan Shih May
  • Owning School: Biomedical, Nutritional and Sports Scien
  • Teaching Location: Malaysia
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 1 Credit Value: 20
ECTS Credits: 10.0
European Credit Transfer System
Pre-requisite

Modules you must have done previously to study this module

Pre Requisite Comment

BMN1004/BMN1008 Both stage 1 practical skills modules provide the basic laboratory skills upon which this module develops a higher level of competence.

Co-Requisite

Modules you need to take at the same time

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module provides an integrated approach to modern molecular biology and aims to give the student an understanding of technique principles via lectures and then through laboratory work a basic level of competence in performing some of the key techniques and interpretation of the results. This includes an ability to utilise a range of informatics, bioinformatics and statistical software. The module will also provide an awareness and understanding of health and safety and ethics impacting on scientific research.

Outline Of Syllabus

The syllabus for this module can be considered under four interrelated strands;

• Strand A: Practical - Molecular biology techniques covered in practical laboratory classes and other online supporting material are; DNA (plasmid) isolation/purification, heat shock transformation of E.Coli, PCR, agarose gel electrophoresis, restriction enzyme digest, SDS-PAGE, Western Blotting / immunoprobing and ELISA.

• Strand B: Informatics - The complexity of molecular biology and vast amount of data generated means that
students need a clear understanding of how technologies can be used to search for, interrogate and analyse
information and data effectively. A range of informatics tools, resources and databases will be introduced.

• Strand C: Ethics - Much of the scientific research introduces a number of ethical dilemmas and questions that
students (as scientists) must be aware of and consider throughout their career. A series of
lectures will examine the concepts of ethical reasoning and extend this to animal and human
research and clinical trials.

• Strand D: Statistics - The analysis of data requires the application of statistics, including basic data
analysis, probability (including Hardy-Weinberg equation), normal distribution, inference, T-Test,
correlation and regression.

Learning Outcomes

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of the module the student will be able to;

K1 Relate theoretical knowledge of molecular techniques to practical performance and
interpretation of results.

K2 Describe the principles of basic statistical methods.

K3 Discuss ethical dilemmas in biomedical research and provide a suitable argument to
support their opinion.

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of the module the student will be able to;

S1 Perform commonly used molecular techniques at a basic level of competence.

S2 Analyse basic molecular data.

S3 Use a range of informatics software to find, retrieve and extract meaningful
information from various on-line systems.

S4 Identify good academic practice.

S5 Use a commonly available software package to perform basic statistical analysis and
interpret the data.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture251:0025:00In person lectures to include 4 post-practical seminars and a SAQ Q&A session
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture51:005:00In person lectures (5 statistics)
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesLecture81:008:00In person. Lectures on molecular biology techniques
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesPractical16:006:00In person - Practical 3: ELISA
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesPractical15:005:00In person - Practical 2: Evaluation of expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesPractical26:0012:00In person - Practical 1a & 1b: Agarose gel electrophoresis and mini prep
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesPractical12:002:00In person - Lab induction: lab H&S, basic technique revision
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching11:001:00In person - Ethics Clinical Trials debate; tasks/issues to be discussed
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching13:003:00In person - Informatics seminar/workshop support in computer clusters
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesSmall group teaching11:001:00In person seminar on essay writing
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesWorkshops11:001:00In person revision/exam support
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesWorkshops51:005:00Online Statistics IT workshops, support will be available in the IT clusters
Guided Independent StudyIndependent study1261:00126:00Writing up lecture notes, reviewing resources, revision and general reading
Total200:00
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The didactic lecture is still the most efficient means of providing knowledge of method principles (K1, K2) and concepts in ethics (K3).

Practical strand A:
Basic experience and practical competence in the core molecular techniques is important to all students irrespective of the degree programme (S1). Emphasis will be made on the link between techniques by investigating a putative gene that has sequence similarity to other proteins involved in transmembrane transport (K1). The techniques progress from isolation of genetic material, engineering genes into plasmids and transformation of organisms to produce the protein product. Characterisation of the protein, expression, identification and quantification follow (S2).

Informatics strand B:
Although frequently referred to as bioinformatics, the module does look at wider informatics (S3). BLAST searching and interpretation of results on several commonly used bioinformatics websites provides students with sufficient knowledge to use the tools without becoming bioinformaticians. The need to revisit the avoidance of plagiarism is timely at this point as students start to write more essays and gain a better understanding of scientific writing (S4). ‘Cloud-based’ documents and databases are increasingly popular and will be used to handle some of the data and link the laboratory practical and informatics strands. Students will have the ability to access a formative interactive on-line practical within a scheduled workshop that they can perform as many times as they wish individually or as a study group prior to the on-line assessment. Drop-in workshops will be available for students who are struggling with any aspect of this practical.

Ethics strand C:
Ethics surrounding scientific research influences all areas of science and is therefore important to all degree programmes (K3). Lectures provide the most efficient means of providing information about ethics. This is supported by a seminar session to facilitate interactive debate and will support students approach to the assessment.

Statistics strand D:
A close integration between didactic lectures and practical sessions in an IT cluster allow students to immediately apply theoretical knowledge. Each week students get a 1 hr lecture on one aspect of numerical data analysis (K2) followed by a 1 hr practical class in which commercially available statistical software will be used (S5). The sequence of topics develops an appreciation of statistics and an introductory competence in their use.

Reading Lists

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Exams
Description Length Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Digital Examination901A40In person Inspera Invigilated: Quiz Format questions/data interpretation/graphical. Question weighting 100% strand A, max 50 questions.
Exam Pairings
Module Code Module Title Semester Comment
Essential Biomedical Research Skills1Sister module delivered at NuNewcastle. To be timetable at 9:30 am and not on a Friday.
Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Portfolio1M60In-course:20% statistics,20% informatics (via Canvas), 20% ethics (timed 1hr via Canvas, max 10 SAQs)
Formative Assessments

Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.

Description Semester When Set Comment
Practical/lab report1MEach practical has an associated formative assessment, electronic feedback will be provided.
Essay1MFormative invigilated timed (45 minutes) essay (hand written)
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Practical strand A (Total 40%: Exam)
On practical techniques and laboratory practicals 1, 2, supplementary practical and 3. On-line and automatically marked worksheets comprising mainly quiz format style questions will be used to provide feedback and self-evaluation of student's understanding of the laboratory practicals. The material taught in this strand will also be examined as part of Written Examination 1 (see Assessment tables).

Informatics strand B (Total 20%: Coursework)
The informatics strand consists of the Informatics lectures, along with the Informatics training session. Assessment consists of a online computer assessment (short answer questions) which will test an individual student’s ability to find and interpret informatics data. The format will be almost identical to that undertaken as the formative informatics on-line practical.

Ethics strand C (Total 20%: Coursework)
The ethics strand consists of the seven ethics lectures, the SAQ-based seminar and Q&A will help prepare students for this question format, the clinical trials seminar - will allow group discussion of the issues raised in the scenario. This strand will be assessed by a written assignment (digital mid semester assessment up to 10 SAQs). The assignment will provide students with the opportunity to consider ethics relating to the biosciences and help consolidate their understanding.

Statistics strand D (Total 20%: Coursework)
The statistics strand consists of 5 lectures (pre-recorded) and 5 in person sessions as outlined in the Teaching Activities table. The assessment consists of written worksheets and on-line assessment (short answer questions). A unique set of data for each student generated from their student ID number is used to test the student’s ability to apply appropriate statistical methods and interpret the results (NUMBASs will be used). The online assessment is able to provide feedback and marks quickly and efficiently.


In order to pass the core BMN2000 module candidates must achieve an overall module mark of at least 40% as well as attending practicals in order to meet the learning outcomes. At least 3 out of the 4 scheduled labs must be attended. If a student is absent for more than 1 of the labs then the student must complete an additional practical skills session in order to ensure the learning outcomes are met and pass the core module.

Timetable

Past Exam Papers

General Notes

N/A

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