BMS1062: MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

30% from all labs
10% mid-sem
60% end of semester exam

Overall impression and lecture content: BMS1062 has got to be the hands-down best 1st year BMS unit. All the lecturers were extremely knowledgeable and friendly, especially Fasseli, Terry and Robyn who held prof in the park sessions to help students with additional lecture content queries. I found that all lectures were filled with interesting content and we felt supported all the way. The unit was pretty similar to VCE biology, with the exception of DNA repair which is one of the harder modules for me. What brings an already perfect unit to 10/5 would the time when Robyn brought in her mentor Jacques Miller to deliver half a lecture on immunology. He’s famous for discovering the function of the thymus and T/B lymphocytes and we just listened in awe of his presence.

Labs: All of the TAs were really nice, helpful and knowledgeable. My TA (Tanvir) was nice enough to check our work before we submit it to ensure that we will get a mark we’re happy about, but I heard other groups had harsh and rude TAs too. You’ll be doing a lot of gel electrophoresis in the labs, so as many others have noted it gets a bit repetitive. In a gel lab we even got to test our own DNA for the ACE gene to see if we’re genetically athletic or not. Needless to say, given I’m the only person who failed year 7 PE, I got the least athletic genotype. Like in BMS1021, the microbiology labs were my favourite cuz they improved my logical reasoning skills a lot eg figuring out which resistance gene was transferred on the plasmid based on culture growth on antibiotic growth media. One thing of note is that lab coats are still required for computer based dry labs and I didn’t bring mine on the day so I had to get a single-use one. I’d imagine they take getting infected by computer viruses pretty seriously cuz it’s crossing the species barrier /s.

Mid-sem: About what you would expect for a biochem unit, pay attention to the little details delivered in lectures and develop advanced skills in problem solving and logic reasoning. Not overly difficult, tests content from modules 1-3.

Exam: The exam was really long, originally 3 hours for 130 marks but there were numerous typos and questions involving content not taught in lectures. As a result, the final total is out of 127. It extensively tests your problem solving skills as well as detailed understanding of the lecture content. As Fasseli stated in a revision lecture, 75% of the exam was on modules 4-6 and only 25% was on modules 1-3 since they were already tested in the mid-sem. The labs were disproportionately examined, more questions than average focused on them.

Fasseli Coulibaly
Terry Kwok
Anna Roujeinikova
Jessica Gibbons
Robyn Slattery + her mentor, the legendary Jacques Miller, discoverer of T and B cells and the thymus’ role in immunology

No, Moodle trial exam provided

10 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture

Molecular Biology and the Cell 6th edition (not absolutely necessary but was really helpful with the DNA repair series of lectures)

3 x 1 hour lectures
1 x 3 hour lab

2019 Sem 2

94 HD

-Practical course (labs) (30%)
-Mid Semester Test (10%)
-Exam (60%)

Arguably the best first year biomedicine core unit at Monash. Although I didn’t find the content that engaging **cough**DNA lab techniques and lab sessions**cough**. The unit is the best run unit and you can really see the staff is trying their best for it to run smoothly and for all the students to have an enjoyable experience in their learning.

I generally didn’t find the lectures that useful they are okay for a introduction to the topic (although you can get this from reading the lecture slides) you really need to be putting in your own time and effort in to do well.

The beginning of the unit is quite familiar if you had done 3/4 biology in VCE or the equivalent in highschool. A lot of the content here was just an extension of VCE. The topics that were "new" were the ones where I would put more time into in order to properly understand the content.

Make sure to be continually revising throughout the semester (something I didn't do well) and don’t slack in the first few weeks even though the content may seem easy because even the easy things form part of your assessment and they tend to be very specific on the easy portions of the course to make it not too easy for us. Also proper management during the first few weeks helps you when multiple MSTs occur in a small time frame (common if you do straight biomed). Thi is so that you don't have to revise/learn half the course in a couple of days. For my year this unit was a relatively early exam so you won't get a whole deal of time to study for it.

It is worth 60% so a large chunk of your overall grade. The exam consisted of 130 marks which consisted of a variety of MCQs and EMQs. EMQs are basically just MCQs but 1 general scenario with multiple questions this was used a few times for laboratory questions. Sometimes the EMQs involved 5 questions and something like 5 "answers" which you can choose from but each answer can be used 0,1 or multiple times. Remember to revise all your lab content it can be quite tedious and boring but made up ~40% of the exam. Again there is a high level of detail required and also a lot of content so you generally need to be somewhat organised during the semester. However, there was no real trick questions (except a few dodgy questions) which made the exam relatively manageable. If you know all your content you should be very confident going into your exam.

Labs are worth 30% of your total unit grade. There are 4 pracs run across 10 weeks of labs and each week is generally “worth” 3% for most labs except for microbiology which is a test. So basically, just another MST. This test was not too difficult as long as you revised the right things, but given the breadth of this lab it was difficult to study for since a lot of content could be assessed and a lot of people were not quite sure what the focus of the lab was. The labs were very boring usually pipetting/gel electrophoresis/PCR for a couple hours and it felt like we did the same prac multiple times through the semester. Be very grateful if you ever finish early and get to leave. The best practical in my opinion is the immunology prac, this one is only a single week worth 3% but was taught very well and the questions associated were quite difficult and required a very high level of understanding of the whole course. Usually some lab questions can be done at home but sometimes you need to specifically use your lab results. Your tutors will generally send you in the right direction but won't give you the answer. Sometimes I would ask my tutors to "check" my work when I finish in order to make sure I got the marks. The large grade associated with labs (30%) can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what type of tutors you get. Some of my friends got very lenient ones whilst others got very harsh ones which was reflected in the marks we all received. This can really bump up or drag down your score plus/minus 2-3 overall in my opinion.

A/Prof Fasseli Coulibaly [unit co-ordinator] (Structure & Replication of DNA; Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; Translation)
Dr Marina Telonis-Scott (Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; DNA Recombination, Repair & Mutations)
Prof Christian Doerig (Molecular Genetics)
A/Prof Anna Roujeinikova (Gene Expression & Regulation)
Dr Terry Kwok-Schuelein (Gene Expression & Regulation)
A/Prof Robyn Slattery (DNA and the Immune System)

The MST is worth 10% and consists of 34 MCQs. The MCQs were on lectures 1 through 18 which is weeks 1 -6. This test was done online either on campus or at home. To avoid “cheaters”, we had to use a lockdown browser and those who didn’t do the test under supervision was required to use a webcam. Overall the test was very fair and not overly difficult. As all biomed tests are you needed to know a high level of detail of the content. For example one MST question was on a small specific part of the diagram on the lysogenic and lytic virus cycles on one of the lecture slides which was generally skimmed over in the lecture lucky for me I vaguely remembered seeing the diagram.

It is quite a difficult unit with respect to the amount of content covered although a relatively standard difficulty for a first year biomed unit. One of the best ones I have done to date, at university and it was extremely well run by the faculty. You will definitely get a score that is a reflection of the work that you have put in throughout the semester.

None, some practice quizzes available.

Molecular Biology of the Cell 6ed

5 Out of 5

None
Textbook is definitely not needed to do well I only had pdf copy of it and never thought of buying a hardcopy since I rarely(never) used it.

Yes, with screen capture.

Weekly 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 3 hour lab session (labs weeks 2-11)

2017, Semester 2

TBA

Practical/laboratory sessions (30% total) - biochemistry/microbiology/biological sciences each 9%, and immunology 3%
For the biochemistry, biological sciences and immunology pracs, there are worksheets which deal with the prac theory to be handed up. You will also be able to collect your marked worksheets a few weeks after you have completed the prac. For microbiology, the assessment involves a quiz about the prac theory in the last week (so make sure you understand everything!), as well as about a quarter of the marks being allocated for your TA's assessment of your participation, attendance and level of interest. Unfortunately, there was no feedback available for the microbiology lab

Mid-semester test (10%)
This was a computerised test done on-campus. It went for 45 minutes, and had about 34 MCQs about the content learnt thus far. The questions were also released back to us (with our corrected answers) - apparently this was the first time this was done in this unit. Revision material was made available on Moodle in the form of MCQ quizzes.

End of semester exam (60%)
The end of semester exam consisted of 130 MCQs and EMQs in 3 hours. Be sure to note that practicals are examinable as well! The exam is also a hurdle (45% to pass).

The central theme of this unit was the Central Dogma, and can be divided up into 7 topics:

• Structure & Replication of DNA (A/Prof Coulibaly, Dr Telonis-Scott)
• Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning ((A/Prof Coulibaly): analysis of gene expression and DNA sequence; DNA sequencing; DNA recombinant technology, PCR
• Molecular Genetics (Prof Doerig): DNA organisation in prokaryotes and eukaryotes; replicons; mobile genetic elements
• Gene Expression & Regulation (A/Prof Roujeinikova, Dr Kwok-Schuelein): transcription in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and how it is regulated
• Translation (A/Prof Coulibaly): mechanism of translation in eukaryotes and prokaryotes
• DNA Recombination, Repair & Mutations (Dr Telonis-Scott): the different types of DNA repair mechanisms; DNA recombination in DNA repair,
  as well as meiosis; mutations in disease and evolution
• DNA & the Immune System (A/Prof Slattery): how B and T cell diversity is generated; transgenic and knockout technology; immunological cancers; antigenic diversity in parasites (this particular lecture was a duet lecture with A/Prof Slattery and Prof Doerig - all I will say is that if you attend only one lecture in this unit, make it this one!)

This unit provided a good introduction to the central dogma of molecular biology, and will form the basis for further units in molecular biology/biochemistry. In terms of assessment, there is not a lot of it - however, the labs do make up a significant proportion, so be sure to pay attention during the labs so you can do well on the assessments. And, once again, they are assessable (so try not to forget about them after they're done ). In terms of unit content, there is indeed a lot to know (as with all biomed units ), so make sure that you at least try to keep up with everything (especially since there is a mid sem test). However, I did find the unit content relatively interesting - the lecturers do quite a good job at relating the concepts of molecular biology disease and medicine. In terms of practicals, as a previous review has stated - there is a lot of gel electrophoresis involved (so consider yourself warned ). But regardless, I thought that the pracs were hands-on, interesting, and quite well organised. You even get to analyse your own DNA in one of them!

A/Prof Fasseli Coulibaly [unit co-ordinator] (Structure & Replication of DNA; Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; Translation)
Dr Marina Telonis-Scott (Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; DNA Recombination, Repair & Mutations)
Prof Christian Doerig (Molecular Genetics)
A/Prof Anna Roujeinikova (Gene Expression & Regulation)
Dr Terry Kwok-Schuelein (Gene Expression & Regulation)
A/Prof Robyn Slattery (DNA & the Immune System)

None. Although, revision material was made available - there were 3 revision lectures, which generally involved the lecturer giving a brief overview of their topic, as well as going through some practise questions.

4 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture

Per week: 3 x 1 hour lectures

Throughout semester: 10 x 3 hour laboratory sessions (weekly)
The labs are grouped into 4 distinct topics - biochemistry (3), microbiology (3), biological sciences (3) and immunology (1).

The PASS program was also available for this unit, however I was a bit late with the registration (I was in a lab at the time ) and never bothered to sign up for the waiting list. However, from what I heard, the classes were quite useful, and provided some good revision questions.

Semester 2, 2017

Not yet available

This is a very solid unit, and I know the organisers have worked very hard to improve it in any way they can. The content is exceedingly interesting but there is a lot to know.

The assessment is also quite good; labs are well-run, well-described and very interesting, but sometimes a little repetitive. The major complaint that I had is that the labs aren't always directly relevant to the content (p.s. if you don't like running gel electrophoresis, this unit is NOT for you, lol). For example, we'd learn about transgenic organisms in the immunology lectures but there's no way they could get us to do that in the labs. Also should note that the labs were really cool, especially doing extractions and tests with your own DNA, bacterial transformations and the ELISA lab to name a few.

The mid-sem was an MCQ test, 45 questions in as many minutes. It was definitely not hard, but the questions were sorta picky and you needed to know some very specific things (like sigma-subunits, holoenzymes etc. that were only covered briefly in the lectures).

The exam was looooong (or at least it felt like it), about 130-or-so MCQs. It wasn't exactly a hard exam either, just quite tedious (mind you, I'm limited by an inability to sit relatively still for 3 hours, so that might have been a factor). The invigilators interrupted our exam 12 times to issue corrections, and there were a few pissed off people, so I think that future exams will be proof-read and written a lot better.

One thing that is CRITICAL to know - and the lecturers will reinforce this throughout the semester - is that the lab materials are examinable, and you WILL get questions on the exam based on the lab theory and techniques. A few people were slightly thrown by some of the lab questions, especially those relating to bacterial transformation/conjugation and the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, which will probably be your last lab of the semester).

The lecturers are great and really friendly, I haven't got a single bad thing to say about them except that Robyn Slattery sometimes gets so passionate about her material that she speaks unbelievably quickly (or at least it seemed so, some of her immunology stuff was pretty challenging). However, the lectures are recorded so you can go back to them for reference whenever.

Overall, a very good unit and one that provides a lot of important information and techniques for future studies and careers in biomedical sciences.

Nope!

4 out of 5

Molecular Biology of the Cell 5^th edition - Alberts et al. You don't need this book per se, but it's an incredible textbook and is written to cater to everyone from those who struggle with the material to those who are really good with it. (The pictures are pretty too )

There are also a lot of other textbooks that the lecturers talk about, but don't buy them! If you really need to read them, the Hargrave-Andrew Library will have numerous (dusty) copies for you to look through as you please.

Semester 2, 2013

D