PSC2011: Biochemical Pharmacology

Inquiry prac: 15% (the only assessed prac in this unit)
Quizzes: 10% (5 quizzes in total, each worth 2%. Quizzes 1 and 2 focused on topics 1- 3, whereas quizzes 3-5 covered signal transduction)
Mid-Semester test: 10% covered topics 1-3, average score was 19.5/30 from memory.
Clicker participation marks: 5%
Abstract writing tasks: 10% (2x 5% tasks. Not at all fun.)
Exam: 50%

I felt like this core unit was a shambles, as the previous unit coordinator for this unit left Monash at the end of last year, so the UC inherited a mess and obviously didn’t have time to fix it up. A lot of the assessment information on Moodle was incorrect, and the UC wasn’t very responsive to emails when things went wrong with this unit. However, Megan Waldhuber was pretty great, and went out of the way to help us out. Some of Lubna’s content confused the heck out of me for a long time, but other than that, this was an okay unit.
This is the last time this unit will run as PSC2011: Biochemical Pharmacology. As of next year, a similar unit, BPS2011: Pharmacology I: Biochemical signalling will run, as a core unit under the new pharmsci degree. Hopefully they will have fixed this unit up for the new degree!

Roland Chung- Topic 1: Proteins and Enzymes
Daniel Malone- Topic 2: Lipids and Membranes
Sab Ventura- Topic 3: Ion channels, Receptors and Transporters
Lubna Freihat- Topic 4, lectures 1-5: Signal Transduction
Megan Waldhuber- Topic 4, lectures 6-10: Signal Transduction
Betty Exintaris: Chief examiner and Unit Coordinator

Yes, past exams from 2011-2016 were provided, no answers. Some of the exams came from the equivalent pharmacy unit (which was recently phased out due to the new pharmacy degree), and some from the older version of the unit.

2.5 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture- although some had missing visuals/audio.

Molecular Cell Biology – Lodish et al 7Ed
Rang and Dale’s Pharmacology - Rang 7Ed
I never looked at any of these, but I probably could have done better if I actually consulted the first one, I guess. I’ve heard that the latter is used in second semester- PSC2012: Molecular Pharmacology.

2 x 1 hour lectures weekly + additional pre-recordings/readings/YouTube videos to go through (Weeks 1-10, plus an intro to unit lecture in week 1, and a single lecture in week 12)
3 x 3 hour unassessed computer labs
3 x 3 hour inquiry prac ‘wet’ labs
2 x 1 hour introductory tutorials (one for inquiry prac, one for abstract writing)
2 x 3 hour abstract writing sessions

Semester 1, 2018

71D