Course outline - Bachelor of Science (Honours)

Coursework

Subject number: 571-497 (25% of total assessment)

1. Lectures on recent concepts and techniques in the molecular biology of human growth, development and disease.
2. A Bioinformatics assignment to introduce and build confidence in online bioinformatics applications.
3. Attendance at departmental seminars and participation in research group meetings.

Research project

Subject number: 571-496 (75% of total assessment)

The research project will be performed under the supervision of experienced senior scientific research staff in one of the fully-equipped research laboratories at the Royal Children's Hospital. Assessment will be based on a 10,000 to 12,000 word written report, oral presentations of the research results and a supervisor's report on the laboratory skills achieved by the student.

Research projects and supervision

• Research projects offered by individual research groups within the department have been overseen by the Honours Committee
• All projects address fundamental scientific questions
• The Department of Paediatrics and MCRI have major basic research programs attracting external peer-reviewed funding in excess of $2 million a year. This research effort is substantially larger than that of many other departments and offers students a wide choice of supervisor, topics and technical repertoire
• Supervisors have extensive experience in research and graduate supervision and student assessment
• Supervisors are mostly full-time researchers with a very limited teaching load and more time to devote to student supervision
• A vigorous seminar program is in place, comprising at least weekly formal lectures from external invited speakers or researchers from within the hospital
• After the conclusion of the coursework component, students completed a questionnaire assessing both the content and delivery of the lecture material. Students judged the course to be highly interesting and highly relevant
• Students assessed the coursework challenging, but not too hard and found the extensive lecture handout material helpful for exam preparation
  

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