THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences
BABS2202 MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY I
COURSE OUTLINE
and
PRACTICAL MANUAL
2016
COURSE INFORMATION
BABS2202 Molecular Cell Biology 1 is an undergraduate course worth six units of
credit. Prerequisites for this course are BABS1201 and CHEM1011 or CHEM1031.
Course Outline:
Cells are not only the basic building blocks of all organisms they are also the source of the vast
diversity that characterizes life on earth. This course provides an opportunity to explore the
nature of cells, both the unity and the breadth of cell structure and function, from prokaryote to
eukaryotes. It builds on the introduction contained in BABS1201.
The major topics covered include: the cell cycle and the processes that regulate entry into,
transition through and exit from the cycle; mitosis, meiosis, cyclins and cdks, apoptosis and
cancer; cellular integrity and movement; interactions of cells with each other and their
environment, signaling pathways, immunology, chemotaxis and sensing, biofilm formation and
interactions between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Practical work illustrates and extends the
lectures. Tutorials are designed to reinforce the lecture material and to emphasize the
development of writing skills, group work and the process of scientific enquiry.
Lectures
Practical
Large Group
Tutorials
Small Group
Tutorials
Day and Time
Monday
2pm – 3pm
Tuesday
5pm – 6pm
Tuesday
10am – 1pm
Tuesday
2pm – 5pm
Wednesday 10am – 1pm
Wednesday 2pm – 5pm
Friday
11am – 12pm
Location
CLB8
CLB8
Lab 110, first floor, Biological
Sciences Building (D26)
Friday
Various rooms for small group
tutorials will to be assigned when
you are placed in your tutorial
group.
11am – 12pm
Mathews B
Textbook:
Karp, G. Cell and Molecular Biology, 7th ed. (Wiley, 2013)
Reference:
Lodish et al., Molecular Cell Biology, 8th ed. (Freeman, 2016).
Excellent textbook for further reading and for use in Molecular Cell Biology 2.
Coordinators:
Dr. Nirmani Wijenayake, Room 103D, Biological Sciences Building (D26),
[email protected]
Associate Professor Louise Lutze-Mann, Room 241C, Biological Sciences Building (D26),
[email protected]
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BABS2202 TIMETABLE 2016
Lecture
Monday 2-3 pm, CLB8
Week
Begins
1
25 Jul
2
1 Aug
3
8 Aug
4
15 Aug
5
22 Aug Alternative cell cycles (LLM)
6
29 Aug
7
Lecture
Tuesday 5-6 pm, CLB8
Introduction and lab preview
Prokaryotic reproduction (NWG)
(NWG)
Cellular reproduction (LLM) Regulation of the cell cycle (LLM)
Regulation of the cell cycle
The birth of cells (LLM)
(LLM)
Friday 11 am-12 pm
Tutorial Group A Tutorial Group B
Practical
Lab 110
Online Task 1
Online Task 1
None
Online Task 2
SGT 1
Prep for cell culture
SGT 1
Online Task 2
Cell growth & viability 1
Cancer (LLM)
LGT 2 in
Mathews B (LLM)
SGT 2
Cell growth & viability 2
Cell-cell communication (NWG)
SGT 2
LGT 2 in
Mathews B (LLM)
Cell growth & viability 3
Immunology 1 (AC)
Immunology 2 (AC)
QUIZ
QUIZ
5 Sep
Immunology 3 (AC)
Immunology 4 (AC)
LGT 3 in
Mathews B (AC)
LGT 3 in
Mathews B (AC)
8
12 Sep
Signalling pathways 1 (AJB)
Signalling pathways 2 (NWG)
SGT 3
SGT 3
9
19 Sep
Signalling pathways 3
(NWG)
Signalling pathways 4 (NWG)
Online Task 3
Online Task 3
Apoptosis
10
26 Sep
3 Oct
Public holiday
Catch up hour
Cell Game review
11
10 Oct
Cell-ECM interactions (IV)
Online Task 4
ELISA /Cell-cell communication
12
17 Oct
Interactions between pro and
eukaryotes (SE)
13
24 Oct
Course review (NWG)
End of the cycle (LLM)
MID-SEMESTER BREAK
Cell-cell interactions (IV)
Catch up hour
Cell-cell interactions – biofilms
Online Task 4
(SE)
Cell-environment interactions
(BB)
Effect of drugs on cell growth &
viability 1
Effect of drugs on cell growth &
viability 2/ Cell cycle
Effect of drugs on cell growth &
viability 2/ Cell cycle
Cell adhesion in fibroblasts
Online Task 5
Online Task 5
Bacterial cell-cell
communication
LGT = large group tutorial; SGT = small group tutorial, various venues, depending on the group you are assigned to in Week 1.
2
LECTURE OUTLINE
Part 1: How does a cell get from birth to death?
Cell cycle and its regulation
Lecture
Topic
1
Introduction to the course and recap - What is a cell?
2
Prokaryotic cell division
3
How does a cell reproduce to produce a new cell? Phases of the
cell cycle and variation in the length of the cycle; mitosis
4
Regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle 1
5
Regulation of the eukaryotic cell cycle 2
6
The birth of cells: stem cells and lineage
7
End of the cycle – differentiation, senescence and apoptosis
8
When the cycle goes awry – cancer
13
Alternative cell cycles: meiosis – generation of genetic diversity
Lecturer
NWG
NWG
LLM
LLM
LLM
LLM
LLM
LLM
LLM
Part 2: How do cells relate to each other and the environment?
Cell communication, cells to organisms, cells within organisms
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10
11
12
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Cell-Cell communication overview
Immunology 1
Immunology 2
Immunology 3
Immunology 4
Signalling pathways 1 – steroid hormones
Signalling pathways 2
Signalling pathways 3
Signalling pathways 4
Cell-ECM interactions
Cell-cell interactions – cell adhesion and junctions
Cell-cell interactions: Biofilms
Cell-cell interactions: Interactions between pro and eukaryotes
Cell- environment interactions – chemotaxis and environmental
sensing
Course review, exam information, where to next
NWG
AC
AC
AC
AC
AJB
NWG
NWG
NWG
IV
IV
SE
SE
BB
NWG
Lecturers:
NWG: Dr Nirmani Wijenayake
AC: A/Prof Andrew Collins
BB: Dr Brendan Burns
AJB: Professor Andrew Brown
LLM: A/Prof Louise Lutze-Mann
SE: Dr Suhelen Egan
IV: Dr Irina Voineagu
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TUTORIAL PROGRAM
The tutorial program is designed to help you review the lecture content and highlight any
areas that may not be clear. The tutorial component will consist of face-to-face large and
small group tutorials as well as online activities. The small group tutorials are designed to
help enhance your writing skills and your ability to assimilate, identify, collate and present
scientific material clearly. Large group tutorials and online activities are designed to help you
revise lecture material. On some weeks you will be taking EITHER a small or large group
tutorial. Half the class will have a large group tutorial while the other half will have a small
group tutorial. You will then swap activities in the following week. This will be determined
by whether you are in Tutorial Group A or B. For some activities, the whole class will have a
joint large group tutorial. On other weeks you will carry out an online task at home. Always
refer to BABS2202 time table on page 2 to figure out what tutorial task you have each week.
Week
Activity
1
6
Online Task 1: How to write your lab book
Online Task 2: Scientific Skills
SGT 1: Scientific Writing
LGT 2: Cellular reproduction and death lecture
review
SGT2: Thinking like a scientist
Quiz
7
LGT 3: Immunology lecture review
8
SGT 3: Signalling challenge
9
Online Task 3: Review of signalling pathways
10
Catch-up hour
11
Online Task 4: Lecture and lab review
12
Online Task 4: Review of cell interactions
2 and 3
4 and 5
4
PRACTICAL PROGRAM
The practical program is designed to continue your training as an experimental scientist, to
illuminate and extend the material presented in the lectures and to expose you to the
techniques used in modern molecular cell biology.
Each student must complete the pre-lab quiz and watch any associated videos for each
lab BEFORE the practical class. You can attempt these quizzes as many times as you
need to achieve a grade of 100%. You will not be allowed to participate in the labs unless
you complete the pre-lab quiz. You must complete the quiz by 7am on the day of your
lab class. Completion of pre-lab quizzes on time as well as the number of attempts
required to achieve 100% will be taken into consideration when allocating marks to the
lab component of the course.
All students will be expected to purchase or print the lab manual and bring it to each lab. As
part of your assessment, you are expected to keep an electronic lab notebook in which to
record details of experiments and to record results. This means you should bring your laptops
to each lab. Your electronic lab notebook should also be used to record information provided
by the demonstrators in talks introducing experiments or as experiments progress, to write
answers to questions asked in the practical notes and to keep a record of experiments run as
demonstrations. Marks will be awarded for clear presentation of results, with the inclusion of
sample calculations where appropriate. The discussion should include an interpretation of the
results, and your assessment of whether the results are reliable. If the experiment failed to
yield the expected result the possible reasons for this should be discussed along with
assumptions that have been made in interpreting the results etc. Discussion section must be
supported by other resources such as journal articles, lectures and book. In general notebooks
that score the highest marks will be those that are clear, complete and concise.
COURSE ASSESSMENT
Material assessed
Task
Date
Mark
45 min paper
Friday, 2nd of September,
11am – 12pm
20%
2 hour paper
Session 2 exam period
45%
*Practical work
Keeping a
practical
work book
Continuous, with
submissions in Weeks 7
and 13 Practical classes
Group project
Oral
presentation
Week 10 Practical class
Quiz
Final Exam
25%
10%
*25% for the practical work will be divided as follows:
- Marking of practicals in weeks 2 - 5 = 8%
- Overall lab book presentation and completion, pre-lab quizzes and lab performance = 5%
- Marking of 2-3 selected practicals from week 5 onwards = 12%
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SPECIAL CONSIDERATION AND FURTHER ASSESSMENT SEMESTER 2 2016
Students who believe that their performance, either during the session or in the end of session exams, may
have been affected by illness or other circumstances may apply for special consideration. Applications can
be made for in-session assessment tasks, and final examinations. Students must make a formal
application for Special Consideration for the course/s affected as soon as practicable after the problem
occurs and within three working days of the assessment to which it refers.
Students should consult the A-Z section of the “Student Guide 2016”, particularly the section on “Special
Consideration”, for further information about general rules covering examinations, assessment, special
consideration and other related matters. This is information is published free in your UNSW Student Diary
and is also available on the web at: https://student.unsw.edu.au/special-consideration
HOW TO APPLY FOR SPECIAL CONSIDERATION
Applications must be made via Online Services in myUNSW. You must obtain and attach Third Party
documentation before submitting the application. Failure to do so will result in the application being
rejected. Log into myUNSW and go to My Student Profile tab > My Student Services channel >
Online Services > Special Consideration. After applying online, students must also verify supporting
documentation by submitting to UNSW Student Central:

Originals or certified copies of your supporting documentation (Student Central can certify your
original documents), and/or

A completed Professional Authority form (pdf - download here).
The supporting documentation must be submitted to Student Central for verification within three working
days of the assessment or the period covered by the supporting documentation. Applications which are not
verified will be rejected.
Students will be contacted via the online special consideration system as to the outcome of their
application. Students will be notified via their official university email once an outcome has been
recorded.
LAB ABSENCES:
If you miss a lab class due to illness or other circumstances, you must email your medical certificate or
other supporting documentation to the course coordinator within three days of the absence.
SUPPLEMENTARY EXAMINATIONS:
The University does not give deferred examinations. However, further assessment exams may be given to
those students who were absent from the final exams through illness or misadventure. Special
Consideration applications for final examinations and in-session tests will only be considered after the final
examination period when lists of students sitting supplementary exams/tests for each course are determined
at School Assessment Review Group Meetings. Students will be notified via the online special
consideration system as to the outcome of their application. It is the responsibility of all students to
regularly consult their official student email accounts and myUNSW in order to ascertain whether or not
they have been granted further assessment.
For Semester 2 2016, BABS2202 Supplementary Exams will be scheduled on:
Tuesday 6th of December
Further assessment exams will be offered on this day ONLY and failure to sit for the
appropriate exam may result in an overall failure for the course. Further assessment will NOT
be offered on any alternative dates.
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ACADEMIC HONESTY AND PLAGIARISM
Plagiarism is the presentation of the thoughts or work of another as one’s own. Examples1 include:

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direct duplication of the thoughts or work of another, including by copying work,
or knowingly permitting it to be copied. This includes copying material, ideas or
concepts from a book, article, report or other written document (whether published
or unpublished), composition, artwork, design, drawing, circuitry, computer
program or software, web site, Internet, other electronic resource, or another
person’s assignment without appropriate acknowledgement;
paraphrasing another person’s work with very minor changes keeping the
meaning, form and/or progression of ideas of the original;
piecing together sections of the work of others into a new whole;
presenting an assessment item as independent work when it has been produced in
whole or part in collusion with other people, for example, another student or a
tutor; and,
claiming credit for a proportion a work contributed to a group assessment item that
is greater than that actually contributed2.
Submitting an assessment item that has already been submitted for academic credit elsewhere
may also be considered plagiarism.
The inclusion of the thoughts or work of another with attribution appropriate to the academic
discipline does not amount to plagiarism.
Students are reminded of their Rights and Responsibilities in respect of plagiarism, as set out
in the University Undergraduate and Postgraduate Handbooks, and are encouraged to seek
advice from academic staff whenever necessary to ensure they avoid plagiarism in all its
forms.
More information on plagiarism and academic honesty for staff and students can be located
at: https://student.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism
The Learning Centre also provides substantial educational written materials, workshops, and
tutorials to aid students, for example, in:
• correct referencing practices;
• paraphrasing, summarising, essay writing, and time management;
• appropriate use of, and attribution for, a range of materials including text, images,
formulae and concepts.
Individual assistance is available on request from The Learning Centre.
Students are also reminded that careful time management is an important part of study and
one of the identified causes of plagiarism is poor time management. Students should allow
sufficient time for research, drafting, and the proper referencing of sources in preparing all
assessment items.
1
Based on that proposed to the University of Newcastle by the St James Ethics Centre. Used with kind
permission from the University of Newcastle.
2 Adapted with kind permission from the University of Melbourne
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CONTINUAL COURSE IMPROVEMENT
Periodically, student evaluative feedback on this course is gathered, using the University’s
Course and Teaching Evaluation and Improvement (CATEI) Process. Student feedback is
taken seriously, and continual improvements are made to the course based in part on such
feedback. Significant changes to the course will be communicated to subsequent cohorts of
students taking the course. Please complete the CATEI evaluations and provide us with your
feedback.
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Previously, we have only 20% of the grade for the practical course and lab workbooks.
Based on student feedback, we have now increased this mark to 25%.
Students also requested feedback on their work in the lab books earlier in the course so
we have introduced assessment and feedback in Week 7. The introduction of
electronic lab notebooks will also allow the course coordinators to keep an eye on
student notebooks more easily.
We are also changing the content of some of the lectures and small group tutorials in
response to student comments.
We have also newly introduced on-line revision tutorials to help students with exam
preparations.
EQUITY AND DIVERSITY
Those students who have a disability that requires some adjustment in their teaching or
learning environment are encouraged to discuss their study needs with the course coordinator
prior to, or at the commencement of, their course, or with the Equity Officer (Disability) in
the Equity and Diversity Unit (9385 4734 or www.equity.unsw.edu.au/disabil.html). Issues to
be discussed may include access to materials, signers or note-takers, the provision of services
and additional exam and assessment arrangements. Early notification is essential to enable
any necessary adjustments to be made.
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