Unit name | Biochemistry Industrial Placement |
---|---|
Unit code | BIOC25000 |
Credit points | 120 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52) |
Unit director | Professor. Ross Anderson |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Biochemistry |
Faculty | Faculty of Life Sciences |
This unit is designed to provide students with experience of biochemically related research. The student spends a year as an employee of an industrial partner, research hospital, University or research institute and is subject to their working practices, conditions and salary. Approximately 47 weeks are spent on a suitable project with appreciable academic content, to be written up in the form of a report, which forms part of the final Honours assessment.
By the end of the placement, students will be able to:
All teaching occurs at the placement. The Unit Organiser will keep in regular contact with the student throughout the placement and will visit the student at least once during the year.
The assessment procedure:
The student will write an extended final project report on their accomplishments during year 3. The report of each student will be assessed by two members of the School, and there will be a 30 minute viva voce examination with the two internal examiners and unit organiser. After the viva a mark will be awarded that incorporates the marks of the internal examiners and the feedback from the industrial supervisor. (ILOs 1-6).
The purpose of the report is to enable the examiners to evaluate the learning experience in year 3. They will assess the report for comprehension of the science area, practical work, ability to evaluate results and ability to explain the project to a non-specialist (see examiners assessment sheet on page 9).
The report should contain:-
The overall length of the report should usually not exceed 55,000 characters (excluding references and figure legends). In describing scientific sections, the style should follow that of a mainstream molecular biology / biochemical journal, such as The Biochemical Journal, the EMBO Journal or Cell. A critical style is encouraged. Tables and figures with adequate legends are a useful way to condense material. The report should contain examples of results (for example, gel photographs, chromatograms, printouts etc.) so that the precision and reproducibility of the experiments can be evaluated. Some additional material (e.g. lists of primer sequences; additional data other than that presented in the main report) might usefully be put into an appendix.
Reviews and primary articles from the current scientific literature.