Module BIOL3201: NEUROBIOLOGY (L)

Department: BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

BIOL3201: NEUROBIOLOGY (L)

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To provide students with an advanced appreciation of the integrated performance of sensory and motor systems of animals.

Content

• Information and encoding in sensory systems.
• The vertebrate retina: photoreceptors, opsins, transduction, adaptation, spatial and chromatic coding, evolution.
• Receptive field organization and central visual processing in the LGN and visual cortex.
• Mechanoreceptors: stretch receptors, the cochlea, auditory hair cells, spatial localization in owls and bats.
• Chemoreceptors: olfaction, receptor encoding and transduction, pheromones and the vomeronasal organ.
• Minor senses.
• Movement and locomotion: muscle receptors, reflexes and motor control.
• Central pattern generators.
• Cerebellum.
• A supervised investigation of an area within Biological Sciences where knowledge gained by laboratory experimentation is important.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this module each student should be able to: Be cognisant of recent developments in the fields of lymphocyte ontogeny, the molecular basis of antigen recognition and cellular interactions in the immune system.
• Appreciate the overall workings of the human immune system through a computer-aided learning package and through a seminar programme.
• Understand the molecular and functional diversity of voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels in neurons.
• Appreciate the functional significance in ion channel distribution and the importance of neuronal polarity.
• Relate the electrical properties of muscle cell membranes to the molecular aspects of muscle contraction.

• Extract, compile and review relevant scientific information from various sources and evaluate them critically.
• Acquire, interpret and critically analyse experimental data and present the results effectively.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Taught component: Teaching and learning in this module is primarily through lectures.
• Seminars (demonstration workshops) will be used to reinforce lecture-based information and to direct self-study and self-evaluation through the use of CAL packages.
• Project Component: Teaching and learning in this component is primarily through supervised individual laboratory work.
• Skills will be acquired through advanced practical work and through the searching, retrieval and presentation of relevant data.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

MCQs to assess knowledge.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University