Advanced Seminars in Physiology

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

Students must be enrolled in the Bachelor of Biomedicine (Honours), Bachelor of Science (Honours) or Master of Science to complete this subject.

Undergraduate 3 year sequence in relevant experimental science discipline.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject uses Research Seminars as a vehicle to teach students the experimental approach to contemporary physiological questions. The seminars will be presented by a mixture of Physiology Department faculty, invited speakers from outside the department, and postgraduate students. The seminars will be chosen to cover each of the three main research areas of the department; Cardiovascular Physiology, Neurophysiology, and Muscle and Exercise Physiology. Students will engage with a diverse range of physiological questions and the experimental strategies used to address them. Students will learn to critique seminars and to focus on the scientific essentials, i.e. what question is being addressed? What led up to this question? What strategies are being used to answer the question, and how well have they succeeded? Three seminars will receive particular attention. Questions and recommended reading, set by the speaker, will be distributed several days in advance, to assist the student to start thinking along helpful lines before each of these three seminars. After attending each of these seminars, students will participate in workshops in which directed questions and structured discussion will be used to engage students further with the scientific issues arising from the seminars.

To develop student awareness and knowledge of how contemporary physiological questions are addressed in a broad range of sub-disciplines; To cultivate an appreciation and understanding of the major sub-disciplines of physiological research; To increase students’ knowledge of the experimental approaches and strategies used in different areas of physiology, and to think of ways that these could be applied to their own research projects; To teach students to think critically about the limitations and weaknesses that are associated with virtually all experimental strategies; To encourage students to conceptualize their own experimental strategies and approaches to physiological questions.

75% of assessment is from written assignments (three 1500-2000 word assignments submitted during semester, each worth 25%).
15% of the assessment is from workshop presentations.
10% of assessment is attendance at the weekly seminars.

No specific text. Recommended reading will be given with the pre-seminar questions for the three seminars used for assignments.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Analysing complex scientific issues.
Identifying critical and essential factors from a large body of information
Making a constructive critique of a scientific presentation
Performing written and oral communication skills at a high standard.
Contributing to intellectual discussion
Generating new ideas for scientific experiments

To be awarded Honours with a specialisation in Physiology, students must successfully complete the following:

Semester 1

BIOM40001 Introduction to Biomedical Research (12.5 points)

PHYS90008 Advanced Seminars in Physiology (12.5 points)

PHYS40005 Physiology Research Project (25 points)

Semester 2

PHYS40006 Physiology Research Project (50 points)