Principles of Genetics

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

Estimated total time commitment 170 hours

Completion of

Bachelor of Biomedicine students:

None

Completion of

Bachelor of Biomedicine students:

None

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 provides broad coverage of the study of genetics including: the DNA molecule and inheritance; the factors which modulate allele frequencies in natural populations; the genetic basis of phenotypic variation; genetic analysis in eukaryotes, viruses and bacteria; the nature of the genetic material; gene structure and function; quantitative inheritance.

Completion of this subject is expected to enhance a student’s ability to understand the fundamental principles of genetics and to describe the experiments used to establish them. Students will develop skills to apply these principles to solve genetic problems and demonstrate how genetic analysis can be used to investigate aspects of biology.

Three online tests/assignments of equal value during semester (30% in total); a 2-hour written examination in the examination period (70%).

A J Griffiths et al, Introduction to Genetic Analysis, 10th Ed. W H Freeman and Co.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Environments
• Bachelor of Music

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Completion of this subject is expected to provide students with the following skills which are transferable to new settings even though they have been acquired in the context of studies in Genetics: application of fundamental scientific principles to solve new problems; application of scientific method through the development of hypotheses based on observations; planning effective work schedules to meet deadlines for assessable work; development of effective group and collaborative interactions.

This subject is available for science credit to students enrolled in the BSc (both pre-2008 and new degrees), BASc or a combined BSc course.

This subject is available for credit in the Bachelor of Biomedicine course.

This subject can be taken by itself, but is designed to be part of a two-semester sequence with GENE20002 Genes and Genomes.

Both GENE20001 Principles of Genetics and either GENE20002 Genes and Genomes or BIOM20001 Molecular and Cellular Biomedicine are prerequisites for third year level genetics subjects.