Overview
This unit focuses on developing an understanding of how genomes are organised, how they function within the cell, how molecular medical treatments can be developed, ways in which we can manipulate genomes and utilise their components for a range of purposes including medical, agricultural, and commercial.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisites BIOL11100 Functional Biology or BIOL11102 Life Science Laboratory or BMSC11003 Introduction to Medical Sciences or BMSC11005 Foundations of Biochemistry
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2021
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Residential Schools
This unit has a Compulsory Residential School for distance mode students and the details are:
Click here to see your Residential School Timetable.
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Students appreciated the Moodle format and found it easy to navigate.
Continue to provide an easily navigable Moodle page.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Students enjoyed the lectures and found the supporting material enhanced learning.
Continue with the lecture format and provision of supporting materials.
Feedback from Student Feedback
Students found the weekly study questions helpful.
Continue to provide weekly questions to consolidate learning.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the structure, organisation, utility and isolation of nucleic acids
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the principles of gene cloning and sequencing
- Accurately review and evaluate the strategies associated with the transformation of micro-organisms, plants and animals
- Demonstrate safe and efficient laboratory skills in molecular biology
- Demonstrate knowledge on the applications of molecular biology skills to medical molecular biology.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 20% | |||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 20% | |||||
| 3 - Online Test - 60% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Textbooks
Fundamental Molecular Biology
Edition: 2nd edn (2012)
Authors: Lizabeth A Allison
John Wiley
Hoboken Hoboken , NJ , USA
ISBN: 9781118312599
Binding: Paperback
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
w.pederick@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Topic 1: Introduction to molecular biology
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 1 (The beginnings of molecular biology)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 2: DNA replication and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 2 (The structure of DNA);
Chap 6 (DNA replication)
Chap 8 (Recombinant DNA technology)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Topic 3: RNA
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 3 (The versatility of RNA)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Topic 4: Genome organisation
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 5 (Genome Organisation)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Topic 5: Nucleic acid isolation & characterisation, electrophoresis
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 8: Recombinant DNA Technology
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 6: DNA Sequencing
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 8: Recombinant DNA Technology
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Topic 7: DNA Cloning
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 8: Recombinant DNA Technology
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Topic 8: Genetically modified organisms
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 15: Genetically Modified Organisms
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Topic 9: Gene therapy
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 17: Medical Molecular Biology
Events and Submissions/Topic
Compulsory Residential School 10th to 12th May
Laboratory Practical manuals can be scanned and uploaded via Moodle
Essay Due: Week 9 Monday (10 May 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Topic 10: High throughput analyses
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 16 : Genome Analysis
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 11: Epigenetics
Chapter
Fundamental Molecular Biology, Lizabeth A. Allison, 2nd Ed
Chap 12: Epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Recorded Zoom Tutorial
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
The online test will scheduled during the exam week
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Molecular biology is an area of biology that focuses on understanding structure and function of molecules in the cell such as nucleic acids and proteins and their role in maintaining cellular function. In this unit we will also explore nucleic acid replication and detection and how nucleic acid can be delivered to cells and tissues as a therapeutic molecule. Furthermore, the unit will explore how nucleic acid function can be regulated through epigenetic modification.
Lectures will be provided on the Rockhampton campus, recorded and accessible through the Moodle site. Online ‘Zoom’ tutorials will compliment lecture material. The assessment items for this unit, include (1) a written assessment, (2) attendance at a one compulsory residential school and completion of a laboratory manual (3) an end of term examination.
Unit Co-ordinator Contact details
Dr Padraig Strappe
Tel: 07 4930 6499
1 Written Assessment
Gene Therapy is an important area in modern medical research providing novel therapeutic approaches to treat disease. Gene therapy can be categorised in terms of viral or non-viral, use of nanomaterials and biomaterials which complex nucleic acid and allow delivery to the host, using an in vivo or ex-vivo approach. In this assessment you should choose one clinical area of gene therapy research for your essay and undertake literature searches for information on the developments, status and challenges on your chosen topic. You can also compare the gene therapy approaches with other treatment modalities.
Your essay should provide a very brief introductory overview of what Gene therapy is, and then focussing on a particular clinical area of your choice, e.g. Cancer, neurological disease, hereditary metabolic diseases as examples and then consider the gene therapy approaches that have been previously used to treat disease in animal models and/or human clinical trials.
In this assessment, you should aim to make use of scientific journal articles and case reports from the past 7 years, to make your work as up-to-date as possible and to obtain the best possible mark. A video presentation on this assessment task will be available on the Moodle site for this unit, to give you further support.
Please note the following details:
- The length of the main body of your essay is 3000 words, excluding references - making the best use of the word allocation is always better than being off-message.
- Text should be word-processed, with appropriate layout and use of headings/sub-headings. Font and line spacing are not part of the assessment criteria, listed below.
Diagrams should can be used to illustrate specific aspects - (please ensure that you correctly cite/reference all sources of diagrams used, unless they are original and composed by you, since this is an important aspect of academic integrity).
Please avoid images with very large file sizes, as this will make your essay too large to upload/download (save any images as lower resolution, to decrease the file size).
The list of references should form the last page or two, at the end of the assessment. Referencing should be in a consistent style - Harvard format is required).
Please save/upload your file in either a Word or PDF format. .
Week 9 Monday (10 May 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 10 Wednesday (19 May 2021)
Title: Write a descriptive, scientific title for the essay. Try and give your work a title that is appropriate to what your final work represents. (5 mark)
Introduction: A one paragraph lead-in to immediately capture attention and indicate the material you will cover. (15 marks)
Discussion: A thorough review of literature on your chosen topic area written using scientific references up to the previous seven years. The discussion should be organised around the scientific development in your chosen topic and highlighting 'Landmark' discoveries and challenges in the clinical application of gene therapy. (30 marks)
Conclusions: In one paragraph summarise the status of the research you have reviewed in this area and any future research directions. (10 marks)
References: Cite and list all references referred to in your essay. Marks will be awarded for reference quality, citing within the report and listing references correctly at the end of the report. (5 marks)
Spelling, Grammar, Style: Accuracy. (5 marks)
A detailed marking rubric will be available on the Moodle site.
- Demonstrate knowledge on the applications of molecular biology skills to medical molecular biology.
2 Practical Assessment
During the residential school you will be required to perform experimental protocols involving for example transformation of bacteria with plasmid DNA, restriction endonuclease digestion of DNA and amplification of DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In your residential School laboratory manual you will be expected to complete a workbook and perform experimental calculations, report experimental results and answer questions provided. Clearly label the report with student names and student numbers. The Laboratory workbook can be scanned and the workbook can be uploaded onto the Moodle site
Week 10 Monday (17 May 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Submit a scanned version of the workbook section to the moodle site by one week following the end of the Residential School.
Week 11 Wednesday (26 May 2021)
Results of the Practical Assessment will be posted on moodle
Assessment will be based on the accuracy of calculations and correctness of answers to questions.
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the structure, organisation, utility and isolation of nucleic acids
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the principles of gene cloning and sequencing
- Demonstrate safe and efficient laboratory skills in molecular biology
3 Online Test
The online test will take place in the Exam Period and the exact date for the online test will be provided at a later date
No Assessment Criteria
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the structure, organisation, utility and isolation of nucleic acids
- Demonstrate a clear understanding of the principles of gene cloning and sequencing
- Accurately review and evaluate the strategies associated with the transformation of micro-organisms, plants and animals
- Demonstrate knowledge on the applications of molecular biology skills to medical molecular biology.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
