BMSC13014 - Biotherapeutics and Industry

General Information

Unit Synopsis

The development of new therapeutic products for the medical biotechnology industry requires comprehensive knowledge of techniques used to investigate their effects on various biological pathways at a cellular level. This unit will provide you with an opportunity to apply theoretical and practical knowledge of medical biotechnology in the development and pre-clinical testing of a new therapeutic product for industry commercialisation. You will develop new practical skills and gain experience in experimental models used to study human disease and apply these in a simulated industry environment. Your practical skills and demonstration of professional knowledge, attitude and compliance with relevant safety protocols will be assessed in a laboratory environment. Attendance at the practical activities at a compulsory residential school is a requirement of this unit. You will also develop the skills to communicate your findings to a broader audience in the medical biotechnology industry through both written reports and oral presentations.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 12
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.25
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite:

BIOL12106 Molecular Biology

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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School Compulsory Residential School
View Unit Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 3 - 2024

There are no availabilities for this unit on or after Term 3 - 2024

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).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 12-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 25 hours of study per week, making a total of 300 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Practical Assessment 0%
2. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books 0%
3. Report 60%
4. Presentation 40%

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

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 33.33% response rate.

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.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Residential School was vital to learning.
Recommendation
Retain hands-on residential school to assist students with their learning.
Action Taken
Residential school was offered to promote student learning.
Source: Student communication
Feedback
Using topic focused experts to teach the unit helped to better inform students of expectations in the biotechnology industry.
Recommendation
Continue to use experts with real world experience in biotechnology to teach this unit.
Action Taken
Biotechnology experts continued to teach this unit.
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Students enjoyed their hands on experience with cutting edge technologies.
Recommendation
Continue to provide students with the opportunity to use cutting edge technologies in the residential school.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Student feedback
Feedback
Students felt that the intensive 7 day residential school was too long and tiring.
Recommendation
Examine whether a 7 day residential school is needed to meet the learning outcomes for this unit.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Conduct molecular or cell-based tests used to study human disease
  2. Display professional behaviour consistent with the safety and ethical practices of the laboratory
  3. Review and critically analyse current scientific literature
  4. Think critically to solve problems during the development and testing of therapeutics
  5. Effectively communicate experimental findings to industry professionals through written reports and oral presentations.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Practical Assessment • •
2 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books •
3 - Report • • •
4 - Presentation • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
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 •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10