Biological Sciences

This course examines defense systems in animals, higher plants, and microorganisms. Topics include Introduction to animal immune system; disruption of healthy tissue by the immune response: cancer and its interactions with human defense system; failures of the body`s defenses: autoimmune diseases, infectious diseases, evasion and subversion of the immune system by pathogens, introduction to microbes and microbial interactions; microbe-human/animal interactions: pathogens, microbiome, probiotics, metagenome. 

The course addresses the principles of biological databases; sequence analysis; data mining, and phylogeny. The course then demonstrates how to analyze data from shotgun sequencing project; EST project, and other high throughput biological methods used in present genomics and functional genomics.

This course looks at practical applications of wildlife biology to the conservation and management of animals, both in- and ex-situ, including the role of zoos in captive breeding programs. Among the topics covered are planning for wildlife management, wildlife survey and census techniques, the principles of managing wildlife for sustainable harvest or control, management of scarce or endangered species, practical issues associated with the ex-situ management of species, and the design and management of conservation areas. 
 

This course introduces students to field biology including the basic techniques involved, sampling design, and basic data gathering and data management. Through local field study sessions, students experience and encounter tropical environs and habitats, namely coastal, mangrove, and primary and secondary forests. The course includes a 1-week field trip to the luscious tropical island, Pulau Tioman, off East coast of Peninsular Malaysia where students experience unique tropical ecosystems such as rainforest, freshwater stream, mangroves, and the coral reefs under the guidance of experienced field biologists.

This course is based on the "General Zoology Experiment Guide" written by the department as the textbook. The book is co-authored by many professors of the department. There are more than 30 experiments planned in total, covering important fields of life science, such as cells and tissues; the structure and function of organs and various systems; the heredity of life; the classification of animals; the origin and evolution of life, the behavior of animals and ecology, etc. Based on this book, this course selects 1~2 experiments from each field. First, the basic theory and experimental content on which each experiment is based is introduced through lectures and pictures. Students then complete the experiment and discuss it.  After class time, students serve as teaching assistant trainees in the general biology laboratory animal (or general zoology laboratory course) class offered by the department for university students for one semester, and apply what they have learned to practical work. 

This course introduces biological science, including the study method of biological science, chemistry basics, cytology, metabolism, genetics, biological diversity, botany structure and function, animal structure and function, the origin and evolution of life, and fundamentals of ecology.

This course focuses on the major groups within the animal kingdom, what defines them, how they are organized and how they are related to each other. Students examine the specific adaptations of certain animals in more depth. The question "What is an animal?" is considered as is the issue of how animals are grouped and related to each other. This is done in the context of the major phyla, their defining morphological, anatomical and physiological features and the sorts of adaptations and behaviors that they exhibit. Students examine certain adaptations such as bright coloration, feeding or parental care in greater depth, using particular animal groups as a source of examples.