Biological Sciences

This course explores viruses and viral disease by examining viral structure and function. It explains how viruses subvert host cell function to generate viral factories. Citing examples such as the influenza and HIV viruses, students examine details of the pathogenic mechanisms used by viruses to cause disease. The course also covers the design of viral vaccines and their use in eradicating viral infections such as polio.

This course covers advanced molecular genetic concepts, together with their associated analytical or research-driven techniques, presented, where possible, by scientists or clinicians actively employing these concepts and techniques in their own research or clinical practice. The course covers: Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) - finding genes associated with complex disease; Pharmacogenetics (PGx) - using genetics to "individualize" drug treatment; Next Generation Sequencing - methods and application to translational medicine; networks of transcriptional control and regulation; chromatin regulation; recombineering and transgenic tools; genome editing techniques and uses; genetically modified (GM) foods and other plant technologies; RNA interference - future therapeutic or useful laboratory tool?; microbiome; and stem cell genetics.

How does cancer evolve in a patient? This course looks at cancer from an evolutionary angle and provides another way of thinking about cancer biology.  

This course focuses on plant knowledge in a broad sense covering recognition/identification, geographical distribution, ecology, and human use of plants. It covers important crop plants, timber trees, non-timber forest products, medicinal plants, pasture grasses, ornamentals, as well as ecological important plants. During a series of lectures and exercises, the course discusses taxonomic principles, botanical terminology, plant morphology, occurrence of plant families around the world as related to climate, evolution, and continental drift, plant ecology, pollination, fruit and seed dispersal. It introduces various web-based information sources, floras, and apps. Parallel with these overall principles, the course goes through a large number of selected plant families with a highlight on characters, genera, and species. Dry material, and to the extent fresh plant material is available from the Botanical Garden, these materials are integrated parts of presentations and exercises. Students elaborate a report on an in-depth study of a selected topic, plant family, or group of families during the progression of the course that includes several elements of the course curriculum.

The course examines the ecological and biological principles underpinning the major tropical marine ecosystems. It provides an understanding of the ecological processes that control tropical marine ecosystems, and considers the organisms that are characteristic of each. All the major tropical marine habitats are considered, but with a focus on coral reef, seagrass and mangrove ecosystems. The course also tackles topical research areas on the subject through student-led seminars, which vary depending on the latest scientific research and the specific interests of participants. 

This course examines how science in general, and natural history in particular, is presented to the public in a variety of locations and the role of these collections in outreach and public education. The course explores the role and history of British museums and collections, and students visit various museums and natural history collections in Scotland. After each visit, students discuss the visits and compare what they have seen with the university's natural history museum, the Bell Pettigrew Museum of Natural History. Students also produce a display on an aspect of biology for presentation in the Bell Pettigrew Museum.

This course examines how ecosystems function and how they provide services for humans: information which is essential for ecologists, conservationists, and land managers. The course considers examples of natural systems being altered by man to demonstrate how ecosystems function and the consequences of anthropogenic change. Disturbance and regulation in ecosystems, atmospheric, and hydrological regulation (including the greenhouse effect and acidification), soil ecology, conservation and management of natural resources, agricultural and grazed ecosystems (including GMOs), urban ecosystems, and aspects of sustainable development are also discussed.

This course provides an opportunity to appreciate the beauty of biodiversity from lecture instructor lectures and from field work in the NTU Experimental Forest. The course invites multiple instructors to provide general knowledge of biodiversity, sustainable development goals and the idea of 30 by 30. The course includes a five-day field trip to the NTU Experimental Forest where students conduct hands-on experiments with the instructors and discuss biodiversity management with the local community. 

This course introduces the basic principles of toxicology: the physical and chemical properties of poisons and their distribution processes (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion); Toxicokinetics, and Toxicodynamics. The course also discusses the effects on toxic distribution, toxic reactions and mechanisms, and then the distribution of chemical substances in the environment. Finally, the course explains emerging technologies applied in toxicant metabolism and environmental toxicology, which is accompanied by a laboratory tour. 

This introductory course provides basic knowledge about the human body, diseases, and research. Human body includes the anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of various organs and various diseases that develop in our body. This course also includes basic research methodology and thinking processes for research on the causes and treatments of diseases with examples of what the instructor actually did for each organ.