Biological Sciences

The course develops students' understanding of key concepts of the mechanisms by which gene expression is regulated. The multiple levels at which gene expression is regulated is described in relation to the central dogma of molecular genetics whereby genetic information flows from DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA) to protein. Students leran about how gene expression is regulated at the level of transcription, post-transcriptional processing, translation, and post-translation. 

This course covers basic notions about infectious pathologies. With precise and transversal examples, it addresses physiology of the body, the regulation of pathogens, and the mechanisms leading to pathology. It highlights the fragile balance between parasites and hosts.

This course examines the impacts of biological community processes on our environments and ecosystems, such as biogeochemical cycles, trophic interactions and spatio-temporal dynamics. An introduction to modern molecular methods used to assess biological communities and relevant approaches to study design and applications.

The course is devoted to understanding the fundamentals of descriptive and inferential statistics (concepts, rationale of analyses, and their assumptions), and to the application of techniques on data sets. It starts with a definition of basic concepts relevant to all statistical tests, eg chance and odds, randomness, data levels, and probability distributions. Systematic errors and random errors are discussed concerning their impact on the reliability and validity of data. Concepts explained include the sampling distribution, standard error, test statistics, chosen (alpha) and observed (p-value) significance level, type I and type II error, the power of a test, confidence intervals, and effect size measures. Research designs that are widely used in applied science research and relate these to different types of samples are used. The lab sessions include data sets to be checked and summarized using appropriate descriptive statistical techniques. Data transformations are applied where needed.

This course introduces students to contemporary plant biology. It focuses on the flowering plants (angiosperms), one of the most successful plant groups that sustains all life on earth, and examines how they are organized, grow, and respond to the environment. A major theme the course highlights is that plant growth is highly dynamic – plants control growth and development through integrating intrinsic and external signals to best adapt to the changing surroundings. The concepts and techniques of gene manipulation for studying plants, as well as their applications in plant biotechnology, are also discussed.

This course provides an overview of the field of marine drug discovery and development and is designed to meet the needs of oceanographers, biologists and chemists interested in this topic. This course focuses on the entire process of drug discovery and development which necessitates the expertise of many disciplines such as marine natural product chemistry, biology, organic and medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, and basic and clinical medicine. In addition, basic skills in the discovery of marine drug hits will be practiced in the lab.  

This module studies deep-sea, coastal, and pelagic habitats. Students learn how to identify the major groups of cnidarians commonly associated with seamounts and submarine canyons; describe the biology of deep-sea communities; provide detailed description of a range of marine systems including epipelagic, rocky benthos, soft sediment benthos & estuarine systems; describe the physico-chemical gradients found in these habitats and discuss their role in structuring the marine communities found there; describe biological structuring processes in these coastal marine systems; describe the features and adaptations of animals in these systems; and define the relationship between area and species richness and apply this relationship to real conservation problems.

The Ecology course provides an introduction to and overview of the field of ecology and builds on material learned in secondary school courses in biology.  The course covers the most important theories and principles of general ecology based on interesting examples from scientific research and the practice of nature management, agriculture and fisheries, land development, and environmental policy. Ecological insights are essential for solving major problems concerning biodiversity, food production, global climate change, and many other areas.

This course introduces the science of ecology and its role in understanding environmental processes. The course covers both the major concepts and their real-world applications. Topics include models in ecology, organisms in their environment, evolution and extinction, life history strategies, population biology, ecological interactions, community ecology, ecological energetics, nutrient cycling, and landscape ecology.