Biological Sciences

This course gives students an understanding of the intricate relationship between human health and the immune system. It provides students with tools to critically review and understand the current knowledge (sometimes contradictory) behind what we know about the origin of the disease, its clinical phenotype, and its treatment. In order to do so, an expert in the field is invited to lecture each week on a specific disease/condition, ranging from autoimmune disorders and viral infections to cancer and aging. Students also gain an understanding of how the immune system’s power can be harnessed for new therapeutic avenues that are currently explored.

This course offers a study of bioinformatics methodologies. Topics include: introduction to programming; processing and analysis of biological sequence data; modeling and simulation of molecular dynamics; genomics and metagenomics; transcriptomics.

This course introduces the molecular biology and the biological hallmarks of cancer. It describes different cancer types, the oncogenes or tumor suppressors that are known to cause cancer and the signaling pathways that are perturbed in cancer. Furthermore, it discusses the different hallmarks of cancer, such as cell proliferation and death, invasion and metastasis, and metabolism. The course also covers current therapeutic approaches to different cancers and current research trends in cancer biology. 

This course covers basic molecular and cell biology fields together with its methodologies, providing the class opportunities to read scientific papers. Special emphases will be on the biologists’ way of thinking as well as the basic concepts on the gene/protein structure and function. The course covers:

1. Logic and basic concepts in biology: How does a biologist work and what does a biologist know?  

2. Methods in biology: What kind of techniques does a biologist employ?  

3. Specific topics dealing with the cell structure and function.

The course offers a study of the concept and method of psychobiology, evolution, development and inheritance, comparative and evolutionary psychology, and principles of cell signaling and transmission in the nervous system. 

This course introduces the fundamentals of tropical horticulture, with emphasis on the situation in Singapore, a tropical garden city. Topics include plant growth and development and factors affecting them; pests and diseases and their control; growing media; plant nutrition; tropical urban horticulture of ornamentals; vegetable and fruit crops, and native plants; vertical and roof gardening; turf grass management; landscape design; organic methods and impact of horticulture on conservation. Field trips, demonstrations, and projects enable students to enjoy hands-on experience in cultivating plants.

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.