Biological Sciences

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.

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.