Biological Sciences

This course introduces the science of nutrition. The format consists of a series of lectures, assigned readings and assignments that cover the fundamental concepts related to basic nutrition. The course examines how to interpret dietary labels; make informed food selections for a healthy, well-balanced diet; and understand the relevant human physiological processes that transform food after the first bite. The course discusses topics including nutrition in health and human physiology, vitamins and minerals, protein, carbohydrates, dietary fats, and energy metabolism.

This course covers the principle of vaccination and how different types of immune responses are required for different kinds of pathogens, e.g. bacteria versus virus. Students discuss how researchers use different strategies to make different kinds of vaccines and ethical issues that arise.

The course provides an introduction to the major vertebrate groups (jawless vertebrates, placoderms, cartilaginous fish, ray-finned fish, lobe-finned fish, early tetrapods, modern amphibians, lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles, dinosaurs and birds]. The core of the course concerns the anatomy and evolutionary relationships of these groups, which are examined through lectures and practical classes in the Grant Museum of Zoology. The course also uses vertebrates to illustrate two important aspects of palaeontological research: analytical methods and evolutionary processes. The methods introduced by these lectures include phylogenetic analysis, cladistic biogeography, and taxic and phylogenetic diversity estimation. Students also examine evolutionary phenomena such as exaptation and adaptation, extinction, adaptive radiation, and the influence of physical factors on evolutionary history.

This course provides a general introduction to entomology, including the main research areas of entomology. Topics include insect morphology, internal anatomy, physiology, classification, and ecology, as well as the methods of field collection and research.

Selected aspects of physiological processes in health and disease: from the integrative function of single cells to whole systems physiology. A core emphasis will be on the experimental basis for our foundational knowledge of how physiological systems function and their regulation. Topics may include: cell and epithelial physiology, ion channels and transporters and their regulation, cell signaling and communication, endocrine and neuroendocrine physiology, sensory physiology, control and co-ordination of movement, control of feeding and responses to stress.