Biological Sciences

The course enables students to achieve an in-depth understanding of interactions which underlie the function of the nervous system in disease states, evaluating different approaches employed in the research on pain and human nervous system disorders. It provides students with a sample of neurological and psychiatric disorders, drawn primarily from research carried on at King's College London. From the analysis of these samples, students are expected to achieve an understanding of the complexity of research in human nervous system disorders and the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach to tackle such complexity. 

The course gives an introduction to modern developmental biology covering a variety of organisms and discussing the evolutionary, cellular and genetic bases of animal development. The course assumes an intermediate level background in molecular genetics/cell biology but students do not need to have studied developmental biology before. 

This course introduces the discipline of Bioinformatics to students from both physical science and life science backgrounds. It introduces key biological concepts including the main types of molecules (DNA, RNA, and protein) as well as the cell biological processes involved in their regulation and function in biological systems. Students learn to work with and analyze biological sequences through biological sequence databases, process automation, algorithms, and tools to allow pairwise and multiple sequence alignment, as well as approaches using high-throughput next-generation sequence data.

This introductory course in human anatomy and developmental biology (embryology) covers topographical anatomy and development of the nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, musculoskeletal system, urogenital system, head and face, and limbs. It also provides an understanding of the basic principles of embryonic development and the formation of the major organs.

This course provides a thorough introduction to animal and human nervous systems, their important parts and their function and role in behavior, learning, and cognition. Topics include cell biology of neurons, coding in neurons by means of electrical potentials, synapse and neurotransmitter function; nervous systems and their properties; output systems and behavior which includes the control of motor systems, reflexes, neural pattern generators and the basis of behavior, learning, memory and cognition. Four practicals and one computer exercise deal with neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and behavior. In a journal club, each student presents a scientific paper for discussion.