Advanced Topics in Biochemistry

Overview

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: to be confirmed
• Assessment: two annotated bibliographies (10% each), a presentation and reflection on teamwork (40%) and a 1500-word research summary (40%)

Module description

In this module you will have an opportunity to apply the considerable background knowledge of chemical, molecular and cell biology, protein science and enzymology and genetics acquired in earlier modules, and expand upon this. You will also have the chance to complete an assessment of innovation built across a number of modules. In groups you will present a Dragon's Den-style business proposal to raise money for a stage of development of a new protein or biological system aimed at tackling a current problem in the biochemistry or related area.

Indicative syllabus

Different, modern applications of protein engineering, synthetic biology or biotechnology are addressed. Example topics include:

• the development of drug and vaccine delivery systems
• tissue engineering to repair damaged organs
• engineering yeasts to produce more sustainable foodstuffs.

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• give coherent summaries of examples where protein engineering, synthetic biology and/or related biotechnology approaches have been used to tackle problems that may be related to, for example, health, financial or environmental concerns
• closely examine current literature on approaches using protein engineering, synthetic biology and/or biotechnology, and provide coherent analyses in written form
• critically evaluate ethical issues relevant to case studies and report on the findings of this evaluation
• understand the bioscience industry and stages and path(s) to a commercial product.