Investigative Cell Biology

Investigative Cell Biology will provide students with a foundational understanding of current medical research fields and technologies available across the Faculty of Health and Medical Research at the University of Adelaide. The course has been designed to enhance your understanding of biological and pathological processes and stimulate an interest in how scientific research and methodology is applied to investigate these. ICB has been designed to enable students to develop and improve various skills such as critical thinking, critical evaluation and analysis as well as academic writing, time management and an understanding of planning and conducting research. Combined, complementary lecture content, workshops and assessment tasks will better prepare students for employment in research, diagnostic or clinical settings as well as postgraduate research training by enhancing their understanding of medical research in different medical disciplines. ICB is a novel and exciting course that covers several themes of research across the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. Content is delivered by active University of Adelaide researchers that are nationally and internationally recognised in their fields. You will be provided with the biology and pathology background to each theme and be introduced to findings seminal and current findings in the field and their laboratories. This will be coupled with a discussion of research techniques that have been applied. Lecture content is complemented by workshops designed to provide you with a theoretical understanding of the clinical, in vivo and in vitro models and techniques used to investigate disease process and response to treatment. During workshops, you will explore the application as well as the limitations of laboratory and analytical techniques. ICB will therefore expand your knowledge around the methodology used to answer real-life research questions and develop your critical understanding of project design and result interpretation. During workshops, students may be asked to critically evaluate the information gained from and limitations of the use of a particular technique to answer research questions in scientific publications/examples. Students are expected to attend workshops (live or virtually) and be prepared to interact with the lecturer/tutors and their peers. As ICB is an ever-evolving course we do not recommend a textbook but Links to videos and examples of scientific papers will be provided to support learning and review of current pathology textbooks encouraged. Assessment components for the course are aimed at developing and improving each student's medical research understanding. Assessment tasks are given during the semester and will develop skills as a scientific researcher such as communication and critical analysis.