Postgraduate Course: Information Processing in Biological Cells (PGBI11051)

Course Outline
School	School of Biological Sciences	College	College of Science and Engineering
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	All biological cells process information. They integrate signals from their environment, respond and adapt to internal changes and store information in a variety of means from transients to persistent.
Course description	In this course we will look at the various strategies used by cells to process and store information. This course uses mathematical equations and methods. Students are required to have proficiency in handling equations, plotting functions and have a grasp of elementary concepts of calculus. In addition, students are required to have basic knowledge of chemistry on the level of an undergraduate course in general, physical or biological chemistry.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2022/23, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: 27
Course Start	Semester 1
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 20, Summative Assessment Hours 3, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 75 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 50 %, Coursework 50 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	Written Examination 50 Assessed Assignments 50: two pieces of in-course assessment will be set comprising a mixture of problem, discussion and short answer questions designed to assess and reinforce the lecture material.
Feedback	Not entered
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)			2:00

Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to: Be able to describe a range of examples of information processing in biological cells. Compare and contrast biological methods for storing information across different time scales. Discuss the computational limits of the simplest biological organisms. Be able to understand the literature in the field and interpret it critically. Be acquainted with the theoretical methods such as mathematical and computational modelling.