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Advanced Laboratory Skills

Module description

You will be trained in advanced laboratory skills made possible in conjunction with the department’s key research facilities and delivered through lectures, laboratory tours and, most importantly, wet and dry practicals focusing on your data acquisition and analysis, respectively.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to ensure you are trained in the appropriate laboratory skills to prepare you for your research project and will provide you with important skills of analysis of experimental data and report writing to both to a scientific audience and potential employer.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Understand and explain the processes (both scientific and logistical) in the production of scientific data in research facilities.
• 2. Conduct experiments reflecting the work undertaken in research facilities.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Identify and employ suitable statistical tests to measure your own hypotheses.
• 4. Present your findings in a suitable manner for a scientific report.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Conduct laboratory work effectively by maintaining focus, professionalism, and safe standards including independent assessment of risks and timings.
• 6. Reflect and then improve on your work (including failures) following discussion with team and supervisors.

Syllabus plan

Content Cycles

Studies will be undertaken in three, four-week cycles during which students will learn about new techniques through lectures and tours of our various research facilities, and applying this knowledge in the laboratory through collection and processing of experimental data before submitting their findings in a portfolio that showcases student knowledge and abilities through the narrative of an experimental investigation.

Please note the available topics will vary each year depending upon the availability of suitable specialist staff, equipment, and interest. The below is an example of a standard year broken down into cycles, each of which is defined by the facility functions they work closely beside.

1. Bioimaging and Cytomics - Samples are identified through their morphologies and their response to light including luminescence and scattering using fluorescent light microscopies and cytometry, respectively.
2. 2.    Aquatic Resource Centre and Mass Spectrometry - Exposure tests are conducted to measure uptake and metabolization of drugs/toxins as a function of embryonic development in zebrafish.
3. 3.    Green Houses and Sequencing - Plant phenotypical growth patterns are observed and categorised against genotypical data.

Methods Of Delivery

Breadth of understanding and application of skills is achieved through three channels.

1. 1.    Facility Tours - Students will be allocated into small groups and guided through various departmental facilities to better understand how advanced methods are employed at the research-level. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions to facility personnel in relation to their own studies.
2. 2.    Lectures - Guest lecturers will present their research interests around the particular cycle and a significant portion of that time will be a brief of the week’s laboratory activities.
3. 3.    Wet and Dry Practicals - In wet practicals, students will prepare samples, run equipment and gather raw data. They will work with staff and fellow students to improve their efficiency, professionalism, safety, and scientific methodology; through oversight of and dialogue with the teaching staff and other group members. Dry practicals will be based around the processing of said data using specialist software suited to the particular apparatus involved. Statistical analysis is performed using R software and involves the identification of a suitable hypothesis and quantitative inspection of the datasets through choice tests.

Accessibility statement:

 As part of this module, you will undertake regular laboratory sessions in the large teaching laboratory that are of 3 hours in duration. These sessions will be undertaken in groups and will involve fine laboratory work and chemical handling (with appropriate PPE and safety considerations). Breaks are possible and students are able to leave the laboratory for short periods. Please contact the convenor directly if you require further reasonable adjustments (provision of a computer, for example).

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons that are approved by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. If deferred, the format and timing of the re-assessment for each of the summative assessments is detailed in the table above ('Details of re-assessment'). The mark given for a deferred assessment will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral - if you have failed the module (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) and the module cannot be condoned, you will be required to complete a re-assessment for each of the failed components on the module. The format and timing of the re-assessment for each of the summative assessments is detailed in the table above ('Details of re-assessment'). If you pass the module following re-assessment, your module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• Reading list on TALIS
• BIOM549 ELE Page
• Course Manual (a printed copy will be provided)

Key words search

Laboratory skills, research, experimental design, health and safety, data handling, data analysis