• Offered by Biology Teaching and Learning Centre
  • ANU College ANU Joint Colleges of Science
  • Classification Advanced
    Specialist
  • Course subject Biology
  • Academic career PGRD
  • Course convener
    • AsPr David Jones
    • Prof Ulrike Mathesius
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in First Semester 2019
    See Future Offerings

The integration of molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics and cell biology has had an enormous impact on plant science in recent years. This course will present current understanding in several key areas and demonstrate how conceptual and technical advances provide new insights in plant biology and new approaches for crop improvement and agriculture. Two introductory lectures will be given on plant structure and function prior to the major topics, which will include plant growth and development, regulation of gene expression, nutrient acquisition, photosynthesis, and disease and defence. Each topic will be presented by a researcher from the Research School of Biology or CSIRO Plant Industry.

Note: Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but are assessed separately.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

On satisfying the requirements of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Understand and describe the problems being addressed and the advances achieved in molecular plant science
2. Understand and describe several advanced molecular techniques and how they are being used to achieve advances in molecular plant science
3. Search bibliographic databases to identify papers reporting recent advances in specific areas of molecular plant science and to distill, integrate, evaluate and discuss the important findings of these papers in writing
4. Analyse in depth, and critically evaluate, papers reporting recent advances in molecular plant science, and present orally the findings of the papers, placing them in context and providing critical commentary, using appropriate visual aids

Indicative Assessment

Assessment will be based on:

  • Tutorial quizzes (seven quizzes, each worth 1.43%) 10%
  • Essay: Review of a research topic 25.0%
  • Journal club presentation 15%
  • Written Examination (end of Semester) 50.0%

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

Contact: 36 one-hour lectures and 8 one-hour tutorials. Non-contact: essay - approximately 30 hours; seminar - approximately 26 hours

Requisite and Incompatibility

You will need to contact the Biology Teaching and Learning Centre to request a permission code to enrol in this course.

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Student Contribution Band:
2
Unit value:
6 units

If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.  Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2019 $3840
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2019 $5460
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

First Semester

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
2393 25 Feb 2019 04 Mar 2019 31 Mar 2019 31 May 2019 In Person View

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