Selling your neurotransmitter (10%)

You are currently working as a researcher for an institute known as the National Enterprise for Research by Vikings and Eskimos otherwise known as the N.E.R.V.E centre. You have a great idea for a research topic involving a neurotransmitter but you need funding. Your task is to pitch your research to an eccentric entrepreneur Sir Cecil Offelburger who owns the wildlife park – ‘Offelburger’s paradise’ – a reserve free of boring model species. Offelburger has no time for waffle and has an exceedingly little attention span and so only listens to briefs that follow certain guidelines. The guidelines include:

1. Create three Powerpoint slides with annotated notes outlining your presentation.
2. The slides must deal with the following:

Slide 1: What is a neurotransmitter and how do they work?

Slide 2: A general slide on your allotted neurotransmitter?

Slide 3: How will understanding this neurotransmitter potentially benefit an animal in Sir Offelburgers wildlife park? (note this is a neuro-behavioural course and evidence for these claims will be required)

1. Sir Offelburger is a busy man as you would expect and hence has hired a team of assessors to go through the proposals (That is, you will peer assess ie rate other students brief’s using a simple rubric).

Note: Neurotransmitters will be made available for selection

Topic for Essay and Essay Outline:

Discuss the role of neurotransmitters in predator-prey interactions

Recommended paper to begin your reading: Chivers, Douglas P., et al. "Impaired learning of predators and lower prey survival under elevated CO2: a consequence of neurotransmitter interference." Global change biology 20.2 (2014): 515-522.

Essay outline (0 % of final mark) but compulsory. 

For this topic produce a brief outline of your essay detailing main headings, essay structure, principle conclusions and key source materials.  Maximum one page of A4 paper. Do not provide big blocks of text as this is an outline but key points under each topic would seem reasonable. I want to be able to give feedback on your structure, intended content, and the nature of the argument you will develop in your essay. The intention of this assessment task is to give early feedback to students on their essay.

Essay (20 % of final mark). 

For the assigned topic develop the essay outline into a fully referenced essay of maximum 2000 words.  There is no lower word limit.  The essay must be fully referenced according to the style of the journal Animal Behaviour.  The reference list does not count towards the word limit. 

Guide to assessment levels.  To pass this assignment you must produce a competent, coherent scientific argument that fully references primary literature. To achieve a distinction in this assignment you should show evidence of critical thinking, a capacity to structure an argument, comprehensive review of relevant literature, initiative in identifying relevant and current source material and a novel synthesis of information from multiple sources. 

Project report (30 %) 

During weeks 8 – 11 during the practical sessions you will participate in a study of the variation in lateralisation in humans. Working individually student will write up the project in the form of a research article to be submitted to the Journal of Experimental Biology.  For the style guidelines for research articles look here: http://jeb.biologists.org/ under ‘author info’

You will also find it helpful to read some articles from Journal of Experimental Biology to help you model your writing. Maximum 3000 words, there is no lower word limit. Figure legends, abstract and references do not count towards to the word limit.  The project report must be fully referenced according to the journal style

Guide to assessment levels: To pass this assignment you must produce a report that appropriately presents, and analyses your findings, and discuss these with reference to existing literature.  Performance at distinction level in this assignment will involve contributing strongly and creatively to the practical work and producing a report that demonstrates a complete understanding of the rational for your topic, the state of the current relevant literature, competent and appropriate analyses, and demonstration of independent thought in analysis and interpretation of the data.

Final exam (40%)

Held in the end-of-year exam period. Students will be tested on their knowledge of course content. The exam may include material from all lectures and practical classes up to and including week 13. No written material, programmable calculators or mobile phones may be brought into the exam room. Non-programmable calculators may be used.

Guide to unit assessment levels:

As a guide to approximate grade boundaries, in all assessment tasks a pass is 50-64 %, a credit is 65-74 %, distinction is 75-84 % and an HD is > 85 %. 

Academic senate has a set of guidelines on the distribution of grades across the range from fail to high distinction.  Your final result will include a grade plus a standardised numerical grade (SNG) that involves a process of scaling and normalising grades to ensure fare and standard grading across the university.  Because of this normalising process it is possible that your raw mark for this unit calculated from your assessments will not be identical to your SNG.  

Extensions and penalties

10% of the mark allocated for the assignment will be deducted for every 24 h period (or part thereof) that any work is submitted past the nominated deadline. The deadlines for assignments are not negotiable. Only a medical certificate or a letter with appropriate supporting documents outlining other serious, extenuating circumstances can be used to submit an assignment after the due date without penalty. Applications for special consideration or extension must be lodged through Tracker. All applications for special consideration or extension must be sought before the due date, unless this is absolutely impossible. Details on special consideration are provided here:

http://www.student.mq.edu.au/ses/Special%20Consideration.html

How BBE306 2015 will work

Website

The course homepage containing lecture handouts, course materials and lecture recordings is available on iLearn

http://mq.edu.au/iLearn/

You must use iLearn for:

• Regularly checking subject announcements.
• Downloading lecture materials.
• Downloading laboratory materials.
• Downloading reference materials.
• Checking your grades.

If you are having trouble accessing the online unit due to a disability or health condition, please go to the Student Services Website at http://sss.mq.edu.au/equity/about for information on how to get assistance. If you are having problems logging on you should contact Student IT Help, Phone: (02) 9850 4357 (in Sydney) or 1 800 063 191 (outside Sydney).

Lectures:

There will be no face-to-face lectures in this unit. All lectures will be pre-recorded and will be made available 9am Thursday each week. 

Practicals:

This course will have regular practicals during the semester and an on campus session run during the semester break. However note the practicals are not every week and some of these practicals are more like tutorials, discussions and/or technical practice. The practicals during semester will be in 1-4pm Thursday according to the schedule below in E8A 120 & E8A 160. The on campus session will be in the E8C Labs 1 and 2 – these are the brand spanking new labs just off the biology courtyard. These days will be from 9-4pm.

Communication:

Given the delivery mode it will be important that we establish a good working relationship via ilearn forum. If you have questions about lecture material please post them via ilearn. We can then work on the answers as a group. I want to make sure that everyone is comfortable with the delivery mode and is confident enough to post questions and answers. This is a 3^rd year unit so it is important you practice engaging in the course material. I will be as active as I can on ilearn to address concerns and if there are questions I am unable to answer we can research them as well as pass them onto the researchers delivering the material.

UNIT COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS

Minimum requirements include:

1. The completion and submission of all assessment tasks (taking into account special considerations)

2. Must achieve a final overall mark of >50%

3. Must attend all practicals - if you miss a practical then follow the instructions below.

Overall grades

The current university grading is: fail (F <50%), pass (P 50%-64%), credit (CR 65%-74%), distinction (D 75%-84%) and high distinction (HD 85%-100%).

What to do if you miss an assignment task or practical session through:

Illness or misfortune

·       Submit special consideration via ask.mq.edu.au (Do not give doctors certificates to convener or tutor)

• You will need to provide documentation for illness. For other situations you must provide a supporting letter explaining the circumstances that has led to you missing the practicals.

·       Inform convener that you have submitted consideration and ensure the role is marked accordingly

·       The course convener will process your special consideration. If approved it is your responsibility to arrange with the tutor/practical convener to do assignment or practical at another time.

Neglect (i.e. forgot or just slack)

·       Be honest!

·       Contact the practical convener to plead your case.

Extensions and penalties

10% of the mark allocated for the assignment will be deducted for every 24 h period (or part thereof) that any work is submitted past the nominated deadline. The deadlines for assignments are not negotiable. Only a medical certificate or a letter with appropriate supporting documents outlining other serious, extenuating circumstances can be used to submit an assignment after the due date without penalty. Applications for special consideration or extension must be lodged through Tracker. All applications for special consideration or extension must be sought before the due date, unless this is absolutely impossible. Details on special consideration are provided here:

http://www.student.mq.edu.au/ses/Special%20Consideration.html

Returning assessment tasks

Assessment tasks and feedback will be returned via iLearn.

Required unit materials

The work carried out during practical classes is an important and integral part of the course. You must have a lab coat for the 10^th of September and the on-campus practical sessions 14^th and 15^th September.  Enclosed shoes are needed for every practical class in accordance with standard safety procedures.  Enclosed shoes are defined as flat shoes that cover at least the front half of the foot.  Without these you will not be allowed entry to the laboratory.

You will require a notebook for the practical classes for your own notes and reference. 

Recommended readings

The unit typically does not have a prescribed text and a bunch of readings will be required. However recently a text has come out that mostly covers the material in the course and it will be referred to a number of times throughout the unit. It is by Giovanni Galizia, and is called “Neurosciences: from molecule to behaviour”. It is available as a free download through the library. Its title may confuse you slightly given the course is called behavioural genomics. However to understand how the genome influences behaviour we must understand the pathways from genes to the expression of a behavioural phenotype and of course that involves understanding the neural pathways. Hence the first part of the course will examine behaviour, neural mechanisms and sensory systems while the second half of the course looks at genes and gene regulation of neural pathways that lead to the expression of behaviour.

For a higher-level unit such as this it is expected that you are also accessing and exploring the primary scientific literature. However, a number of books do have excellent sections that are relevant the topics covered in this unit. These are listed below. These selected readings do not encapsulate the lecture material, they are not complete readings for a given topic, and are definitely not a substitute for the lectures or for broader reading. They are, however, the best introductory text for each topic, and will help you understand and revise the lecture material, and launch your exploration of the primary literature. 

Other recommended books

7-Day loan

Animal behavior : an evolutionary approach / John Alcock. QL751 .A58/2001

Cognitive ecology : the evolutionary ecology of information processing and decision making / edited by Reuven Dukas QL785 .C5/1998

Nerve cells and animal behaviour / Peter J. Simmons and David Young QP356 .Y68/1999

The naked ape / Desmond Morris QH368 .M88

Fundamental neuroscience / edited by Larry Squire ... [et al.] QP355.2 .F862 2008

Nature via nurture : genes, experience, and what makes us human / Matt Ridley QH438.5 .R535 2003

The selfish gene / Richard Dawkins QH437 .D38

Hormones and social behavior / D. Pfaff ... [et al.] (eds.). QP356.45 .H432 2008

Biology, evolution and human nature / Timothy H. Goldsmith and William F. Zimmerman QH308.2 .G665 2001

An introduction to nervous systems / Ralph J. Greenspan QP361 .G67 2007

Neuroethology: nerve cells and the natural behavior of animals / Jeffrey M. Camhi QP360 .C33/1984

Biology : the dynamic science / Peter J. Russell ... [et al.]. QH308.2 .B562 2008

Behavioral neurobiology : the cellular organization of natural behavior / Thomas J. Carew. QP360 .C347 2000      

Main Collection.

Motivation a Biobehavioural approach / Roderick Wong BF503 .W665 2000

Learning and Memory from Brain to Behaviour / Mark A. Gluck, Eduardo Mercado & Catherine E. Myers QP408 .G58 2008

The Naked Man a Study of the Male Body / Desmond Morris HQ1090. M669 2009

Foundations of Neurobiology / Fred Delcomyn QP355.2 .D45 1997

Hardwired Behaviour what Neuroscience Reveals about Morality / Lawrence Tancredi BJ45.5 .T36 2005

An introduction to Behaviour Genetics / Terence J. Bazzett QH457 B37 2008

An introduction to Brain and Behaviour / Bryan Kolb & Ian Q Whishaw QP376 .K635 2006

Biological Psychology / James W. Kalat QP360 K33 2007

Practicals:

This course will have regular practicals during the semester and an on campus session run during the semester break. However note the practicals are not every week and some of these practicals are more like tutorials, discussions and/or technical practice. The practicals during semester will be in 1-4pm Thursday according to the schedule below in E8A 120 & E8A 160. The on campus session will be in the E8C Labs 1 and 2 – these are the brand spanking new labs just off the biology courtyard. These days will be from 9-4pm.

Lecture program.  All lectures are 2 hours

To understand how the genome influences behaviour we must understand the pathways from genes to the expression of a behavioural phenotype, which requires an understanding of relevant neural pathways. Hence the first part of the course will examine behaviour, neural mechanisms and sensory systems while the second half of the course looks at genes and gene regulation of neural pathways that lead to the expression of behaviour.