Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this unit you must:

Attempt all assessments, and

Achieve at least 40% in the final examination

Note: There are no hurdle assessments 

Assignments

All assignments must be submitted as soft copy on the date specified.

All written work must be submitted to Turnitin for plagiarism checking. Instructions will be provided on iLearn.

Criteria and standards required for the assessment tasks will be available on iLearn.

Note the standardised 11:55pm submission time for assessments

Extensions will only be granted under exceptional circumstances.

Late Assessment Submission Penalty 

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark of the task) will be applied for each day a written report or presentation assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a grade of ‘0’ will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. The submission time for all uploaded assessments is 11:55 pm. A 1-hour grace period will be provided to students who experience a technical concern.

For any late submission of time-sensitive tasks, such as scheduled tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, and/or scheduled practical assessments/labs, please apply for Special Consideration. 

Late submissions will be accepted for all assessments in this unit with penalties. 

General Faculty Policy on assessment submission deadlines and late submissions: Online quizzes, in-class activities, or scheduled tests and exam must be undertaken at the time indicated in the unit guide. Should these activities be missed due to illness or misadventure, students may apply for Special Consideration.

Special Consideration

The Special Consideration Policy aims to support students who have been impacted by short-term circumstances or events that are serious, unavoidable and significantly disruptive, and which may affect their performance in assessment. If you experience circumstances or events that affect your ability to complete the assessments in this unit on time, please inform the convenor and submit a Special Consideration request through ask.mq.edu.au.

Off-shore students Off-shore students must email the convenor as soon as possible to discuss study options as this course has in person practical classes and attendance is mandatory. So this course cannot be completed off-shore.

Weekly practice-based tasks: To pass the unit you need to demonstrate ongoing development of skills and application of knowledge in all of the weekly practical classes. If you miss a weekly practical class due to a serious, unavoidable and significant disruption, contact your convenor ASAP as you may be able to attend another class that week. If it is not possible to attend another class, you should still contact your convenor for access to class material to review in your own time.

We will communicate with you via your university email or through announcements on iLearn. Queries to convenors can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or sent to ian.paulsen@mq.edu.au from your university email address.

COVID Information and on-campus classes

For the latest information on the University’s response to COVID-19, please refer to the Coronavirus infection page on the Macquarie website: https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs. Remember to check this page regularly in case the information and requirements change during semester. If there are any changes to this unit in relation to COVID, these will be communicated via iLearn.

Classes

There are two weekly lectures of 1 hour each on Tuesday 2-3pm and Friday 12-1pm which will be held at 14 Sir Christopher Ondaatje Avenue Lecture Theatre 3 (14SCO T3). There is one weekly practical session of 3 hours on Monday 10-1pm (practical groups 1 and 2) and Monday 2-5pm (practical groups 3 and 4) at 14 Eastern Road Science Labs 130 and 150. Attendance at practical sessions is a compulsory component of this unit. Lecture recordings and graphics slides are available online through iLearn (https://ilearn.mq.edu.au/login/ MQ/), although lecture attendance in person is highly recommended. The practical manual is also available online through iLearn.

Required and Recommended Texts

The course syllabus is defined by all of the subject material presented in lectures and practicals, much of which is beyond standard textbooks. The prescribed text for this unit is Molecular Biology Fifth edition by Robert F Weaver. Available from the Co-op bookshop. The following texts may also be useful and are available in the library:

GenesIX by Benjamin Lewin

Mobile Genetic Elements by Sherratt

Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual by Maniatis, Fritsch and Sambrook

An Introduction to Genetic Engineering by Des Nicholl.

Technology Requirements

Within this Unit, you will be introduced to web-based search engines that are commonly used in molecular biology. Our expectation is that you will be able to readily access the internet and have a computer available to you for web browsing and preparation of your laboratory reports. Handwritten reports will not be accepted. Your laboratory reports will be submitted and circulated via the online Turnitin program on iLearn, for which access instructions will be given at submission time. Your practical reports will require you to carry out minor computational tasks, for which a calculator and access to basic statistical tools will be required. We place a large emphasis on correct referencing style in all your reports, and use of the program EndNote is encouraged, but not essential.

The Bioinformatic Project is now run as a Synthetic Biology Design Challenge (see iLearn and the Prac Manual for details). It now runs from week 2 to week 13 in prac classes, rather than being in a discrete period (weeks 9-11) as previous.