Course Overview

Lectures

In Michaelmas Term, choose either:

• Molecular Recognition and Interaction: Lectures present case studies in precisely understood contexts, within broad themes of protein-protein recognition (e.g. in molecular signalling), protein-nucleic acid recognition (e.g. in the RNA degradosome and DNA repair) and protein-small molecule recognition (e.g. in molecular assembly lines and drug screening). (6 x 2 hour lecture module), or

• Cell Fate: How the developmental paths of cells (from cradle to grave) are determined, regulated and manipulated.  Our current biochemical understanding of stem cells, differentiation, neurodegeneration, cell death and ageing. The experimental approaches and models used to study cell fate. (6 x 2 hour lecture module).

In Lent Term, choose either:

• Synthetic Biology: This module will show how the power of biochemistry has been harnessed in a number of fields, including protein and antibody engineering, metagenomics and creation of synthetic genomes. It will also show how these approaches have been applied to understand the pre-biotic world and to help solve problems such as global inequality (6 x 2 hour lecture module), or

• Contemporary Cancer Studies: This module will look at a series of recent advances in our molecular understanding of cancer, with a combination of lectures and workshop-style discussions (7-8-workshop module).

Part III students are also welcome to attend the Part II Methods and Skills lectures as a refresher (which may also be of interest to students coming from Part II subjects other than Biochemistry). For example,  “How to write a scientific report” and  “Basic statistics”.

Peer Group Seminars on Scientific Method and Experimental Design

The overall aim of these sessions is to develop your understanding of scientific method and process - the development of hypotheses, the choice of experimental systems and the design of experimental tests of the hypotheses. There will be two complementary approaches: looking at deployment of methodological resources and discussion of landmark papers.  The sessions will run on Tuesday afternoons throughout Michaelmas and Lent Terms.

• Methodological sessions will cover a range of topic, such as choice and use of model organisms, genome projects, microarrays, proteomics, RNAi, interactomics and measurement of interactions, recombinant protein expression and imaging.

• Landmark paper discussions will provide an opportunity to understand what makes brilliant science, a sense of why current knowledge has accumulated as it has, and what limitations were imposed by the available technology.

Research Projects

There is a 17-week project during the Michaelmas and Lent Terms, which can be laboratory- or computer-based.

The Part III research projects are generally carried out under the supervision of a member of the Department, but please note that not all Group Leaders will host a research project every year due to sabbatical leave. Prospective students can find information about potential project supervisors in the Department on the website.  It is also possible to arrange projects with Group Leaders in other Cambridge research institutes in consultation with the Part III Project Organiser.

The project weighting is 50% of the total marks in the examination. Throughout the project, it is vital that students achieve a reasonable balance between project work and other aspects of the course. Students are of course largely responsible for policing their own work programme but staff have been reminded of the need for students to achieve this balance and to guard against any suggestion of undue pressure.

It is important that students commence the Project write-up before the end of the Lent Term, to avoid the erosion of revision time caused by a ‘creep’ of project write-up well into the Easter vacation and beyond.

• Information for current students can be found on the Course Moodle site. 
• Information for project supervisors will be circulated by the Undergraduate Teaching Office. 

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Peer Discussion Groups

Peer Groups in Part III Biochemistry are arranged by the Department. Part III students are organised into groups, and meet to discuss their research projects. They are an essential part of the taught course and are important for further refining presentation skills

Student Feedback

The Part III Biochemistry course is run by the Part III Management Committee. This committee considers the minutes of the Part III Class Meeting, which comprises the Part III students and the Module Organisers. More formally, questionnaires are provided on the various components of the course, and the responses are considered in the first instance by the Part III Management Committee.

Staff attach considerable importance to student views and a number of modifications to the course have originated as student suggestions.

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