BCHM281-16S2 (C) Semester Two 2016

Practical Biochemistry

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 11 July 2016
End Date: Sunday, 13 November 2016
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 24 July 2016
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 9 October 2016

Description

This course is laboratory based and includes the following topics: preparative chemistry; purification of biochemicals and chemicals including chromatography; practical spectroscopy and basic analytical methodology; kinetic and thermodynamic measurements on solutions; data analysis, errors and Excel competence. Safety and library elements will be integrated into the course.

Practical chemistry involves the preparation of all sorts of organic, inorganic and organometallic compounds, and the measurement of their properties and reactions. Because of the diversity of materials, a wide variety of laboratory techniques can be acquired in the course of carrying out synthesis and analysis. This laboratory course also presents some of the more common among the methods of characterisation which can be carried out on chemical compounds. It is important to have an awareness of how these can be applied, what information they offer and their limitations in order to be able to carry out the chemical detective work which is research. The analysis of compounds and compound behaviour is essential in the understanding of chemistry and its place in our society.

You will be extending your biochemical practical experience by purifying and characterising an enzyme in the second part of this course.

This laboratory course has been designed to introduce you to the practical skills necessary to carry out the synthesis and characterisation of chemical compounds and to introduce you to some important chemical and biochemical techniques.

Learning Outcomes

Mastery of the topics listed below as demonstrated by your performance in the various assessment components.

Prerequisites

Restrictions

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Andy Pratt

Lab Coordinators

Owen Curnow , Antony Fairbanks , Ian Shaw , Grant Pearce and Andy Pratt

Lab Technician

Thomas Evans

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage 
Final Reports: Weeks 2-12 10%
Reports: Weeks 1-7 10%
Laboratory book write-ups: Weeks 2-12 10%
Laboratory work: Weeks 1-7 25%
Quizzes: Weeks 1-7 15%
Quizzes: Weeks 2-12 10%
Test: Weeks 1-7 10%
Test: Weeks 2-12 10%

Course links

Course Outline

Additional Course Outline Information

What do I do if I’m sick?

What do I do if I have to miss something or if my performance was impaired?
If you feel that illness, injury, bereavement or other extenuating circumstances beyond your control have prevented you from completing an item of assessment worth 10% or more of total course assessment or if these circumstances affected your performance in such assessments, you should apply for Special Consideration. Applications for Special Consideration should be submitted via the Examinations Office website http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/regulations/general/general_regs_aegrotat.shtml and notify the course co-ordinator within five days of the assessment or its due date. If this is for medical reasons you should visit a doctor within 24 hours of the assessment (application form available on-line or from the Student Health Centre). The Special Consideration provisions are intended to assist students who have covered the work of a course but have been prevented by illness or other critical circumstances from demonstrating their mastery of the material or skills at the time of assessment – they do not excuse you from doing the assessment within a reasonable time agreed with the course co-ordinator. You should expect to be required to submit additional work if you miss a major assignment (e.g. a field trip for which a major write-up is required).

In rare cases you may not be able to complete an assessment or attend a field trip, because of involvement in international or national representative sport or cultural groups. In such cases you should also apply for Special Consideration. Please review the Special Considerations policy because very few kinds of activities will be eligible for consideration (e.g. holiday trips, birthday parties etc. are not given special status in the University policy).

Students prevented by extenuating circumstances from completing the course after the final date for withdrawing, may apply for Special Consideration for late discontinuation of the course. Applications must be submitted to the Examinations Office within five days of the end of the main examination period for the semester.

For further details on Special Consideration applications, please refer to the Examinations Office website http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/regulations/general/general_regs_aegrotat.shtml.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $832.00

International fee $3,638.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see School of Biological Sciences .

All BCHM281 Occurrences

  • BCHM281-16S2 (C) Semester Two 2016