Welcome to the Unit

A warm welcome to all prospective and enrolled students taking CBMS375 Cell and Developmental Biology, a 4 unit course offered in the 1st Semester of 2008. This course is taught by Dr Sham Nair from the Department of Biological Sciences.
Cells are the basic units of life. Events occurring within cells influence all aspects of cellular life. Multicellular physiology is a reflection of intracellular and intercellular events. CBMS375 covers a vast breadth of topics in cell biology: I hope it provides you with a flavour of the complexity of cells and an appreciation of that intricate dance of life. We will initially explore basic cell functions at the molecular level. Later on, we will look at the development of multicellular organisms (using C. elegans, D. melanogaster and M. musculus models).
The course consists of lectures, practicals and tutorials. The details of these components can be found in the relevant sections of this website (see the index on the left of this web page). Students will be assessed on their performance in an assignment, practical reports, mid-semester exams and a full final exam. Students should keep up-to-date with the lectures: there are 33 lectures (apart from assignments and tutorials) in this course and things can get a little overwhelming if you fall behind in your studies.
CBMS375 is based closely on the world-renowned text Alberts et al. (2008) Molecular Biology of the Cell, 5th edition.
The other web pages on this website will provide you with detailed information about various aspects of the course.