Biomedical Sciences

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr Henning Wackerhage

Pre-requisites

Prospective students should have, or expect to be awarded a 2.2 Honours degree or above in a sports/exercise-related degree. Only very basic knowledge of molecular and cellular biology is required.

Overview

After an introduction to ‘Molecular Exercise Physiology’ as a field you will learn about endurance training and the signal transduction that regulates the specific adaptations to this type of exercise. You will then learn about resistance training and the specific adaptations resulting from this form of training.

Structure

Online teaching: online materials will be released once a week. One weekly 2 h seminar

Assessment

Continuous assessment (40%): 5 ‘Questionmark’ online tests
Examination (60% ): 1 two hour examination

Credit Points

15

Course Coordinator

Dr Henning Wackerhage

Pre-requisites

Prospective students should have, or expect to be awarded a 2.2 Honours degree or above in a sports/exercise-related degree. Only very basic knowledge of molecular and cellular biology is required.

Overview

You will learn ‘hands on’ molecular exercise physiology techniques that include DNA, RNA and protein extraction, PCR, RT-PCR and Western blotting. The theoretical basis of these techniques will be explained and their use in research papers analysed.

Structure

Online teaching: online materials will be released once a week. One weekly practical (between 2 h and 1.5 days) depending on method. One weekly 1 h seminar

Assessment

Continuous assessment (40%): 5 ‘Questionmark’ online tests
Examination (60% ): 1 two hour examination

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Henning Wackerhage

Pre-requisites

Prospective students should have, or expect to be awarded a 2.2 Honours degree or above in a sports/exercise-related degree. Only very basic knowledge of molecular and cellular biology is required.

Overview

The following topics will be covered:
1 Bioinformatics for Molecular Exercise Physiology
2 Evolutionary origins of adaptive responses to exercise 3 Comparison of human and animal exercise models
4 Transgenic cells and animals in exercise research
5 Heritability of performance-related traits
6 Exercise and immune system signalling
7 Physiological versus pathological cardiac hypertrophy
8 Insulin signalling, type 2 diabetes and effects of exercise
9 Ageing theories, sarcopenia and other forms of muscle wasting
10 Mechanisms by which exercise improves osteoporosis
11 Revision

Structure

Online teaching: online materials will be released once a week. One weekly 3 h interactive seminar

Assessment

Continuous assessment (50%): 5 ‘Questionmark’ online tests (40%); one 15 min oral presentation; Examination (50% ): 1 two hour examination

Credit Points

30

Course Coordinator

Dr Henning Wackerhage

Pre-requisites

Prospective students should have, or expect to be awarded a 2.2 Honours degree or above in a sports/exercise-related degree. Only very basic knowledge of molecular and cellular biology is required.

Overview

You will search for literature and compile a review-like thesis on a topic related to molecular exercise physiology

Structure

Weekly meeting with supervisor

Assessment

Thesis (100%)

Credit Points

Course Coordinator

Dr Henning Wackerhage

Pre-requisites

Prospective students should have, or expect to be awarded a 2.2 Honours degree or above in a sports/exercise-related degree. Only very basic knowledge of molecular and cellular biology is required.

Notes

Overview

Everything necessary for producing a MSc level research thesis.
At the end of this course, you (i.e. the postgraduate) should be able to: develop research hypotheses and produce a research plan; carry out the planned research; write a thesis.

Structure

Laboratory research
Weekly meeting with supervisor or on demand

Assessment

Thesis (100%)

Credit Points

7.5

Course Coordinator

Dr Wackerhage

Pre-requisites

x

Co-requisites

x

Notes

Overview

x

Structure

x

Assessment

x