Category: NUS Life Science

Life Sciences at NUS provides comprehensive training on the essential concepts and the latest research techniques critical to the diverse spectrum of disciplines within and beyond biological and biomedical fields. From molecular and cellular worlds to organismal individuals, and from macro-level ecological views to underlying evolutionary concepts, different aspects of life sciences contribute to our understanding of how humans work, and how we interact with, and impact our environment.

From the new AY2021/22 onwards, Life Sciences is offered as a primary Major by Faculty of Science for students enrolled in the College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS). Second Major in Life Sciences and Minor in Life Sciences are offered to all NUS undergraduates within and beyond CHS.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

This module introduces the theory and practical applications of techniques used in molecular biology and protein biochemistry. Factual knowledge in recombinant DNA techniques, such as RNA isolation, reverse transcription, polymerase chain reaction, recombinant DNA construction and recombinant protein expression; and in protein purification, such as liquid chromatography, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and western blotting, will be integrated with laboratory practice.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

The workload for this module is fine, 2 lectures on Monday & Wednesday which are approximately 1,5 hours each and 1 tutorial slot which lasts around 45 mins – 1 hour. The content itself is quite manageable and not overwhelming like other life science 1k mods such as LSM 1105. Lecturer often reviewed last lecture material to make sure students had understood it before going into the new topic. The lecturer emphasized how to understand and interpret some statistics & statistical outputs rather than using formulas and knowing every computations. Students are expected to interpret statistical output from SPSS. Major topics including probability, sampling distribution, estimation, parametric & non-parametric test, and linear regression.

Even the class got webcasted, I was trying to attend every lecture session if I could because the lecturer is quite humorous and class is quite interesting. Furthermore, I think relying solely on lecture notes and doesn’t go to class at all wouldn’t be a good idea since lecture notes didn’t come with all the details needed. The lecturer often used the slide to write down details and explain concepts so make sure you take the front seat for a better experience. Unfortunately for the tutorial, I decided to not attend it since week 6 as tutorial solutions were uploaded on the subsequent week (moreover, I thought that my tutor wasn’t very good at explaining concepts). I suggest students who wish to take this mod to bid for tutorial slots in which the lecturer is the tutor.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

Aquatic vertebrates are essential components of freshwater and marine ecosystems, often occupying higher trophic/food web levels with wider ecological influence. As relatively sizeableand abundant elements of aquatic ecosystems, these organisms are also central to the ecosystem goods and services provided. Besides fishes, the most speciose extant vertebrate group, the remaining four vertebrate classes all include aquatic lineages. This module offers a firm foundation in the global diversity of aquatic vertebrates in the context of their biology, ecology, and conservation. Emphasis on Southeast Asian aquatic vertebrate biota provides a framework that informs management of regional imperilled freshwater and marine ecosystems.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

The use of mathematics has a long history in life sciences and familiarity with basic, relevant mathematical techniques is becoming increasingly important for biologists. This course will focus on both current and classical themes in mathematical biology and will emphasise the acquisition of mathematical skills of relevance to current problems in ecology, evolution and epidemiology.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

This module introduces students to taxonomy and systematics; i.e., the science of grouping biodiversity into species, describing the species, and classifying this diversity into higher-level taxa that reflect evolutionary history. The module has two main goals: (1) It introduces the main concepts and goals of taxonomy and systematics. (2) It teaches the qualitative and quantitative techniques that are today used to describe/identify species and higher-level taxa based on the analysis of morphological and DNA sequence evidence. The aim is to equip environmental as well as other biologists with a thorough understanding of taxonomic/systematic units and the tools needed for evaluating and quantifying diversity in samples of plant and animal specimens.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

This module aims at providing an in-depth knowledge in the field of host-pathogen interactions, i.e how the immune system deals with pathogens, and how the pathogens deal with the host’s immune system. An introductory lecture series covers the basics in microbiology (bacteriology, virology, parasitology), immunology, vaccinology, and general principles of host-pathogen interactions. Selected diseases illustrate host-pathogens interactions along with the consequences for vaccine and drug design. The following set of lectures covered by clinicians and professionals focus on patient management, field study, as well as safety aspects when working with pathogens in a research lab. Tutorials are broken into “journal club”, “article write-up exercise” and “problem-based study” and are directly related to the topics developed during the lectures.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

The primary goal of this module is to understand how (a) neurons, assembled into circuits, mediate behavior and (b) pathophysiology of neurons leading to dysfunctional cellular and molecular processes and behavior. This course draws on basic knowledge of the cell biology and physiology of neurons.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

This module will examine the scientific bases for all aspects of human variability in clinical responses to drugs and other xenobiotics. The course will provide both the theoretical and technical know-how to conduct and interpret simple studies relating to intraindividual, interindividual as well as interpopulational differences in drug responses.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!

This introductory course is aimed at providing the basic principles and modern concepts of toxicology ? adverse effects of chemicals on humans and the biosphere. The students will understand how to make quantitative risk assessments from exposure to hazardous compounds, how to extrapolate from animal data, and how to link adverse effects at the molecular level to overall toxic responses in humans. Lecture topics include health hazards from drugs, naturally occurring toxins, industrial chemicals, or environmental toxicants; toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics; cellular and molecular mechanisms of toxicity; organ-selective toxicity; and safety evaluation of drugs and other chemicals. The general concepts will be illustrated with a number of both classical and highly topical examples.

Head over to our Shop for more module content!