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BSc Pharmacology PHAR3009 (library) and PHAR3010 (laboratory) Projects

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BSc Pharmacology PHAR3009 (library) and PHAR3010 (laboratory) Projects

Organiser:
Dr Talvinder S. Sihra (Projects Tutor)

Medawar Bldg. 250/334
Tel: 020 7679 3296
Email: t.sihra@ucl.ac.uk

 students in a practical class
Links

Useful Documents:

  • PHAR3009 Student Feedback Questionniare
  • PHAR3010 Student Feedback Questionniare
Project Application Steps

Step 1: Ensure you are eligible to apply.
Eligibility Criteria:

Students wishing to conduct a PHAR3010 (Laboratory) project in the Department of Pharmacology will need to satisfy the following criteria:

  • Science students: In the 2nd year, students have to have taken and passed:(1) PHAR2002 OR PHAR2005AND(2) one of PHAR2003 , PHAR2006 , PHOL2001, PHOL2002 or BIOC2001.
  • Intercalating students: Students must have attended all of the 2nd year practicals including the Drug Action rotations and be able to provide a portfolio that attests the completion of the all assignments. This portfolio has to be assessed to the satisfaction of the Projects Tutor before students' applications are processed.
  • All student must have achieved and overall mark of at least 55% in the 2nd year.

Students wishing to conduct a PHAR3009 (Library) project in the Department of Pharmacology will not need to satisfy any specific criteria, but are recommended to have taken either PHAR2002 or PHAR2005 in the 2nd year.

Step 2: Look at the list of Supervisor offering projects in the Table below.
The general research interest or area of expertise of each supervisor is indicated, but for details, you are urged to peruse their individual laboratory web-page(s) by clicking on the name of the member of staff.
Step 3: Look at last year's project titles to assess the sort of topics covered in 2009-2010 by clicking on: Previous Projects

Step 4: Complete a Project/Supervisor Selection Form.

Accessed from: Project_Selection_Form.

In the form you are asked to give details of the course modules you have taken, indicate your 1st year marks, and to choose five supervisors who you would like to apply to for a project (indicating order of preference).

Step 5: Return the completed application form.

Submit the completed Project Selection Form on-line by Friday 29th June to enter the first round of selection for Pharmacology Projects.

Step 6: Meeting/Interview with Perspective Supervisor.

After considering your academic details, if a supervisor is interested in your application, s/he will be contact you by e-mail with a view to arranging a meeting/interview.

Go prepared to meetings/interviews by doing some background reading on the interests of the laboratory being visited. In the discussions with the perspective supervisor(s), consult them about the likely timetabling of the project.

Supervisors will make a decision on whether or not to accept you after they have seen all other potential candidates.

Step 7: Registration or Re-ApplicationRegistration

  • If you are accepted by a supervisor, you must expedite your formal registration by completing a Project Registration Proforma (click to download or also available from the NPP Teaching Office, Rm. G45).
  • Return the Proforma, complete with: (1) your details, (2) the project title and (3) the signature of the accepting supervisor*, to the Biosciences Teaching Office (Rm. G10, Medawar Building(FAO the Projects Tutor, Dr Sihra), who will ratify you enrollment on Portico.

Re-Application

  • If in the unfortunate event you do not hear from any of the five supervisors to whom you applied, or you are unsuccessful following interviews with some of them, you can re-apply in a second round to a new set of five supervisors. These will obviously now be selected from a much shorter list of supervisors who are still in the pool for taking students.

*Important: Students choosing to do a project with an external supervisor (i.e. staff outwith the Departments of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology) will be required to obtain an additional signature, on the Proforma, from a secondary supervisor within the Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology. This should be done following consultation with the Projects Tutor (Dr Sihra, Medawar Building, Room 250/334).

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Key Regulations to Note

Please note the following points before registering for a PHAR3009 or PHAR3010 project:

  • The deadline for the submission of all projects (PHAR3009 and PHA3010) is the last Thursday before the Easter Break by 4.00pm. Penalties will be incurred if projects are submitted after this deadline or exceed the 7500 word maximum.
  • Two hardcopies of the project must be submitted (no exceptions) to the Biosciences Teaching Office (Rm. G10, Medawar Building) by the deadline. Even in cases where projects are conducted with supervisors outside the Bloomsbury site, both copies should handed-in to the Teaching Office. Additional to the hard-copies, students are required to submit an electronic copy of the project. This will be done by submitting the dissertation on-line to Turnitin® via the Moodle site for the module. Your dissertation will not be deemed as being submitted unless the on-line entry is completed by the deadline indicated for hardcopy submission.
  • Projects should be written according to the regulations and guidelines in this document, with a recommended length being around 5000 words, but in no case exceeding 7500 words . A word penalty (see below) will be incurred if projects exceed the 7500 word maximum.
  • The dissertation should entirely be the work the student. Plagiarism will be checked using the electronic copy and will carry severe penalty if committed. Students unsure of what constitutes plagiarism should consult the following documents:

UCL Policy on Plagiarism in the on-line student handbook.
Pharmacology Programme Plagiarism document HowNOTtoFAIL.
UCL Library document on Citing References and Avoiding Plagiarism.

  • PHAR3009 (library) and PHAR3010 (laboratory) project students are required to prepare and present a Poster describing their project during the week preceding the submission of written dissertations. Students will receive details of the exact arrangements and venue for the presentations in due course.* Instructions for the poster preparation are included below, but students are encouraged to approach their supervisors for additional advice regarding content and presentation.* Preliminary Timetable (available during March)
  • Finally, all PHAR3010 (laboratory project) students are eligible for consideration for the Pharmacology Project Prize, to be awarded for the best experimental work and dissertation. Candidates short-listed for the Prize will be informed at the end of May and will be invited to a Viva a week thereafter in June. As part of the Prize Viva assessment, students will be asked to present a prepared 10 minute talk on their research project. Note that these vivas are independent of any considerations of the Pharmacology Board of Examiners in its assessment of the overall degree recommendations.

The full "Regulations and Guidelines" for the conduct and submission of final year Pharmacology  PHAR3009 (library) and PHAR3010 (laboratory) are available by clicking here. If students have difficulty accessing or printing these instructions, hardcopies can be obtained from the Bioscience Teaching Office (Rm. G10, Medawar Building). Students should read these regulations carefully before undertaking a PHAR3009 or PHAR3010 project.

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BSc Pharmacology Project (PHAR3009 & PHAR3010) Supervisors 2012-2013
  • For information about laboratory interests and research details, click on the supervisor's name to browse the relevant laboratory web-page(s).
  • To see the projects supervised by a member of staff last year, click Previous Projects.
Supervisor Research Area Note
Dr Marco Beato Glycine activated channels and glycinergic synapses.  
Professor David Colquhoun Single Ion Channels: Receptor and Synaptic Mechanisms. PHAR3009 only
Professor Stuart Cull-Candy Glutamate receptor channels and fast synaptic transmission in the brain.  
Professor Anthony Dickenson Pain and analgesia.  
Professor Annette Dolphin Functional studies of voltage-dependent Ca 2+ channels and interactions with G-proteins.  
Professor Mark Farrant GABA receptors and neuronal inhibition.  
Professor John Garthwaite Neural Signalling.  
Dr Alasdair Gibb Ion channel receptors and synaptic transmission.  
Professor Derek Gilroy Endogenous control of the acute inflammatory response.  
Professor Aroon Hingorani Aetiology of endothelial dysfunction and cardiovascular disease.  
Professor Raymond MacAllister The vascular endothelium and the nitric oxide pathway.  
Dr Steve Marsh Pharmacological control of neuronal excitability.  
Professor Neil Millar Molecular biology of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.  
Dr Guy Moss The Structure and Function of Potassium Channels.  
Dr Stephen Nurrish Neuromodulators and control of neurotransmitter release in C.elegans.  
Dr Julie Pitcher Regulation of G Protein-Coupled Receptor Function by the G Protein-Coupled Receptor Kinase Family.  
Dr Andrew Ramage Central neuropharmacology of autonomic regulation.  
Professor Ralf Schoepfer Neuronal Genes.  
Dr Talvinder Sihra Regulation of neurotransmitter release.  
Professor Lucia Sivilotti Ion channels in the nicotinic superfamily: nicotinic receptors and glycine receptors.  
Professor Trevor Smart Inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors: The GABA receptor family, Molecular properties and Regulation.  
Dr Clare Stanford Function and pharmacology of monoamine neurotransmitters.  
Dr Martin Stocker Molecular Neurobiology of Potassium Channels.  
Dr Paola Vergani Molecular mechanisms of the Cystic Fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR).  
Dr Dean Willis Immunopharmacology of inflammation.  
Dr Andrew Batchelor Metabotropic glutamate receptors in brain function  
Dr Jeremy Brown* The vaccine potential of lipoprotein components of Streptococcus pneumoniae ABC transporters.
Molecular epidemiology of MRSA on the intensive care ward .
Role of the classical pathway for complement mediated innate immunity. 		 
Dr Virginia Calder* T cell mechanisms in chronic autoimmune and allergic eye diseases.  
Professor Benjamin Chain* Antigen processing and presentation.  
Dr Helen Donoghue* Mycobacteria and mycobacterial diseases  
Dr Jonathan Gale* Repair and regeneration of hair epithelia: Intracellular and intercellular signalling mechanisms
  
Professor Peter Goadsby* Mechanisms of Headache.  
Dr Derek Hausenloy* Leptins and cardioprotection.  
Professor John Martin* Cardiovascular studies: Vasculoprotection, cell matrix biology and gene therapy.  
Dr Claudia Mauri* Regulatory properties of B cells and T-cells in the therapy of autoimmune disease.  
Dr Barbara Pedley* Effect of Tumour Biology on Therapeutic Response.  
Dr Ines Pineda-Torra* Nuclear receptors, macrophage signalling and CVD  
Professor Ley Sander* Clinical and epidemiological aspects of the epilepsies.
  
Professor Janet Stocks* Lung Growth and Development in Health and Disease  
Dr Alastair Sutcliffe* Assisted conception, Medicines for Children  




* Supervisors with names marked with an asterisk are external to the Department of Neuroscience, Physiology & Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology. Students are required to have a co-supervisor from within the department to undertake external projects.

Modified by Dr Talvinder S. Sihra

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Page last modified on 05 mar 13 20:24 by Talvinder S Sihra