Teaching and learning

The MRes in Computational Cell Biophysics is designed as an inclusive programme with a strong research culture and employs a wide variety of teaching and learning methods to suit a diverse student intake.

Modules and Assessments

The 120-credit LMCB0001 MRes Laboratory-Based Research Project in Biophysics is integral to the MRes, designed to give students an immersive and realistic experience of research science and to equip them with the necessary skills required to obtain and complete a PhD. Each project is co-supervised by two scientists, one from physical sciences and one from biological sciences. Students attend laboratory meetings for both research groups throughout the programme, thus increasing their exposure to different research environments and groups of scientists.

Students have two experienced programme tutors – one in the LMCB and one from IPLS/Physics, who meet with the students regularly throughout the programme.

The two core modules LMCB0002 Research Techniques in Cell Biology and Biophysics and LMCB0003 Computational Cell Biophysics include the following teaching and learning methods:

Lectures: Students will learn through research-led education from world-renowned interdisciplinary scientists principally from the LMCB, IPLS, Physics and Maths. Lectures are face-to-face and will be supplemented by Independent Study.

Online Exercises: Computer-based exercises have been designed to support and extend the students' understanding of the topics presented within the module in a flexible, student-centred fashion. Students can work at their own pace, fitting this aspect of their study around their laboratory research projects.

Presentation and Feedback: A key component of LMCB0003 Computational Cell Biophysics is for students to present the results of the exercises/research questions they’ve been set during the week to the whole class, in a dedicated 2-hour per week “feedback session”. This method of teaching is student-led and trains students in effective team-work, communication and presentation skills, but also in how to provide (and accept) critical feedback to peers, in a constructive manner.

Workshops and Tutorials: Numbers of students in workshops or tutorials are kept small so that all students get the attention they need, the opportunity to ask questions and receive the support they need in a non-threatening environment.

Facility Visits: Lectures/tutorials will be coupled with expert-led tours of some of UCL’s state-of-the-art research facilities.

Research Department Seminars: Using research department seminars as teaching and learning tools exposes students to ongoing, current, scientific research performed and presented by researchers of international renown.

Assessment types within the MRes programme are varied and depend, to some extent, on the optional 30-credit module(s) chosen by the student. For the compulsory components of the MRes, the Laboratory-Based Research Project in Biophysics, Research Techniques in Cell Biology and Biophysics and Computational Cell Biophysics, assessments are designed to build on previous work and to become more challenging (in content or experience) during the MRes programme.

Assessments include:

1. A mini-grant application describing the research project.
2. A project write-up in the format of a research paper. The student's co-supervisors decide on the journal most appropriate for the research project undertaken. The student then writes their masters thesis, in the form of a submission to that journal. This requires reading, understanding, and following the journals’ ‘Instructions to Authors’ and demands writing quality, figures, and diagrams of publication quality.
3. An assessed laboratory meeting within the MRes host laboratory.
4. Oral presentations of an online exercise for LMCB0003 Computational Cell Biophysics, before a small group of lecturers and students, and for the LMCB0001 MRes Laboratory-Based Research Project in Biophysics (before a departmental audience).
5. A News & Views type article on a research seminar i.e a short (800–900 words) journalistic type news report that makes clear the advance being discussed, and communicates a sense of excitement, but provides a critical evaluation of the research concerned.
6. A critical and comparative review of a research technique in Biophysics (2000 words), for a general non-specialist audience, that highlights recent research.
7. An authoritative, comprehensive, and systematic review in the form of a Current Opinion in Cell Biology article. Written to help specialists keep up to date with a clear and readable synthesis on a Biophysics theme.
8. Online coding exercises (LMCB0003 Computational Cell Biophysics). Feedback on student presentations of the online exercises will serve as formative assessments to help students with the preparation of the module’s summative assessment.
9. Data analysis exercises.
10. Website design. A collaborative formative assessment in which students researching the same theme construct a webpage on their topic of choice.

The three core modules of the programme LMCB0001 – MRes Laboratory-Based Research Project in Biophysics (120 credits), LMCB0002 – Research Techniques in Cell Biology and Biophysics (15 credits), and LMCB0003 – Computational Cell Biophysics (15 credits) represent a total of approximately 1024 contact hours and 476 hours of self-directed study. Students take an additional 30 credits worth of modules from a short recommended list which between them represent a further 300 hours of contact hours/hours of self-directed study.