UoM General Chat

[Shenz0r]

It's amazing how fast time flies. Biomedicine is over!

[Leronziia]

Bit of a shot in the dark here but just wondering whether anyone here has done MIIM30016 Techniques in Microbiology and could comment on the subject overall? I've never done a prac based subject before, so not really sure what to expect from this subject. Thank you so much in advance!

So, there were 5 experiments that each ran over 2 weeks, A to E.

A) was about EPEC and how it interfered with the NFkB pathway.

B) was about the regulation of virulence gene expression, looking at a murine equivalent of EPEC (can't remember the organism).

C) was about Mouse Norovirus infection of macrophages, looking at which cytokines were involved and how the virus was negating their pro-inflammatory effects (IL-6, TNF, IFNb).

D) was about HIV and the regulatory proteins involved in replication (Tat and Rev).

E) was a bioinformatics (computer-based) prac looking at the epidemiology of TB infections (how to create a phylogenetic tree to assess an outbreak, how to sequence the genome and identify SNPs).

There were 2 written reports and 2 oral presentations. So one of the pracs wasn't assessed during the semester, but everything was in the final exam. The exam was really fair (and pretty simple TBH). Each prac had a dedicated question. All were short answer and worth 10 marks and divided into sub-questions, ranging from 1 markers to probably around 6 mark questions. The questions tested your understanding of the techniques, and how to interpret the data and what the data actually mean (so the prac outcomes).

You'll come across about techniques such as fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, enzymatic assays, ELISAs, reverse-transcriptase PCR and a bunch of other really cool stuff. You don't need to know the intricacies of how they work, just the basics and how to interpret the data you generate.

The demonstrators were friendly and knew their roles really well. Questions were always clarified. Feedback from prac reports was solid. And the instructions about how to approach the assessment were very clear.

Overall, a great subject! If you have any particular questions don't hesitate to PM me.

[notveryasian]

Exams are over, now I have to find something to do with my life for the next 3 months. 

[MelonBar]

anybody else having trouble logging into the graduands portal?

it was meant to open yesterday I think but it says the online ticket/regalia service is closed 

[mahler004]

anybody else having trouble logging into the graduands portal?

it was meant to open yesterday I think but it says the online ticket/regalia service is closed 

Looks like it opens at 7 today.

[emdiz]

anybody else having trouble logging into the graduands portal?

it was meant to open yesterday I think but it says the online ticket/regalia service is closed 

Not sure if it's up yet but the site has been having technical difficulties so hasn't been able to go live. Don't worry about it too much, you'll get an email when you can buy tickets etc.

[warya]

Quick question, what type of calculator, if any, do you use in biomedicine? Should I keep my CAS?

[Stick]

Quick question, what type of calculator, if any, do you use in biomedicine? Should I keep my CAS?

I can't talk for the bioengineering or health informatics streams, but for the standard pathway you'll only ever be permitted a scientific calculator.

[vox nihili]

Quick question, what type of calculator, if any, do you use in biomedicine? Should I keep my CAS?

Echo what Stick said, but would also say that mine has come in handy every so often.

[Sheldon]

Quick question, what type of calculator, if any, do you use in biomedicine? Should I keep my CAS?

As someone in the Bioengineering stream in Biomedicine, I can say you have pretty much no use for a CAS calculator at Uni. You are only ever permitted to use a Scientific calculator in exams. Furthermore, for most maths subjects you are not permitted a calculator at all, because questions are always designed to be doable without a calculator. The only use for a CAS is at home, perhaps to check you got the right solution to an equation or something, but you'll quickly find that the online processing power of websites such as Wolfram Alpha are far superior to what a CAS calculator can offer. I still have my CAS calculator at home, but honestly, I haven't touched it since year 12.

[spectroscopy]

can any commerce students comment on whether it'd be better to do OB during the semester vs in summer?
also do you think it would be more 1st yr->2nd yr students  or  2nd yr->3rd yr students?

EDIT: also:

My WAM increased from 72.25 to 76 and it says "This was calculated on 18 november." But no semester 2 results have been released :S Anyone else having this issue?

results from your semester 2 subjects change your wam before you see the actual subject result, so you can calculate your score for the new subject that got updated by:  (adding up all your scores from previous semesters + x) divided by (the number of subjects youve done in previous semesters +1) = 76 and then solving for x

[notveryasian]

can any commerce students comment on whether it'd be better to do OB during the semester vs in summer?
also do you think it would be more 1st yr->2nd yr students  or  2nd yr->3rd yr students?

Personally I feel that the coursework of OB is so easy to understand that it's better to take in the semester as your chill subject and you'll be better off taking a harder subject in summer. Also, I'm think that you'll be only allowed 3-4 weeks on the 5000 word group assignment, so you better hope that your group members aren't slacking off. I think that this is the first time they are releasing OB as a summer subject, so if you're doing it this summer you'll be a guinea pig that tests it out for future years, which is something to keep in mind.
I would take a guess and say that it's mainly 1st year to 2nd year students who would be doing it in summer.

[stolenclay]

can any commerce students comment on whether it'd be better to do OB during the semester vs in summer?
also do you think it would be more 1st yr->2nd yr students  or  2nd yr->3rd yr students?

I believe 2016 is the first year it's being offered in summer, so no one can say anything about it unfortunately.

I agree with notveryasian in that if you do decide to do it in summer, you should be hoping dearly that you get responsible group members rather than people who think they can still have a summer break while doing a summer subject.

However, I would actually suggest doing OB in the summer. This is like telling you to stab yourself, but it's worth it in a way. OB was such a drag for me that I would have considered any option to do it earlier and faster to be a better one, particularly if I knew I would be able to do my group assignment with some reliable friends.

The other thing is that the security of having no other exams in the way of the OB exam is very attractive. While the course content is pretty light, the OB exam is the biggest slog I've experienced so far at uni; there is so much preparation to do if you want to do well on the exam. And you'll want to do well for the exam, because in reality it's actually worth more than is listed in the handbook.

A friend who attended the exam review session after completing the subject (2015 semester 1) told me that the listed percentage weighting in the handbook is basically moot. Essentially, your OB mark is decided to reflect how hard you look like you worked. All I can recall my friend telling me is that the exam is worth far more than what is listed in the handbook and is the biggest factor when they decide how hard you look liked you worked. In particular, your group assignment is worth less than is listed in the handbook, because apparently they realise all the crap that can go wrong during it outside of your control. Not sure about tutorial participation and the individual assignment, but as that is all your individual work, I assume they're worth more as well.

Check out any possible breadths you want to do during the year as well. Even though OB is already available in both semesters, if doing OB in the summer would allow you to take even more subjects that you actually want, then that's an extra reason to do OB in the summer.

[spectroscopy]

cheers guys. since none of my reliable friends are willing to do it in the summer and ill be doing 2 subjects in the summer anyway, i think ill just do it during semester 1 knowing ill have a reliable group

[sjayne]

very late course applications are due in by 4th december according to VTAC if anyone is interested
( I'm thinking of applying for arts -also maybe nursing- just in case)
edit: ofc that has to be the date results are finalised