Undergraduate - UnitBTH1802 - Fundamentals of biotechnology

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2012 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 0 (NATIONAL PRIORITY), 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered, or view unit timetables.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Offered	Sunway First semester 2012 (Day) Gippsland Second semester 2012 (Day) Gippsland Second semester 2012 (Off-campus) Sunway Second semester 2012 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Phillip Brook-Carter (Gippsland); Dr Kumaran Narayanan (Sunway)

Synopsis

This unit will cover classical and modern biotechnology, including recent developments in molecular biology and its applications in such diverse areas as agriculture, forestry, food, medicine and marine sciences. This includes an introduction to bio-prospecting and pharmaceuticals; genomics, proteomics and bio-informatics; environmental and industrial biotechnology and the current issues and concerns surrounding biotechnology. Related topics such as human genome project, risk assessment, bio-safety and genetically modified organisms and crops, cloning, patents, ethics intellectual property rights and the regulatory framework for biotechnology in various countries will be discussed.

Outcomes

At the conclusion of this unit students will have an understanding of the essential techniques and the basic principles of molecular biology and recombinant DNA technology that are required for biotechnology; be familiar with the applications of biotechnology; and be well-informed of the fundamental ethical and regulatory issues surrounding this discipline.