Undergraduate - UnitBTH2012 - Biotechnology regulation, law and ethics

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 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 2, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Science
Offered	Clayton Second semester 2013 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Lynne Mayne

Synopsis

Students will be introduced to intellectual property law and to the major regulatory regimes relevant to biotechnology research, development and commercialization. Ethical issues and controversies relating to biotechnology will also be examined. Students will be encouraged to develop strategies to identify and pursue career paths post graduation.

Outcomes

On completion of this unit students will be able to:

Discuss the moral and ethical principles that are relevant to medicine and biotechnology;

Explain, with examples, how bioethical principles are applied in law and policy;

Evaluate current dilemmas in biotechnology on the basis of moral and ethical principles;

Describe the legal framework and intellectual property laws relevant to commercialisation of biotechnology;

Identify and describe the relevant regulatory agencies that govern biotechnology;

Find relevant published sources and extract key facts and concepts to support their written and oral arguments;

Communicate effectively both as an individual and collaboratively in a group.

Assessment

Assignments (Total of 4500 words): 45%
Exam (2 hours): 40%
Oral Presentations: 15%

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Lynne Mayne

Contact hours

Two one-hour lectures per week and one two-hour tutorial per week

Prerequisites

BTH1011