Postgraduate - UnitGRS4101 - Introduction to reproductive endocrinology

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 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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12 points, SCA Band 3, 0.250 EFTSL

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

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Associate Professor Mark Hedger

Synopsis

This unit provides students with a theoretical and practical background to reproductive endocrinology. Information about the general organisation and regulation of the reproductive endocrine system will be taught including hormones produced by the pituitary, hypothalamus, ovary and testis and their respective interactions, regulation and mode of action. The role of growth factors will also be considered. Students will also learn about the ethical considerations required in human and animal experimentation, acquire basic laboratory and tissue culture skills and complete a biostatistics series to learn how to interpret and analyse biomedical research data.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

acquire the basic theoretical background and practical knowledge about the components of the reproductive endocrine system;
describe current concepts relating to animal and human ethics, laboratory safety, use of library facilities and critical analysis of scientific journals;
demonstrate proficiency in basic laboratory skills associated with research in reproductive biology;
demonstrate the appropriate use of statistics to analyse data in reproductive science;
demonstrate skills in report writing and the presentation of scientific data.

Assessment

Examination (2.25h) (40%)
Practical report (25%)
Biostatistics assignment (25%)
Peerwise (6%)
General summary (250 words) of a published article (4%)

Workload requirements

This unit is conducted over six weeks in the first semester. For the first five weeks, students are required to attend lectures and practical session. It is expected that all students, including part-time students, attend all the lectures and practical classes from Week 1 to Week 6 inclusive.

Chief examiner(s)

Associate Professor Peter Temple-Smith

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at:

enquiries@med.monash.edu.au