Stage III and Post Graduate courses in Physiology

Course Convenor: Srdjan Vlajkovic

3737599 ext 89782;
Email: s.vlajkovic @auckland.ac.nz)    

This course covers the physiology of neurosensory systems in health and disease with emphasis on clinical relevance and current advances in research. It provides in-depth coverage of mechanisms involved in each system at a broad systemic level, down to the molecular level. Topics include vision, hearing, balance, olfaction, taste, touch and pain.

Prerequisites: MEDSCI206
Restriction: PHYSIOL303, MEDSCI310

    
Assessment:    Final examination 70% - 3 hour multiple choice questions and essays
Course Work 30%:
Term Test = 10%
Assessment of laboratory assignments = 20%
 
(Note: This course is under development and details may be subject to change)

Course Convenor: Assoc. Prof Denise Loiselle

Course Prescription: MEDSCI 309 FH (15 points)

Physiology 302, Biophysics of Nerve and Muscle, is the most quantitative of our Stage III courses. It reconsiders many of the concepts (already met in Stage I and Stage II) relating to generation of the resting membrane potential, the action potential, excitation-contraction coupling, muscle energetics and events that occur at the neuro-muscular junction. The re-examination of these topics is, of course, at a deeper level and is no longer merely descriptive.

Weekly laboratory sessions cover seven separate topics. Hence, two weeks are devoted to most topics: one for data collection and one for data analysis. The best four Laboratory Reports contribute 20% of the Final Mark and constitute the mandatory Practical Component. A Mid-Semester Test contributes a further 10%; the balance (70%) of assessment is assigned to a three-hour Final Exam.

Over the past 5, the average allocation of Final Grades has been as follows:
    A    27%
    B    34%
    C    23%
    D    17%

No student has yet labelled the course ‘boring’; many have called it ‘challenging’. The jury is still out on the question: “Are survivors of 302 better human beings for the experience?”

Course Convenor: Prof. Janusz Lipski
The development and function of the central nervous system in health and disease. Topics include development of the CNS, functional imaging of the human brain, synaptic function in health and disease, development and pathophysiology of motor systems, foetal brain ischemia, stroke, and sleep related disorders. The topics are covered at an advanced level with emphasis on current advances in the fields.

Prerequisite: MEDSCI 206
Restriction: PHYSIOL 303 & MEDSCI 310


Assessment:    Final examination 70%
Course Work 30%:
Term Test = 10%
Assignments = 20%


(Note: This course is under development and details may be subject to change)

Course Convener: Dr Laura Bennet

Course Prescription: MEDSCI 311 SH (15 points)

An advanced treatment of the human cardiovascular system that provides an integrated framework for understanding the structure, function and regulation of the heart and circulation, and their modification by drugs.  Topics include: the energetics and mechanics of the heart, the regulation of heart rhythm and the control of blood pressure and the regulation of flow through the microcirculation.  The course is illustrated using examples drawn from current research in the field and from representative disease states.

Prerequisites:    MEDSCI 205 or 570.202

Course Convener: Dr Kathy Mountjoy

Course Prescription: MEDSCI 312 SH (15 points)

Normal growth and metabolism is of paramount importance to survival and normal development.  This course studies the biochemistry and physiology of prenatal and postnatal mammalian development and growth with particular emphasis on the role of endocrine regulation and environmental influences.  The topics include: development, growth and function of organs and tissues from implantation until adulthood.

Prerequisites:    BIOSCI 203, MEDSCI 205
Restriction:        PAEDS 301

If you are planning to proceed to Graduate Studies in the field of Physiology, then you are advised to pay particular attention to your choice of Stage III Courses.

Suppose that you intend to enrol for an MSc, majoring in Physiology (Pages 242-243 of the 2009 University Calendar). Entry to the MSc requires that you hold a PGDipSci (Postgraduate Diploma of Science) with a major in Physiology.

The PGDipSci (Pages 248-250 of the 2009 University Calendar) requires that you enrol in 8 Courses (120 points) at 700-level. Two of these (MEDSCI 725: Experimental Design, and MEDSCI 726 (Measurement in Biomedical Science) are compulsory.

You would then be required to choose 6 additional Courses. A difficulty arises, however. Of the 30 Courses at Stage IV offered by the School of Biomedical Sciences), 20 are scheduled in Semester I (see Page 669 of the 2006 University Calendar). Thus, if you fail to plan NOW for your Stage IV programme, you may find that you do not have the required pre-requisites for four 2nd Semester Courses at 4th year.

For example, suppose that your field-of-interest is neurobiology. Then you would be required to enrol in MEDSCI 727: Advanced Neuroscience: Neurophysiology. [You would not be admitted to that Course without having passed MEDSCI 310: Neuroscience: Physiology of the Brain (and, of course, its prerequisite: MEDSCI 206: Introduction to Neuroscience).] MEDSCI 727 is also scheduled for Semester I.

You would now be required to select 5 additional Courses. Four of these would have to be from the Semester II schedule Following is a list of Semester II Courses at Stage IV.

Course    Topic    “Prerequisite Study”
MEDSCI 702    Special Studies in Medical Science
MEDSCI 705    Infection, Immunity & Disease    Molecular Medicine
MEDSCI 706    Genetic Disease     Molecular Medicine
MEDSCI 710    Nutrition Mechanisms    Nutrition
MEDSCI 712    Critical Evaluation of Nutritional Therapies     Nutrition
MEDSCI 719    Pharmacometrics    Pharmacology
MEDSCI 721    Advanced Toxicology     Pharmacology
MEDSCI 722    Clinical Pharmacology     Pharmacology
MEDSCI 723    Cancer Pharmacology     Pharmacology
MEDSCI 724    Pharmaoenomics and Clinical Economics     Pharmacology
MEDSCI 731    Reproductive Medicine    MEDSCI 312

Because of the difficulty of selecting Stage IV Courses for Semester II, the Department of Physiology has relaxed its Course Requirements to allow inclusion of more-or-less any 700-level courses from MEDSCI, OBSTGYN or PAEDS from the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, or BIOSCI Courses from the School of Biological Sciences, provided only that they comprise an “Academically Coherent Package”.