LSM modules

Will compile the module reviews here, because I can't tag this like a normal blog post.

Saw a few google searches for LSM4243 directing to my blog so I decided to start doing some reviews for modules. But alas, the LSM4243 review and others like PL1101e will have to come after the release of my results. For now, I'll do reviews for others I did in the past 5 semesters. Can't guarantee that I can remember everything so I might just selectively do some and the format may have changed as well. Hope they might be useful for some people.

So here goes!(:

Year 2011/2012 Semester 1

LSM3211 Fundamental Pharmacology

As you know from the module title, you can expect lots of drug names to memorise. Content wise, it is alot quite manageable because it's mostly stuff from year 2, but you need to know the drug names and how they work. That's the hard part. I think there are about more than a hundred names to memorise, but the good thing is that the lecturers (some of them) tell you which drugs to memorise. If you are not intending to do honors or do anything science related after you graduate, I suggest that you skip this module and take others instead. But I didn't regret taking this because it is indeed quite useful in everyday life, as in knowing what drugs you have been prescribed and its side effects, but the memorising was really not worth it!):

My lecturers were Prof Fred Wong, Prof Peter Wong, Dr Sethi and Prof P.K. Moore. Lectures were webcasted but I never watched a single one. The module consisted of 1 CA (23%) which was MCQs with true/false questions and negative marking, and final exam which consisted of 28 MCQs (same format as CA) and 3 essay questions (can choose questions). There were practical sessions as well, but they were quite slack because we just had to add reagents and get the data from the computer and input them into an excel file to get a graph and not to mention not graded.

In all, a good module to take if you are doing honors because it's a pre-requisite for many year 4 BMS modules. But I really almost went mad trying to memorise all the drug names.

LSM3223 Immunology


Interesting module to learn about the body's immune system. T cells, B cells, Lymphocytes, antibodies and everything else. I would say this is an essential module for everyone because it ties in with so many other modules like LSM3212 Cardiopulmonary system, LSM3224 Molecular basis of human diseases, LSM3211 and even LSM4243 Tumor Biology. We learnt experimental techniques like immuno-blotting and flow cytometry which are really common techniques, as I came to know in the semester just past. Really useful for interpreting data from scientific papers and even data included in the lecture notes.


Content wise, it was quite heavy, considering each lecturer had 2 sets of notes for one lecture. You can imagine them rushing through, and not to mention that this module was not webcasted which means that once you miss something, you really miss it. I bought the textbook because I couldn't catch what the lecturers were saying so I would say the textbook is useful for that purpose. And most diagrams were taken from the textbook as well, so I just read the captions.

But I liked this module more than pharmacology because it was much more interesting than drugs which was more of biochemistry. It was interesting to learn about how long it takes for your body to make various antibodies and how they are made, B cell and T cell maturation and all.

Lecturers: Prof Wong, Prof Chew FT, Prof Gan and Prof Grotenbreg. (Lecturers are different for different semesters)

Exam format: 1 CA (I think 30%) and 1 final exam (70%) (On a random note, sometimes I dislike modules that have such heavy weightage for the final exam because of the stress, and I found immunology questions really hard. But I guess if you like it enough, it's fine) Practical sessions not graded, no lab reports to do, so lab sessions were fun (for me at least). We did immuno-blotting, blood coagulation and some other stuff which I'll add if I remember.

LSM3232 Microbiology


Took this module in Year 2011/2012 Sem 1

A module very similar to LSM2203 (if I remember the code correctly, but it's experimental microbiology), just a little more in depth. We covered General, water, food and medical microbiology. As usual for microbio modules, there are lab reports to write. Each report amounted to very little of the final grade, though they required a lot of time to complete and get a good grade.

Content wise, the content was rather little compared to other modules like pharmacology and immunology, but there is still quite a bit to memorise, though it cannot be compared to the BMS ones.

Assesment: Can't really remember, but if I recall correctly, final exam was 60% (3 structured questions, 1 from each lecturer, with choices), CA was MCQ (As usual, everyone is bound to get almost full marks for this, so better to score), and 10% lab reports. Final exam was not too difficult but as usual, the bell curve pulls the average student down, at least that is what happens for me.

Overall: I didn't really enjoy this module, but it was good in a sense that it was rather 'slack' compared to the BMS modules I took in the same sem, so it didn't seem that heavy to me. The lecturers (Prof Sim and Prof Kevin) were really nice though.

Really don't remember much about this module. Will add on if I can remember(:

LSM3224: Molecular Basis of human diseases

Hmm this module really started off very badly, because of the change in lecturer and the order of the lectures as well, so the first part was covered by Dr Wong BS. He covered atherosclerosis, diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome. So he kind of expects us to know everything like things from immunology such as flow cytometry, blotting (western/southern/northern) because they are used in experimental procedures, and a lot more things that he will say 'I assume all of you know..', which we clearly do not know at all. So I guess I didn't learn much from the lectures. Instead I read the lecture notes many times but guess it didn't really help as well, since he tends to test application based questions like data analysis. So better to just know the concepts. Not much need to memorise. 

Prof Sharma covered muscle diseases. Well I guess she's rather good but I was confused reading the notes because almost all the diseases involved ROS and myostatin. She also tends to test some application questions so better to know the concepts. Both these profs' questions were short essay questions so it was quite difficult to study. 

And the last part of the module was my favourite! Guess what it is... It's cancer! Hahaha okay I sound so full of nonsense and a sadist. So yes, it was covered by Prof Yeong FM, my favourite lecturer, because she is really good. I won't go into detail about how good she is, but her notes were the easiest to study and her explanation was really clear and she really takes the effort to make sure that you understand. Okay and my liking for this part was partially fuelled by LSM4243 since it is all about tumor biology. Didn't study much for this part of the module because I already knew the basics like tumor suppressors such as P53 and oncogenes such as myc/bcr-abl. And Prof Yeong's questions was just 5 MCQs, true false type with negative marking. Quite tricky, I would say. But she gave us an assignment as well, and that was quite difficult because it involved reading papers and coming up with your own conclusion. 

Assessment was 25% lab reports, 15% assignment and 60% final exam. I really spent a lot of time doing the lab reports, considering the high percentage of 10% each for 2 reports and 5% for the last. And I guess everyone does well for the reports so better to put in more effort for them. Lab sessions were quite enjoyable for me because I had funny bench mates so they made the incubation times less boring. 

Overall, I would recommend this module because it's rather interesting, now that it's over and I'm no longer stuck studying about sarcopenia, obesity and everything else.


LSM4243: Tumor Biology

Okay so I bidded for this module because I was originally going to go on to Year 4 and do honours but halfway through the semester I kind of saw the light and realised that I couldn't see myself in a lab for the entire year. So I regretted taking LSM4243 for half a sem because it is going to be my elective. And who takes a level 4 module as an elective?! But I thank God for everything that He has done and who has been watching over me so that I did pretty well for it! I got a B+ for it, which was more than I could ask for.

Content: Hmm, this module was taught by 4 lecturers who I felt were pretty good, most of them at least. But do expect a lot of overlap in content because this is a tumor biology module and what the lectures cover will be just the apoptosis pathway, both intrinsic and extrinsic, the BCl2 family of pro-apoptosis and anti-apoptosis members, telomeres, telomerase, metastasis, genome instability, chromosomal translocations, caspases, tumor suppressor genes p53 and oncogenes. That's about it. No webcasts except for the last lecturer Dr Ong Siew Hwa, who webcasted her lectures so that people can re-watch them. I actually enjoyed the lectures because they were really interesting for some, and they really triggered me to think. Think: Would inhibition of telomerase be okay to cure cancer? But at the expense of shortening the lives of their future offspring. And also the effectiveness of chemotherapy drug in terms of curing cancer in the long term. Really interesting to me that I even considered doing honours project in cancer. But obviously the frightening thought of lab won the interest in cancer.

And it's a module that you can take alone (at least for my sem) because there is no group project or whatever that requires you to form groups or anything. So the foreveralones can take this module and not feel so ostracised. Okay just a joke because I was alone in the lectures as well.

No CAs for this module, but there were 3 written assignments which are given really early in the semester but you can't actually start on them early because it was on metastasis which was only taught in the last 4 weeks of the semester. At least I couldn't. The assignments are actually based on scientific papers. In a sense it's like comprehension, but at a much higher level. You need to use content from what you learn in the lectures and apply them to the questions. I did pretty well for them judging from how lousy I am at understanding the papers. I got about 70/100 for the assignment, which is good in my very humble opinion since I wasn't expecting much. Final exam was do-able because they really tested very general questions. Prof Reshma Taneja, Prof Shazib Pervaiz and Prof Ong Siew Hwa all tested very general stuff. Questions from the first 2 lecturers were quite easy but Prof Ong Siew Hwa's require you to pull everything about metastasis together, she already gave hints on what she expects and how we should answer her question, so I made mindmaps on the seed and soil hypothesis, metastasis in general and a whole load of other stuff. Her part was really quite heavy with a lot of things to remember.

Really need to comment on Prof Hande's question. I really scrapped through with some luck. Because he tested on this obscure 4 slides which he decided to add in, in addition to his last set of lecture notes. While studying, I decided to memorise those 4 slides just for fun and just in case. Not that I'm complaining, but I found it really really redundant, that he talked so much about telomerase, genomic instability only to test that last 4 weird slides. So the bottom line is to try to remember everything. I'm sure some stuff will get into your head and you'll be able to do well too. I'm not the type who can memorise word for word (find that really stupid actually) and really almost died studying for this module and cried so much because of stress but looking back now, I can say for sure that I don't regret taking it because I learnt so much from this and though I don't intend to do anything science related, I finally know why cancer occurs and how cancer spreads, something I have been thinking about since I was 17 or 18. And I'm glad, because I won't be left wondering why and how cancer spreads anymore.