Physiology RSM - course unit details - BSc Medical Physiology with a Modern Language - full details (2025 entry)

Duration: 4 years
Year of entry: 2025
UCAS course code: B122 / Institution code: M20

Key features:
Study abroad
Study with a language

Typical A-level offer: AAA-AAB including specific subjects
Typical contextual A-level offer: AAB-ABB including specific subjects
Refugee/care-experienced offer: ABB including specific subjects
Typical International Baccalaureate offer: 36-35 points overall with 6, 6, 6 to 6, 6, 5 at HL, including specific requirements

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Fees and funding

Fees

Tuition fees for home students commencing their studies in September 2025 will be £9,535 per annum (subject to Parliamentary approval). Tuition fees for international students will be £34,500 per annum. For general information please see the undergraduate finance pages.

Tuition fees are considerably lower for your placement year. Please see the fees page for full details.

Additional expenses

Tuition fees are considerably lower for your placement year. Please see the fees pages for full details.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

Students participating in placements outside the UK may be able to apply for funding from the UK's Turing scheme depending on eligibility. Priority will be given to students from low income households.

Course unit details:
Physiology RSM

Course unit fact file
Unit code	BIOL20942
Credit rating	10
Unit level	Level 2
Teaching period(s)	Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit?	No

Overview

This Research Skills Module is designed to develop your experimental design, report writing and practical skills. You will investigate a range of topics including the control of breathing and cold pressor test in humans, the setting of the cell membrane potential, the heart’s response to drugs and the stimulation of skeletal muscle contraction. You will design and carry out a research project related to the human response to exercise.

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title	Unit code	Requirement type	Description
Excitable Cells: the Foundations of Neuroscience	BIOL10832	Pre-Requisite	Compulsory
Cell Membrane Structure & Function	BIOL21141	Co-Requisite	Compulsory
Membrane Excitability: Ion Channels & Transporters in Action	BIOL21321	Co-Requisite	Compulsory

BIOL20942 Pre & Co-requisites are BIOL10832 and BIOL21141 OR BIOL21321The Unit is aimed at students on the Degree Programmes of Physiology and Pharmacology/Medical Physiology. It may also be of interest to those studying Biomedical Sciences and Biology.It is compulsory for students to have studied EITHER BIOL21141 Cell Membrane Structure & Function OR BIOL21321 Membrane Excitability: Ion Channels & Transporters in Action.

Aims

• To provide the opportunity for students to perform human volunteer practicals, an exercise project and to study cell physiological methods.• To give the students experience in: data presentation, use of some standard statistical analyses and writing up results in publication format.

Learning outcomes

• To be able to devise, perform, analyse and write up (in publication format) a small scale research project relating to the human response to exercise.• To be able to perform a range of experiments using standard physiological techniques and to learn the need for good experimental technique, laboratory practice and for control experiments.• To use statistical techniques to analyse data.

Syllabus

Students will be allocated a mini-research project on an aspect of the human response to exercise. A minimum of two experimental days will be spent working on this project.

Further days will be devoted to: investigating the effects of changes in motor nerve stimulus parameters on skeletal muscle contraction, using computer simulations of electrophysiological techniques, and the function of the mammalian heart; determining the control of ventilation by changes in blood gas concentrations and investigating the cold pressor response.

Another element of the unit is using fluorescence microscopy to determine channel localization in cultured cells.

An electronic manual will be provided, which will contain further recommended reading. The mini-research project will require students to do a short literature search.

Employability skills

Analytical skills: The report is expected to contain data which has been analysed using appropriate statistical tests. There are several parts of the practical work which require data handling.
Group/team working: Students work in groups of 8-12 to conduct exercise projects and 3-4 for human practicals.
Innovation/creativity: Students are free to design their own study (within the constraints of the ethical approval).
Leadership: A member of the group needs to ensure that experiments are conducted on time and in an appropriate manner.
Project management: Students are expected to design their own experiments (with advice from staff) and to manage their own time in the lab.
Oral communication: Students give small group presentations about their exercise projects to the rest of the group.
Problem solving: Questions associated with each practical.
Research: Students conduct research projects which aim to test a hypothesis they have thought up.
Written communication: Students are expected to write a report of their exercise project and short answer questions based on the other practical sessions.
Other: This unit gives students a good grounding in some basic physiological principles, as well as designing experiments using human volunteers.

Assessment methods

Method	Weight
Other	55%
Written assignment (inc essay)	45%

Students will write up their mini-research project in the style of a published paper, which will contribute 45% of the unit mark. The remaining 55% of marks will be derived from completion of online worksheets accompanying the other practical classes (50%) and a mark for the oral presentation (5%).

RSM Attendance guidelines:

Students are expected to attend all scheduled RSM sessions on time (N.B. Health and safety information will be delivered at the start of practical sessions, and students who are not present at the start may be asked to leave the lab). Students who arrive late will be marked as absent for that session. Failure to attend a session (an unauthorised absence) will result in a 10% (i.e. 10 mark) penalty being applied to the overall RSM mark (i.e. a student obtaining a mark of 65% overall will instead receive a mark of 55%).

Feedback methods

Feedback will be provided on online worksheets, most of which will be returned during the RSM. The mini project report will be marked on Blackboard and extensive feedback will be provided before the end of the Semester.

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Practical classes & workshops	36

Independent study hours
Independent study	64

Teaching staff

Staff member	Role
Tristan Pocock	Unit coordinator

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BSc Medical Physiology with a Modern Language