BIOL 371: Principles of Neurobiology I

Posted on May 18, 2021 by | Leave a comment

This course will have you rethinking about what you know about the nervous system! BIOL 371 is a neurobiology course that focuses on neurons, their corresponding action potentials, and neurohormones.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

Arghh…. it’s an 8AM class but it is definitely worth waking up for (an early start to the day is always nice). There live lectures are all recorded so one could always sleep in. The non-exam marks are broken down into pre-reading quizzes and literature worksheets all submitted on Canvas. The quizzes are pretty straightforward and all the answers are found in the readings. They usually include a “Have a Guess Question” which is more of a thought exercise and is marked for completion rather than correctness. There were 5 neurobiology papers we had to read and 5 classes dedicated to helping us decipher these papers. The paper lectures were really guided and helpful and the subsequent literature worksheets were only marked for completion!

In terms of exams, there were 2 midterms (20% each) and one final (40%). However, there was a reweighting policy implemented in the middle of the term that reduced the weight of the midterms if we did better on the final. Exam format is a mixture of true/false and open-ended responses. What I really love about this course is that they adjust the marking scheme to accommodate students who come up with a reasonable answer that wasn’t considered in the scheme before. The teaching team was really careful about the exam design and were not shy about taking out unfair questions or allowing more flexibility for ambiguously worded ones.

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

I really liked this course so I did really well; however this course is not a GPA booster. However, this course isn’t a GPA killer either even though the content is quite difficult. The content is difficult because the course takes an approach such that we’re looking from the lens of a researcher. We’re tasked to try to prove why a certain fact in the textbook is true by looking at the experiments that were done (eg. how did we know that ion channels were involved in the action potential rather than just simply being told they are involved). The course average was 76 when I took it.

verdict? to take or not to take

A lot of the course is interpreting data from the primary literature, so if you really enjoy reading about research I would definitely take this course! Even, if you struggle with interpreting data-heavy slides, the professor, Dr. Irene Ballagh, is super approachable and always willing to help (one of the best professors I’ve had at UBC).

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Stress and Grey Hair: An Answer to a Biological Mystery

Posted on May 12, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Everyone has heard that too much stress will cause grey hair. This is easily seen in former president of the United States, Barack Obama, whose hair could not escape the stress of the Oval Office! But what exactly links grey hair and stress? This year, researchers at Harvard University found that the nervous system eliminates pigment-regenerating stem cells responsible for coloring our hair!

Barack Obama’s hair color at the start of his presidency versus seven years after. Credits: DailyMail.com

THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

When you are stressed, your body responds in three distinct ways: the activation of your immune system, the activation of your sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and the release of cortisol, an energy-stimulating hormone. All these responses put your body into a “fight or flight” mode; increasing heart rate and blood pressure. The challenge for Zhang’s team was to sort through these three responses and determine which caused grey hair.

Zhang’s team tackled this problem by performing a series of experiments on black-furred mice. They first tested if immune system activation was the cause by seeing if the fur greyed under stress, even when the immune system was deactivated. They indeed found that stressed immune-deficient mice still greyed, indicating that stress causes greying, independent of an immune response.

They also ran similar experiments using mice mutated to not respond to cortisol or noradrenaline, a molecule involved in SNS activation. The idea being that if  a response was involved, stress should not cause the fur to grey if it was removed. In mice lacking response to cortisol, the fur still greyed; however, in mice lacking the response to noradrenaline, their fur remained black! This indicated that the SNS was the main driver in hair greying.

Figure 1. The results of the experiments described above are shown. Note that mice unable to respond to SNS activation do not grey under stress. “Control” refers to unmutated mice. Also note that a different type of control (non-stressed vs stressed) was ran in the immune-deficient case. (Sample size = 6 for each condition, standard error bars). Credits: Adapted from Zhang et al.’s data.

ZOOMING IN FURTHER…

With the culprit in hand, Zhang’s team didn’t just stop there! Through further experimentation, they illustrated that the SNS over-stimulates MeSC, the stem cells involved with hair pigmentation. During hair growth, these MeSC cells transform into pigment-producing cells and color the hair. Under stress, the SNS causes these MeSC cells to transform at an abnormally high rate, quickly depleting these cells and leading to grey hair.

THE REASON BEHIND THIS LINK?

In truth, the reason why this MeSC and SNS interaction exists is unclear. Zhang’s team suggests an evolutionary perspective. Since octopuses, a distant relative to mice and humans, can modify pigmentation of their skin using the SNS, they hypothesize that this interaction was simply conserved. Whatever the reasons may be, this just further shows that the mystery has yet to be completely solved!

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Sugar Chemistry: A Pathway to Antibiotics

Posted on May 11, 2021 by | Leave a comment

We’ve all heard it endlessly as kids. Don’t eat too much sugar, it’s bad for you. However, what if I told you that sugars aren’t all that bad and in fact, careful changes to its chemistry can lead to life-saving drugs, such as antibiotics! Just last year, researchers at the University of British Columbia, led by Stephen Withers, found a unique way to tinker with sugars’ chemical structures by using molecules in bacteria. The same bacteria found in our poop!

A view of E. Coli, the bacteria that was used by Wither’s and his team. Credits: The Philadelphia Inquirer

SWEET…BUT WHAT ARE THEY?

Before we go further, let’s start with a simple question: What exactly are sugars? Sugars are molecules shaped like hexagons which are often joined to other molecules known as “acceptors”. In a way we are kind of like sugars; we find someone we like, confess how we feel, and they accept our love! Right? Wrong. As we all know the last part rarely happens and this is the same in sugars, as chemists have yet to find easy ways to join the sugar and acceptors. Luckily for sugars (and unluckily for us), Mother Nature has come up with some solutions, using helper molecules known as enzymes.

Curious as to what type of sugars chemists work with? There’s no ambiguity here, chemists use the same molecules found in sugar cubes. Yes! The ones you put in your coffee. Credits: The Verge

A SOLUTION UNDER OUR NOSES…

Instead of struggling to find ways of joining sugars and acceptors, Wither’s team thought: Why not just use these enzymes? In other words, hijack Mother Nature. To make their idea a reality, they extracted sugar-specific enzymes from E. Coli, a bacterium that lives inside the human digestive tract. Their efforts gave them 175 sugar-specific enzymes, and from this they chose 8 enzymes that were most specific to the type of sugars and acceptors they were interested in.

“With the 8 enzymes in hand, Withers and his team could now easily make these sugar-acceptor linkages” is what I would like to report; however, things are never so simple. It turns out that the sugar-specific enzymes they got from E. Coli did the exact opposite of what they wanted. Instead of forming sugar-acceptor linkages, they were specialized in breaking them.

Unsurprisingly the savvy researchers expected this and already had a reliable strategy to reverse-engineer these enzymes from linkage breakers to linkage makers. You may be wondering how they re-purposed something to work completely opposite of what it was intended for. To reconcile this, think of this example: hammers. If you’re feeling angry one day you would likely use the hammer to smash things. However, if you’re feeling innovative one day, the hammer would help you build things by hammering in nails. These enzymes are similar; an enzyme that breaks sugar bonds differs very little from one that builds sugar bonds.

MORE THAN JUST A BOND…

Sugars go way beyond than just satisfying your sugar fix. They are molecules essential to the maintenance and regulation of not only your body, but in most living things! Because they are found everywhere, including infectious bacteria, sugar-based molecules serve as effective antibiotics, however making these drugs are difficult. Why? Well as mentioned before, chemists have trouble making these sugar-acceptor bonds; however, the research done by Wither’s team show that this will not remain the case. On a lighter note, they also created a sugar-based molecule that had nothing to do with health; detergent. This just further shows that these bonds are far-reaching and relevant in many contexts.

Story source

Armstrong, Z.; Liu, F.; Chen, H.-M.; Hallam, S. J.; Withers, S. G. Systematic Screening of Synthetic Gene-Encoded Enzymes for Synthesis of Modified Glycosides. ACS Catalysis 2019, 9 (4), 3219–3227.

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RUSS 101: Basic Russian I (Review)

Posted on February 21, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Interested in learning a new language, or looking for a chill arts course to fulfill your arts requirement? Consider RUSS 101, a 3-credit course that teaches you the basics of the Russian language.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

There were daily in-class quizzes, weekly online quizzes, homework questions, and a final. That may sound like a lot to do, but it’s not time-consuming. The quizzes and homework exercises were fairly short and simple to do.

Veta was an easy-going instructor and she created a learning environment that felt safe and non-judgemental, which really helps when students have to practice speaking out loud in a foreign language. For those of us who are more timid: don’t worry, there were no presentations. We simply practiced reading textbook phrases out loud/starting simple conversations with our peers.

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

This course was a booster (A+), and it didn’t require a lot of effort – you would still need to review and familiarize yourself with the vocabulary and grammar, but it usually only took me 1-2 hours per week.

Check out the grade distribution below from Winter 2018:

RUSS 101 Grade Distribution (Credits: ubcgrades.com)

VERDICT? TO TAKE OR NOT TO TAKE

If you want to learn a new language but also can’t afford to dedicate a chunk of time to it, I recommend taking RUSS 101. This course should be a breeze for you, especially if you’re good with languages, or have learned French.

For more information on this course, visit the course website.

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Adapting to Virtual Learning

Posted on January 5, 2021 by | Leave a comment

With attendance at Zoom university being at an all time high, the team at The Undergraduate Scientist would like to share some tips of how they’ve been adapting to the online term. These tips range from study advice to self-care.

1. structure your day

Many students have complained about the lack of structure to their day due to most courses being asynchronous and recorded. This leads to a loss of motivation and a sense of aimlessness. We encourage students to attend live lectures, or to schedule set times where the students plan on watching the recordings. The goal is to simulate what it would be like if classes were in person, and hopefully having allocated times as to when you’re going to engage with classroom material will give you a sense of direction for the day.

An advantage of online classes is the flexibility, however this does not mean you should only be watching lectures when you feel like it. Often times, one ends up playing catchup on lectures a few days out from an examination, which is not only very stressful but also ineffective.

2. Find a hobby that doesn’t use a screen

I remember at the end of the term, my eyes became so tired and I couldn’t focus on the words displayed on my computer. Remember to take breaks and rest your eyes. Try to schedule 2-3 hours away from the screen each day. Find a social-distancing friendly hobby so you won’t be tempted to check social media on these breaks. For me this is golf, but some suggestions for other hobbies can be jogging, skateboarding, cycling, walking your dog, etc.

3. invest in a secondary monitor

You can get these for as low as $40 dollars for used models or $300 for high-quality ones. This makes computer work much easier as there is more space to work, as opposed to squinting at my laptop all day. You can also put reference material on this screen, which minimizes clicking through tabs to find things, only to be lost as to where your original tab was located.

4. don’t overload yourself

It’s tempting to take on more jobs or extracurriculars, because there is now more available time. This is especially true for commuter students who might gain 10 more hours a week, since now they don’t need to travel back and forth from UBC. This being the case for me, I decided to take on more than usual this school term, resulting in burnout in the middle of the term. You can definitely add one more commitment than usual, but I recommend allocating most of the extra time as breaks. Trust me, your eyes and your back will thank you.

5. Stay in touch with family and friends

A big drawback of virtual learning is that people feel out of touch with their peers, leading to a dwindling sense of community. Quarantine and social distancing accentuates loneliness, even when we don’t actively realize this. Make sure to call or contact your family members and friends regularly not only to check up on them, but to alleviate loneliness. Always make time to attend to the relationships in your life, because these relationships are much more valuable than school.

Hope this was helpful!

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CHEM 203: Introduction to Organic Chemistry

Posted on January 4, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Most Science students have heard about the dreaded CHEM 233, but did you know that Chemistry/Biochemistry majors actually aren’t allowed to take that course? Meet CHEM 203, the introductory organic chemistry course that is much more difficult and intensive compared to CHEM 233. However, if you’re really interested in organic chemistry, this course will build solid fundamentals for you to utilize in advanced courses.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

The format of the course is fairly standard for a typical organic chemistry class. There are live lectures where the professor goes over the details of a reaction and its mechanisms. One really needs to brush up on CHEM 123 knowledge as you’ll be swamped with numerous reactions that need to be memorized on as early as the second week. There are also no slides, as this would be hard to do with a drawing-intensive course such as organic chemistry. The professor writes real-time notes as he talks over reactions, which makes for very organized and structured note-taking.

Along with a lecture portion, there is also a lab portion worth 25% of your entire grade. Surprisingly, these labs had less of a workload than the first year labs. However, instead of labs once every two weeks, you have labs once a week. Unlike the first year labs, there are no unreasonable 10 minute quizzes! In fact, you won’t even have to write any lab reports! The workload consists of pre-lab work, the lab, and post-lab work (which is just filling in a report sheet). Pre-lab and post-lab work usually took me 2 hours a week to accomplish, mostly because I get distracted easily. Unfortunately, your technique mark is largely dependent on your TA. Personally, I had a really bad experience with my TA where it got to the point that I would dread every lab and be too afraid to ask questions (as he would take off marks for any questions he deemed “dumb”). This being said, the lab instructor for this course is very considerate, and would give back marks that were not supposed to be lost (interestingly everyone who had my TA was scaled up in the end…).

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

This course will tank your GPA unless you have a strong interest in the subject material. There were basically no “free marks” in the course (eg. clickers, participation) as the marks were distributed between two midterms, the lab, and the final exam. All of the examinations were difficult, with averages hovering at mid to high 60s. The final exam average is unknown, but I remember not being able to finish the exam because of length and difficulty. The course was definitely scaled up in the end as I ended up with an A+, despite not being able to finish. The course average for my year ended up being 68.

Credits: ubcgrades.com

verdict? to take or not to take

If you’re not passionate about organic chemistry and you’re not planning on taking any organic chemistry classes in the future I would opt to take the easier CHEM 233 course. If you’re planning on taking more organic chemistry in the future, I 100% recommend taking this course. Even though it is much harder than CHEM 233, you will gain much more solid fundamentals and this will benefit you as your academic career progresses.

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BIOL 325: Introduction to Animal Mechanics and Locomotion (Review)

Posted on December 31, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Have you ever looked up to the sky and wondered how birds are able to fly? Or maybe looked out to the ocean wondering how aquatic animals are adapted to move effortlessly under water. BIOL 325 holds the answers to these mysteries as it pushes us to view the biological world through a biomechanical lens. This course teaches the underlying mechanics of swimming, flying and terrestrial locomotion.

format of the course

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my experiences with this course were all in a virtual setting. This course was partially asynchronous, as all the live lectures were recorded and available to be revisited at anytime. The midterm and final evaluations were synchronous, however the teaching team allowed for students in different time zones to write their exams at a better-suited time. There are also weekly homeworks in the form of canvas quizzes, which were not too tricky, but also not easy. Unfortunately, the homeworks often had typos or grading errors, but the TA in charge of creating these quizzes was very upfront and honest about these mistakes. Apart from a bit of anxiety, the typos and grading errors were usually corrected, resulting in grading of the homework being fair overall.

Even though it is a biology-classified course, it would be more appropriate to think of it as a physics course accompanied by biological examples. As such, the course is very math intensive; however one would not need any mathematical knowledge beyond basic algebra and trigonometry to be successful in this course.

GPA 🙂 or 🙁

There is alot of material in this course, but I would classify this as a slightly GPA boosting course. Even though the homework (worth 20% of the mark) can take a long time to finish, all the answers are basically in the slides and it is not unreasonable to get full marks for this portion of the grade (lowest two homework gets dropped!). The midterms were closed book, invigilated and worth 20% each. The first midterm was extremely hard and time-constrained. This was due to the fact that it was the first time the teaching team had administered an online exam. Fortunately, they recognized this and implemented a policy where they would only take the score of the highest midterm. The second midterm was much easier, and I suspect this was the midterm score most people kept. The final exam was the same difficulty and format as the second midterm. The average for my class ended up being pretty high; 78!

Credits: ubcgrades.com

VERDICT? TO TAKE OR NOT TO TAKE

I would take this course if you’re a physics/math-oriented individual. Personally, this was one of the favorite biology classes that I have taken. One of the main reasons being that the grading is extremely fair, owing to the fact the answers are mostly quantitative and not prone to subjectivity. If you do end up taking this course, I guarantee that you will amusingly start viewing the world more like a biomechanic (eg. I can’t stop visualizing the lift and drag vectors of an airplane wings whenever I see a plane fly overhead).

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CHEM 208: Coordination Chemistry (Review)

Posted on December 26, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Almost everyone has heard about the infamous organic chemistry, but did you know of its counterpart? CHEM 208 is an inorganic chemistry course that covers teaches you the concepts necessary for advancing further into the world of inorganic chemistry.

format of the course

I took this course in 2020, thus everything was done online. This course was asynchronous in that all the lectures were recorded so that they could be revisited at your convenience (even the midterms were asynchronous). The lectures were also live so that those who wanted to adhere to a schedule could also attend synchronously. There were optional tutorials led by the teaching assistants, where they go through tutorial worksheets and the rational behind each answer. Although being her first term at UBC, Professor Nichols has been by far one of my favorite professors during my four years here. She is always willing to stay late during office hours and also hold numerous individual meetings with students. She also never makes you feel dumb for asking simple questions, and doesn’t mind repeating things.

GPA 🙂 or 🙁

This course is HARD. I spent more time studying for this course than my 4th and 3rd year courses. The assessments were 6 homework sets, two midterms, and a final exam, all of which felt much more challenging than the material presented in class. The homework averages were usually 70-80, as discussion among peers were encouraged and Professor Nichols gave many hints during office hours. The midterm averages were around 50-65 even though they were open book, and the difficulty level was around that of the homework. The final exam still gives me nightmares and was scaled up 14%. Even with the scale, the class average ending up being a 70%.

Credits: ubcgrades.com

verdict? to take or not to take

If you’re in a chemistry-related major, this course is most likely required. If you found CHEM 121 interesting, this course is for you! Even though it’s challenging, the topics are fascinating and things become rewarding once they begin to make sense. If you don’t want to increase your workload or you’re looking to boost your GPA, this course would not be what you’re looking for.

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Featured Student: Meet Golzar Ejadi

Posted on September 7, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Golzar is going into her final year of studies in Biology and Psychology. Her passion for psychology has led her to gain research experience and form meaningful connections.

DOUBLE MAJOR, DOUBLE THE VISION

Golzar first majored in biology as it would give her the flexibility to pursue various healthcare careers, and to choose courses from various disciplines, like psychology. She enjoyed her first-year psychology courses so much that she ended up majoring in psychology too!

With her double major, Golzar’s opportunities have doubled as well. Golzar is keeping an open mind for the future, but she is leaning towards grad school, where she can continue to follow her passion and explore different psychology subfields.

BE OPEN TO RESEARCH

Last year, Golzar was a research assistant at Living Lab. She learned how to communicate effectively with children and their parents, as well as how to run psychology tests and keep data.

As part of her directed studies, Golzar got to research linguistic diversity, and she even got her poster published! 

GETting INVOLVED

Since her first year, Golzar had been heavily involved in UBC clubs. Golzar eventually became the president of the Pre-Optometry Club, and she was also the photographer for the Heart and Stroke Foundation Club and UBC TWECS.

Outside of school, Golzar has been volunteering with Camp GoodTimes, and she also leads workshops to empower young women. Golzar’s involvement with the community has allowed her to meet new people.

ADVICE FOR FIRST yearS

Golzar emphasizes the importance of being open to talk to new people and to have new experiences, as these can all lead to greater opportunities.

Although she believes that grades don’t define an individual, Golzar suggests sitting at the front of the class to be more successful in one’s studies. This has helped her focus and connect with hardworking classmates. 

For those who like to sing, Golzar highly recommends taking choir – that’s where she met one of her closest friends! For those who commute, she also suggests bringing food from home because campus food can be pricey.

A PRODUCTIVE QUARANTINE

Golzar has been volunteering with a non-profit organization to put together and deliver care packages. She has also been practicing her vocals, relaxing at the beach and parks, and doing video call workouts with her friends! 

FUN FACTS

-Golzar has a cousin with the same name as her.

-She is a cat lover!

-Her favourite campus study spot is in the Scarfe building, where there’s a lot of natural light and just enough background noise.

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MCAT Recommended Courses

Posted on September 6, 2020 by | 2 comments

Having all taken the MCAT, our team has found that many of the courses we took were a big help in prepping for this exam. Here we will talk about the must-take courses if you’re thinking about tackling the MCAT.

Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems: Having solid fundamentals in general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physical chemistry is essential to doing well on this section. For example, I studied for the MCAT before taking any organic chemistry courses and found it near impossible to understand. We have highlighted the strongly recommended courses! Those that are not highlighted are courses we found useful, but are relatively easy to self-teach for MCAT purposes.

– CHEM 121 (Introduction to General Chemistry)
– CHEM 123 (Introduction to Physical and Organic Chemistry)
– CHEM 203 or CHEM 233 (Organic Chemistry I)
– CHEM 213 (Organic Chemistry II)
– CHEM 205 (Physical Chemistry)
– CHEM 211 (Analytical Chemistry)
– CHEM 245/235 (Synthetic Chemistry Labs)
– PHYS 100 (Kinematics, Force, and Energy)
– PHYS 117 (Dynamics and Waves) or PHYS 101 (Fluids, Energy, and Waves)
– PHYS 118 (Physics of Electricity and Magnetism)

Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills: Probably no courses at UBC will prepare you for CARS. The only way to do well is to practice, practice, and practice! If we did have to recommend courses they would be the following:

– ENGL 110
– Upper-level literature courses

Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems: Having a solid cell-biology background is essential to doing well on this section. Exposure to introductory-level biochemistry is highly recommend to familiarize yourself with the logic behind certain reactions. We have highlighted the strongly recommended courses! Those that are not highlighted are courses we found useful, but are relatively easy to self-teach for MCAT purposes. The third year biochemistry courses can be quite difficult, and so depending on whether or not they’re required for your program and your confidence in the subject, it may be worth it to self-study the topics instead of taking them!

– BIOL 112 (Introduction to Cell Biology)
– BIOL 234 (Introduction to Genetics)
– BIOL 260 (Introduction to Animal and Plant Physiology) or CAPS 301 (Human Physiology)
– BIOL 200 (Cell Biology)
– BIOL 201 or BIOC 202 or BIOC 203 (Introduction to Biochemistry)
– BIOC 302 or BIOC 303 (Biochemistry)

Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behaviour: All the topics can be easily self-taught. Some of the team did not take any psychology or sociology courses and still scored in the 97th percentile on this section. This being said, some of us spent the longest studying for this section, so taking relevant courses should help!

– PSYC 101 (Introduction to Biological and Cognitive Psychology)
– PSYC 102 (Developmental, Social, Personality, and Clinical Psychology)
– SOCI 101 (Social Interaction and Culture)
– SOCI 102 (Inequality and Social Change)

We hope this article was useful! Check out our course review page for more details on these courses.

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