Experience your own metabolism! You eat, drink, exercise and sleep. Without noticing, your body adapts to these situations changing your metabolism and adapting to different energy requirements. In this course we cover the metabolism of the major nutrients, carbohydrates, fats and amino acids. The lectures discuss the metabolism of these nutrients for the generation of energy and the generation of building blocks. Finally an integrated view of metabolism is discussed in particular with respect to the feeding-fasting cycle.
Embedded are lectures that introduce principles of protein structure, enzyme function and regulation, and principles of energy metabolism.
In the practical course you will experience how we detect and analyse nutrients and their metabolism.
The workshop topic is “Plant metabolic engineering and breeding for human health”. Students will participate in two learning workshops and will be required to prepare a literature review or prepare a journal club presentation on the topic of "plant metabolic engineering and breeding for human health".
Note: Graduate students attend joint classes with undergraduates but will be assessed separately.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Describe the major metabolic pathways involved in the degradation of nutrients in the human body
- Apply biochemical principles in relation to the effects that human diet has on our metabolism.
- Apply important chemical concepts and principles to draw conclusions concerning the basis of reactivity of biologically relevant molecules and their interactions.
- Critically analyse and evaluate experimental data
- Critique biochemical methods and use library research to evaluate research data
Other Information
Please email rsb.studentadmin@anu.edu.au to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Indicative Assessment
- Workshop - literature review or journal club presentation (15) [LO 1,3,4,5]
- Tutorial tests - short answer questions covering lecture material (15) [LO 1,2,3,4]
- Practical class reports (20) [LO 1,2,3,4]
- Final exam covering the complete course material including practical classes (50) [LO 1,2,3,4]
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
The expected workload will consist of approximately 130 hours throughout the semester including:
- Face-to face component which may consist of 2 x 1 hour lectures per week (total 24 hours). 4 x 4 hours of practical sessions and 6 x 1 hour of tutorial throughout the semester.
- Approximately 84 hours of self directed study which will include preparation for lectures, presentations and other assessment tasks.
Students are expected to actively participate and contribute towards discussions.
Inherent Requirements
To be determined
Requisite and Incompatibility
You will need to contact the Biology Teaching and Learning Centre to request a permission code to enrol in this course.
Prescribed Texts
Tophat Biochemistry & Nutrition by Stefan Broer
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $5580 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $7440 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
First Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2685 | 17 Feb 2025 | 24 Feb 2025 | 31 Mar 2025 | 23 May 2025 | In Person | View |