BN4404 Bioelectromechanical Systems - Biomems

Lecturer: Prof Zhang Yong

This was a module that I never considered taking at the start but was essentially 'forced' into it due to the lack of selection. This is a pure theory module which meant that the bell curve is expected to be really steep since it's mainly understanding and memorizing (more of the latter actually). 3 graded quizzes made up 40% of our grades and there was an online finals which carried 60% of the final grade, so every mark in each quiz is very important to ensure that you stay afloat in class. 

Content covers main manufacturing techniques for MEMs (e.g. photolithography, soft lithography, silicon etching). These concepts were rather easy to understand and intuitive. The quizzes focused on the application of these techniques taught in class and understanding the importance of various reagents and conditions. In class tutorials are also very important since he doesn't provide the answers and tends to test similar questions during the finals. 

Prof was honestly not very keen on doing webcast before the school made it compulsory so don't pin your hopes on his preparing webcast. It's very important to listen in class since his lecture notes only covers the bare minimum and he tends to test content that he mentioned in class but are not found in the notes. 

Grade: A (Was expecting B+ since the bell curve is horrid and it was 100% online, but yay?)

BN5201 Advanced Biomaterials
Lecturer: Prof Li Jun

Once again, I'm in a Li Jun class. Not a fan of his classes since he literally reads off his own slides without any additional information. There were no explicit tutorial sessions or questions, but out of the blue he will ask a question and expect you to remember them so that he can ask you in the next lesson. Since this is a post-grad module, he tended to 'pick-on' the grad students to answer his questions, but he will still pick some undergrad students as well (I was unlucky enough to be called out...). Most of the things he covered in this class were a repeat of the slides from BN3301 so if you have a good foundation there, it will be easy for you to do his finals. 

50% finals and 50% project which required us to form up into groups of 4 and 'invent' a solution to a current problem. It's important to have a novel solution to the problem that you pick and make sure to focus the project on the chemistry and chemical stuff involved since he likes asking questions related to these elements. According to him, the project was only graded based on the final presentation and report. Along the way we had to submit a project proposal with information on the current state of solution and problem, a literature review presentation, and the final presentation will contain all the information on the proposed solution. 

For the finals, as it was online, there were very few questions that covered information that could be found within the lecture notes. It was initially closed book, but open book was great. Once we submitted the answers, we couldn't go back to check and it was 30 minutes for 20 questions so time was a bit tight. 

Overall, this module was 'interesting' and I honestly wouldn't recommend this if you don't enjoy chemistry and doing a project with similar rigor as BN3101. 

Grade: A (Not expecting much for this module since I screwed up most of my finals but yay?)

BN5203 Advanced Tissue Engineering
Lecturers: Dr. Mrinal Musib, Dr. Eliza Fong, Dr. Shao Huiling

Dr. Shao was the main prof since she took up most of the lecture slots. Dr. Fong covered some aspects of 3D culture and tissue engineering while Dr. Musib was the coordinator that graded our final project and did the introductory lecture. The content in this module was something that I'd always been interested in, all cell culture etc. It's somewhat of a build up on BN4301 Tissue Engineering module, but since Prof Toh left, the module had been discontinued so the contents covered for this semester was somewhat of a repeat of the things covered previously (well, this placed us at a slight advantage). 

There were 2 journal clubs that we had to complete and there was supposed to be a final 'quiz' that was 60%, but was changed to a final project due to the situation. Each journal club was 20%, for Dr. Shao's, we had a choice of a theme and she assigned us the article that we had to prepare for the class. Each group had 5 members and we were all given 2 weeks to work on the paper and prepare the presentation. For the second 20% journal club, it was under Dr. Musib and he made it open ended, which meant that we had to source our own tissue engineering related paper and send it to him to get it approved. Our group did something on mandibular defects and tissue engineering and a live presentation was not required. We just had to prepare the slides, record our voices and upload the files for grading. 

Finally, for the final project, it was worth 60% and the format was very similar to BN3101. We had to decide on a tissue engineering product and each member had to prepare a 2-3 page report on their specific topic within the product. Our group worked on an on-going product which was in clinical trials and I worked on the clinical trials and regulatory components. Honestly, it was not a very good experience (can't really complain much since it was a last minute change) since this project was very rushed and although it was very heavily weighted, we were given very little resources and help throughout. Don't really expect much as it's a post-grad module as well so if you are considering this module, do take this into consideration.

Grades: B+ (Was expecting at least an A- since I spent so much time on this but sianzzzzz)

So this is the end of all my module reviews for all the things I did in uni. Can't believe it's all over now, so next up in the series will be more updates for my Little Thoughts and maybe some new videos and vlogs so do keep a look out on this blog as I try to continue updating when I start working.

Signing off, 
Sam :)

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