Introduction

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Biosci 107 is the most infamous first year paper and likely to be one of the first lectures you may receive in your university career. While it may begin on a rocky slope, and the jump from previous learning may seem sharp, through passionate lecturers and laboratory assistants, you can expect to greatly build your knowledge in the basics of biology across numerous cellular processes. Overall the course is well delivered and planned, and truly focuses on developing your personal knowledge on the topic. One major difference from 2025 to 2026 is the removal of exam resource / cheat sheets. Whilst these were present in 2025, they have been removed in 2026, so make sure to stay on top of revision and develop your understanding of the subject through ample past questions and study.

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Laboratory Component

 

Most of the 5 labs were quite straightforward - requiring you to complete a pre-lab and an in-lab assessment. There were two labs which were quite memorable: the blood and immune lab and the osmolarity lab (usually Lab #3 and #4). The blood and immune lab is technically difficult as you're trying to count blood cells whilst classifying them with a cow blood sample which you must mix yourself. The in person lab for osmolarity was optional in 2025, but the theory aspect was still compulsory through an online lab. The osmolarity lab also worked with cow blood where you would learn how to interpret blood samples. In general, people always freak out about BIOSCI107 labs as it is one of the first BIOSCI courses that you will encounter. With that being said, my hot tip would be for you to calm down about the 107 labs, just do the pre-lab, pre-read the lab instructions. If you make a mistake, stay calm! The Teaching assistants are there to help and develop your understanding, so make sure to ask plenty of questions to make all the content crystal clear before submitting anything.

 

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Lecture Content

 

BIOSCI 107 consists of 7 Modules:

• Cells and Tissues (Test)

• Cell Structure & Function (Test)

• Special Topics (Test)

• Cellular Processes (Exam)

• Blood & Immune (Exam)

• Excitable Tissues: Neurons (Exam)

• Excitable Tissues: Muscle (Exam)

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Cells and Tissues

 

Cells and tissues is a 4 lecture module taught by the very talented Professor Anthony Phillips. While many were shocked by the sudden jump to 60 slide lectures, and sheer amount of content, I found his lecturing style very direct and helpful. A very educated lecturer, Anthony is straightforward and great help when you may be confused about topics. The slide content is a great backbone to start your studies on, and it is important to note that anything on the slides AND anything stated in lectures may be examinable. In general, Anthony tends to concentrate on heavily examinable material by spending longer on such topics, but it is important to take notes and annotate slides to stay on top of small details that may be covered and assessed later on. 

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TOP TIP: Pre-read lecture slides to be aware of the amount of content to prevent jumpscares during lectures!

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Topics Covered/Content to Expect:

• Structural Organisation of the body

• Human Body Systems 

• Tissue Types + Histology (+ structure & function)

  • Epithelia

  • Connective

  • Muscle

  • Nervous

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Cell Structure and Function

 

A 6 lecture module, taught by the course coordinator Dr Suzanne Reid, Cell structure and function was a well run module with lots of learning. It generally builds on the knowledge from high school biology, with a heavy focus on smaller scale biology (as you can see from the name). Flow charts and learning the steps, in order, of different processes within the cell, as well as memorising and being able to locate the names and properties of different cell organelles. Again, all the content was stated in lectures and across the slides, so pre reading comes in very handy as well as slide annotation. Resources online such as youtube and khan academy can also come in very handy, as well as asking on ed discussion to develop knowledge.

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Topics Covered/Content to Expect: 

• Organelles of the cell

• DNA structure and function 

• Membrane proteins, ATP + Protein synthesis

• Cell Signalling

• Cell Division & Cancer 

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Special Topics

 

A series of 2 lectures in which we had guest lecturers teaching about early human development and protein structure and function. They were very interesting! 

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Early Human Development

Taught by Dr Hilary Shepherd, this course was a crash course on early development, this lecture contains a lot of rote learning making flashcards very useful! Make sure not to get extremely caught up in nitty gritty details however, and focus on higher value topics and content. Embryology used to be a whole topic in BIOSCI107 but in 2025, they only had it as one of the special topics. Therefore, if you look through previous papers and course resources, you are likely to find a lot of information on it. 

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Protein Structure and Function

A very interesting lecture on the different shapes of protein structures and how these shapes and structures can be used. It also quickly covered some interesting technology which uses AI to model protein folding (be careful of falling down the Alphafold rabbit hole and forgetting to study). A very easy to study lecture which was taught by Ben Krinkel in 2025, but one which is important not to underestimate.

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Cell Processes

 

This was a 5 lecture series taught by Professor Paul Donaldson. This section required a bit more conceptual understanding. Most things were on the slides, with some diagrams which you could fill in during lectures. Hot tip; be sure that you know the diagrams inside out; how to draw them and how they work as this is a key concept the lecturer places much emphasis on. This topic was a good way to escape the heavy content of 107 and instead focus on concepts rather than memorisation.

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Topics Covered/Content to Expect:

• Cell Membrane Structure & Function

• Membrane Transport Methods: 

  • Passive and active transport

  • Channel and carrier mediated transport

  • Osmosis

• Transport across cell membrane

• Epithelial transport

• Glucose transport

• Chloride secretion

• Relevant diseases e.g. Cholera

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Blood and Immune

 

This was a 6 Lecture module. The first lecture was a useful, calm, introductory lecture by associate Professor Nikki Moreland. Immediately after commences one of the most conceptually difficult topics of the year taught by Professor John Fraser. If you don’t in any other module, this is the one module to really get the concepts down. Once you understand the overarching roles and positions of specific cells and processes, the rest of the topic begins to click. Once these concepts are in place, begin to focus on the smaller details as those are also commonly assessed. This was one of the few modules where the lecture guide had uniquely assessable content not covered in the typical lecture slides and spoken lecture content (which were also entirely assessable). While it may feel overwhelming, many, including myself, found the questions asked to be extremely manageable and content which was clearly emphasised. One thing that people noticed was that this lecturer especially liked to test numbers, names and facts - as evident in the past papers which you would be able to find on the University website.
 

Topics Covered/Content to Expect:

• Main components of Blood + Function 

• Oxygen Transport

• Complement and Coagulation cascade

• Infection

• Innate and Adaptive Immunity

• Antibodies

• Cellular Immunity & Histocompatibility 

• Allergies & Hypersensitivity

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Excitable Tissue (Nervous)

 

This section was 4 lectures long and was taught by Dr Monica Kam in 2023. This section was quite straightforward since the lecturer ensured that we fully understood the content, making the pace of the lectures very manageable. She provided many opportunities throughout the lecture to revise including using course guide diagrams, giving us a summary of the last lecture at the start of each lecture, asking us questions, and more.

Topics Covered/Content to Expect:

• Action potentials

• Resting membrane potential

• Synaptic transmission

• Neurotransmitters

• Excitotoxicity

• Types of neurons

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Excitable Tissue (Muscle)

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This section was 4 lectures long and was taught by Assoc. Professor Carolyn Barrett in 2025. For this section in 2025, most students found the lecture slides to be the most useful for learning content, and used the course guide just to clarify certain points or give alternative diagrams and descriptions. Most people found this lecturer to be clear and concise on her delivery. She also gave hints as to what she would examine, and what was just "extra information". Again, it is really important to focus on the overarching concepts before delving deeper into specifics. A really good starting point is comparing and contrasting the processes of the 3 different types of muscles learnt. A big tip Dr Barrett would give is focus on the learning objectives as she would give one question to test each learning objective. As this section is taught last, it does feel a bit rushed but it's important to stay up to date with the lectures to ensure success in the final exam.

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Topics Covered/Content to Expect:

• Skeletal Muscle

  • Structure & Function 

  • Action Potentials 

  • Contraction Cycles

  • Anaerobic/aerobic respiration 

  • Excitation Contraction Coupling

  • Length/tension

• Cardiac Muscle 

  • Structure of heart

  • Contraction

  • Neurotransmitters

• Smooth Muscle

  • Structure & Function 

  • Contraction Cycles contraction 

  • Contraction force regulation

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Updated: 2025