General Information

M.Sc. students are required to take 12 credit units (generally four courses worth 3 credit units each). M.Sc. students are strongly encouraged to take BIOL 824 (Gateway to Graduate Studies in Biology), as well as at least one data analysis course (e.g. BIOL 800; 812; 813; 847; 860 through 865;), the Seminar Course (BIOL 897) and one theory-type course in their research area (current offerings listed below).

Ph.D. students have no formal course requirements, but are strongly encouraged to audit BIOL 824 (Gateway).

M.Sc. and Ph.D. students may be advised to take additional courses by their supervisory committee.

Graduate students are strongly encouraged to discuss course options with their supervisor(s). Please refer to the School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (SGSPA) Biology Calendar for further details on course offerings.

In addition to the listings below, students may take the following courses for graduate credit:

  • One 4XX or 5XX undergraduate course, on approval of the course organizer, with assignments up-graded to a graduate level and approved by the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC).
  • An Advanced Studies course (BIOL 951 through 969). These courses are offered by special arrangement with a professor, often the student’s supervisor. They may entail analysis of a pre-existing data set unrelated to the student’s thesis, or participation in a multi-lab journal discussion group. They require syllabus approval by the GSC, and usually require a second reader for the term paper.
  • Courses from other units, e.g. Environmental Studies, Geography, Psychology, Biomedical and Molecular Sciences. See the SGSPA calendar for current offerings.

 

Course-specific notes:

BIOL 860 through 865 are capped at 12 student each, and require written permission from the course coordinator.  Only the Biology Graduate Assistant can register students into any of these courses, and only once permission has been received by the professor.   

Most courses are half-courses (3.0 credit units), with the exception of BIOL 961 through BIOL 969, which are only worth 1.5 credit units.

Most courses are offered either in the fall or winter term. Exceptions include field courses (BIOL 848 – summer 2024), the seminar course (BIOL 897) and Advanced Studies courses (special arrangement).

In 2023/2024, BIOL 801, 818, 819, 830 and 831 are being delivered in conjunction with their undergraduate equivalents (BIOL 442, 504, 505, 439 and 409 respectively). Students who have taken one of the undergraduate courses are strongly discouraged from taking the graduate-level equivalent.

Please email the Biology Graduate Assistant with your course selections: biologygradassistant@queensu.ca

Graduate Course Listings 2023-24

BIOL 801
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BIOL 801 Evolutionary Medicine
Details: A survey of the ways in which concepts from evolutionary biology can be used to better address and understand issues related to human health. Topics might include the evolutionary biology of infectious diseases, the utility of phylogenetics in infectious diseases, the evolution of drug (e.g., vaccines) and antibiotic resistance, the evolutionary biology of human genetic disorders, aging and senescence. Three term hours.
Fall 2023
BIOL 818
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BIOL 818 Stress Biology

Details: Environmental stress is addressed with respect to water, nutrition, temperature, toxins, and competition between organisms. Topics include adaptations to cope with stress; biological responses at the organismal, cellular, biochemical, physiological and molecular genetic levels. No specialized molecular biology background is required. Three term hours.

Fall 2023
BIOL 819
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Biol 819 Selected Topics in Molecular Biology

Details: Topics will range from population genetics to transcriptional regulation in both plants and animals. Application of the tools of molecular genetics to biological problems will be emphasized. No previous specialization in molecular biology is required, although some background in this area is highly recommended. Three term hours.

Winter 2024
BIOL 822
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BIOL 822 Long Term Environmental Change

Details: The main focus of this course will be to review and assess the many techniques currently available to track long term environmental change. An emphasis will be placed on biological approaches dealing with sedimentary analyses, but other proxy methods (e.g. ice cores, bore holes, etc.) will also be covered. General topics to be covered will include climatic change, acidification, eutrophication, lake and reservoir management, UV penetration, etc. Three term hours. 

Fall 2023
Biol-824
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Biol-824 Gateway to Graduate Studies

Details: This course will introduce intellectual and professional skills important for success in graduate school and in careers in Biology. Course structure and content is applicable to all fields of biology, from ecology and evolution to cell biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Sessions will span topics from study design and hypothesis testing, to communication skills, to career paths and mentoring. The final assignment will be a written research proposal, following the departmental guidelines for the PhD proposal. The goals of the course include 1) introducing graduate students to an array of skills and topics important to their success, 2) helping to develop a community among new graduate students, 3) improving students' communication skills, and 4) introducing graduate students to several Biology faculty who will lead some of the sessions. Students are required to attend a mandatory weekend at the Queen's University Biological Station, with a cost recovery fee for accommodation and meals. Three term hours.

Fall 2023
BIOL 830
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BIOL 830 Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics

Details: Each year brings new molecular tools and significant advances in analytical techniques for using molecular data to address evolutionary and ecological questions. This course is an exploration of these with emphases varying from year to year depending on the expertise of the instructor. Topics may span natural selection and phenotypic plasticity, parentage and mating systems, speciation, hybridization, macroevolution, and phylogenetics. Students gain a thorough theoretical grounding of pertinent topics via lectures, student seminars, and readings from the current primary literature. Hands on analytical experience will be provided through student exercises using the latest software applications. Three term hours.

Fall 2023
BIOL 831
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BIOL 831 Bioremediation

Details: Bioremediation is the use of organisms to alleviate environmental problems. Topics will include the biology of the organisms involved and their bioremediation processes. Plants act to absorb and concentrate heavy metals from soils whereas micro organisms, invertebrates and plants degrade organic toxins and remove excess nutrients from soils, substrates and water. The processes include extraction, absorption, concentration, and degradation of contaminants. Three term hours.

Fall 2023
BIOL 848
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BIOL 848 Field Course in Population Biology

Details: This is a two week field course is designed to introduce graduate students to field research problems and methods in behavioural ecology, ethology, population and community ecology, and ecological genetics. The course consists of lectures, field research projects and data analysis.

Summer 2024
BIOL 860
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BIOL 860 Introduction to Management and Statistical Analysis of Biological Data

Details: This course is for students at early stages of planning research and collecting data. Topics include experimental design, matching hypotheses with statistical analyses, parameter estimation and graphing. Analyses will be based on a normal error distribution implemented in the R statistical language. Lectures. (3 hrs) & tutorials (3 hrs); First 6 weeks of fall term. Enrolment may be limited. Course weight: 3.0 credit units. Three term hours. EXCLUSION: BIOL 343

 

Fall 2023
BIOL 862
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BIOL 862 Application of Generalized Linear Models to Biological Data

Details: Data analysis in Biology often involves counts, densities or proportions that require non Normal analysis. This course introduce generalized linear models (GLMs) implemented using the R statistical language, including logistic regression, overdispersion and Poisson, quasi likelihood, negative binomial and mamma models. Lectures (3 hrs) & tutorials (3 hrs). Enrolment may be limited. Course weight: 3.0 credit units.

Winter 2024
Biol-893
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Biol-893 Mentoring Experience in Biology

Details: Students will advise and train other students in biological investigations, normally over a two term period. Open to full time students having completed two terms of study in Biology M.Sc. or Ph.D. programs. Activities include guidance on research proposals, research procedures, student presentations, and drafts of student work. This is a non-credit course, graded on a Pass/Fail basis. PREREQUISITE: Permission of Coordinator of Graduate Studies

Fall 2023 and Winter 2024 Your Supervisor
BIOL 897
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BIOL 897 Seminar Course

Details: Attending a diverse array of seminars is an essential component in the development of a student, especially in a department as diverse as biology. The aim of this course is to develop skills in listening, synthesizing and critical thinking, as well as fostering the development of important oral and written communication skills. Students will be required to attend at least 30 department or specialized research seminars, as well as present a seminar based upon their graduate thesis research. Enrolment is extended over six terms and is limited to new graduate students in Biology. 

 

 

Runs Continuously

I've spent more time than many will believe [making microscopic observations], but I've done them with joy, and I've taken no notice those who have said why take so much trouble and what good is it?

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

It's a parts list... If I gave you the parts list for the Boeing 777 and it had 100,000 parts, I don't think you could screw it together and you certainly wouldn't understand why it flew

Eric Lander

What is true for E. coli is also true for the elephant

Jacques Monod

The world becomes full of organisms that have what it takes to become ancestors. That, in a sentence, is Darwinism

Richard Dawkins

Shall we conjecture that one and the same kind of living filaments is and has been the cause of all organic life?

Erasmus Darwin

Nature proceeds little by little from things lifeless to animal life in such a way that it's impossible to determine the line of demarcation

Aristotle

Cells let us walk, talk, think, make love, and realize the bath water is cold

Lorraine Lee Cudmore

In the distant future I see open fields for far more important researches. Psychology will be based on a new foundation, that of the necessary acquirement of each mental power and capacity by gradation. Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history

Charles Darwin

It is my belief that the basic knowledge that we're providing to the world will have a profound impact on the human condition and the treatments for disease and our view of our place on the biological continuum

J. Craig Venter

Imagine a house coming together spontaneously from all the information contained in the bricks: that is how animal bodies are made

Neil Shubin

A grain in the balance will determine which individual shall live and which shall die - which variety or species shall increase in number, and which shall decrease, or finally become extinct

Charles Darwin

The stuff of life turned out to be not a quivering, glowing, wondrous gel but a contraption of tiny jigs, springs, hinges, rods, sheets, magnets, zippers, and trapdoors, assembled by a data tape whose information is copied, downloaded and scanned

Steven Pinker

We wish to discuss a structure for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid. (D.N.A.). This structure has novel features which are of considerable biologic interest

Rosalind Franklin

We are biology. We are reminded of this at the beginning and the end, at birth and at death. In between we do what we can to forget

Mary Roach

The systems approach to biology will be the dominant theme in medicine

Leroy Hood

I've always been interested in animal behavior, and I keep reading about it because it's so surprising all the time - so many things are happening around us that we neglect to look at. Part of the passion I have for biology is based on this wonderment"

Isabella Rossellini

Because all of biology is connected, one can often make a breakthrough with an organism that exaggerates a particular phenomenon, and later explore the generality

Thomas Cech

Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of evolution

Theodosius Dobzhansky

Biology is now bigger than physics, as measured by the size of budgets, by the size of the workforce, or by the output of major discoveries; and biology is likely to remain the biggest part of science through the twenty-first century

- Freeman Dyson

Nothing can be more incorrect than the assumption one sometimes meets with, that physics has one method, chemistry another, and biology a third

- Thomas Huxley