Unit Synopsis
This unit will enable you to develop knowledge and understanding of biomolecules, cell function and cellular biochemistry. You will develop a basic understanding of how biomolecules are synthesised, catabolised and interconverted through key biochemical pathways to meet the needs of the cell and organism. Cellular biochemistry will explore aspects of cell-cell communication to provide the necessary knowledge to study disease and drug treatment at the cellular level. This unit will prepare you for advanced level study of cardiovascular pharmacology.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisite: ECHO11003 Fundamentals of Cardiac Science ANDCo-requisite BMSC11002 Human Body Systems 2 OR BMSC11011 Human Anatomy and Physiology 2 Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Online Quiz(zes) | 40% |
| 2. Online Test | 60% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 87.50% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 17.39% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: In-class student feedback
Students reported feeling supported and comfortable in the tutorials, which encouraged active participation.
Continue fostering a positive tutorial environment.
An inclusive and supportive environment was maintained in all tutorials with students encouraged to ask questions and actively engage with the activities.
Source: SUTE comments
Breaking the weekly topics into digestible chunks of content is well received by students and helps them to understand and retain the content.
Maintain this style of content delivery.
Weekly content was structured into clearly segmented topics and additional guidance provided to help students ‘chunk’ the material for better retention and understanding.
Source: Unit Coordinator reflections
The 'Clinical Relevance Topics' are useful for bridging biochemistry concepts with echocardiography, but they should be incorporated into the lecture material rather than tutorials alone to emphasise that this content is also assessable.
Integrate the 'Clinical Relevance Topics' into the lectures, but keep allocating time in the tutorials for discussions on the practical applications of the content.
‘Clinical Relevance Topics’ were integrated into the lectures to consistently connect foundational biochemistry concepts to their practical applications in cardiac physiology, pharmacology and echocardiography.
Source: SUTE comments
Students found the volume of unit content high, particularly those encountering biochemistry for the first time.
Review content volume and sequencing to ensure it is manageable.
In Progress
Source: SUTE comments; Unit Coordinator reflections
Students found the requirement to reference slide numbers in online quizzes and the test both stressful and time-consuming.
Explore alternative assessment formats to reduce the burden of slide number referencing while maintaining academic rigour.
In Progress
Source: SUTE comments
Students appreciated the Unit Coordinator’s prompt responses to queries and the revision resources provided throughout the term.
Continue providing consistent communication and revision activities to support learning and assessment preparation.
In Progress
Source: SUTE comments
Students who watched lectures and participated in tutorials found the delivery engaging, supportive and motivating.
Maintain interactive, clinically relevant teaching strategies, including case-based examples, to promote engagement and understanding of biochemistry in a clinical context.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Describe the structure, function and biological roles of the major types of biomolecules and macromolecules
- Describe the relationship between structure and function of the components of biological membranes, especially in terms of selective permeability
- Outline the basic processes involved in metabolic and catabolic pathways relevant to the cardiovascular system
- Describe basic cell signalling, communication and metabolism.
Linked to National and International Standards
1. ASAR Accreditation Standards for Cardiac Sonography - critical practice Unit 8 - Cardiac, Foundation units of competence - 1- 5.
2. European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging Core Syllabus
3. American Registry for Cardiac Sonography Core Syllabus
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Online Test | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |