This subject was definitely not what I expected. I come from a biochemistry/anaphys background - doing mostly subjects in the faculty of biomedicine - and curious to expand my knowledge into how such biological mechanisms came to be in adults - I decided to take this subject as an elective in my final year. Hence, this is my first ever subject from the cell and developmental biology area. I expected the insane amount of gene gradients and molecular processes that needed to be remembered. What I did not expect was for 80% of the info to be disseminated in such a roundabout manner - purely through re-iterating findings from past research papers, usually with the following pattern: 1. The researchers mutate a gene in (insert animal) embryo pre-gastrulation 2. Mutation (obviously) absolutely messes up the embryo as it grows 3. Success? - And repeat an ungodly amount of times It makes sense when you read the papers themselves. However, when being re-iterated in lecture form, it just does not work the same. Trying to organise the information we were required to remember started to get hazy the twentieth time we were told a certain gene Y being mutated caused X horrifying phenotype in (insert animal). They might as well had taught us faculty of arts style - required pre-readings before the workshops. Or maybe such lecture style was just the norm in the science faculty.

This subject was amazing! The practical classes were very informative as to what being in this field would be like and getting to watch little starfish eggs fertilise and divide for the first time was simply awe-inspiring. The lecturers were all great and since the class size was so small that most of them knew you by name and were more than willing to answer any questions