Course Handbook 2020 – 2021
MSc in Molecular Medicine
University of Sheffield
This handbook is designed to introduce you to the structure of the MSc in Molecular Medicine, the rules and regulations of the course, and the support that we and the University of Sheffield can offer you for living and studying in Sheffield.
2 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Table of Contents
OUR TEACHING ...... 4 THE SYLLABUS ...... 4 PATHWAY AND RESEARCH PROJECT CHOICES...... 4 THE CLINICAL APPLICATIONS PATHWAY ...... 4 LEARNING METHODS IN THE MSC ...... 4 COVID-19 AND THE BLACKBOARD LEARNING ENVIRONMENT ...... 5 MODULES, 2020-2021 ...... 6 The Core Modules...... 6 The Experimental Medicine Pathway ...... 6 The Cancer Pathway ...... 6 The Cardiovascular Pathway ...... 7 The Microbes and Infection Pathway ...... 7 The Genetic Mechanisms Pathway ...... 7 The Structure of the Course ...... 7 ASSESSMENTS OF LEARNING...... 8 How to Submit Work for Assessment ...... 9 HOW WE MARK YOUR WORK...... 10 Anonymous Marking ...... 10 When Marking Cannot Reasonably be Anonymous ...... 10 Moderated Marking and Double-Marking ...... 11 Marking the Project Dissertation ...... 11 Viva Voce Examination ...... 11 Retakes of Failed Modules ...... 11 AWARD OF THE MSC ...... 12 THE ANDREW HEATH PRIZE ...... 12 THE LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH PROJECT ...... 13 CHOOSING YOUR SIX PREFERRED PROJECTS ...... 13 Your supervisor ...... 13 HOW WE ALLOCATE PROJECTS ...... 14 PREPARATION AND WRITING OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW (MED6090) ...... 14 PRACTICAL PREPARATION FOR THE PROJECT ...... 14 WHAT YOUR PROJECT SUPERVISOR WILL EXPECT FROM YOU ...... 14 Attendance in the laboratory and leave entitlement...... 14 WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM YOUR PROJECT SUPERVISOR...... 15 Daily supervision...... 15 Formal supervisory meetings...... 15 Integration into the laboratory...... 15 Support in writing the Literature Review and the Project dissertation...... 15 WHAT YOUR PROJECT SUPERVISOR SHOULD NOT EXPECT...... 15 HEALTH AND SAFETY IN THE LABORATORY ...... 16 Fire and First Aid ...... 16 Working out of hours ...... 16 COVID-19 and the Lab Project ...... 16 Good laboratory practice ...... 16 Chemical hazards in the Lab ...... 16 Biological safety ...... 16 Vaccinations ...... 16 Further information ...... 17 YOUR PROGRESS IN THE LABORATORY ...... 17 Keeping your Laboratory Notebook ...... 17 Regulations Relating to the Publication of Research ...... 28 Twice-monthly evaluation of scientific progress...... 18 Interim evaluation of your professional competence and advice for improvement ...... 18 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 3
Independent evaluation of progress and training ...... 18 Timetable for writing the dissertation ...... 18 MARKING OF THE PROJECT AND VIVA VOCE EXAMINATIONS ...... 19 Dissertation mark ...... 19 Laboratory Skills Mark ...... 19 Viva voce examinations ...... 19 COURSE RULES ...... 20 Etiquette in Class ...... 20 Assignments and Invigilated Examinations ...... 20 ATTENDANCE AND ABSENCE...... 20 Attendance Monitoring ...... 20 Self-Certification and Extenuating Circumstances Reporting if you have been Absent...... 21 In Case of Bereavement ...... 22 Limits to our Ability to Grant Extensions ...... 22 WHAT SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT BE IN AN ASSIGNMENT ...... 23 Citations and References ...... 23 Pictures, Diagrams and Tables ...... 23 Advice on Avoiding the Use of Unfair Means in Assessment ...... 24 What Constitutes Unfair Means? ...... 24 How Can Students Avoid the Use of Unfair Means? ...... 25 Automatic Detection of Unfair Means ...... 26 DISCIPLINE AND PENALTIES ...... 26 Penalties for Using Unfair Means in Assessed Work ...... 26 SUPPORT FOR OUR STUDENTS ...... 29 COURSE PRIMARY CONTACTS, EMAILS AND PHONE NUMBERS ...... 29 ACADEMIC SUPPORT ...... 29 PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER THE MSC IN MOLECULAR MEDICINE ...... 29 ‘Careers Day’ November 25th– Exploring the Opportunities ...... 29 The Careers Service at the University of Sheffield ...... 29 301 Student Skills and Development Centre ...... 30 Requests for Progress Reports and other Administrative Documents ...... 30 Sheffield Higher Education Achievement Report...... 30 Requests for Reference Letters ...... 30 After Graduation – Maintaining Contact with us On-line ...... 31 YOUR WELLBEING ...... 31 Socialising and Eating ...... 31 General Administrative Enquiries ...... 31 University Accommodation Contracts: Important Information! ...... 31 Registering with the University Health Service ...... 31 Your personal tutor ...... 32 What can you do if you are concerned about another student? ...... 32 Student Support Services - Central Welfare and Guidance ...... 32 Your Mental Wellbeing - Student Access to Mental Health Support (SAMHS) ...... 32 Togetherall ...... 32 University Counselling Service (UCS) ...... 32 The Disability and Dyslexia Support Service ...... 33 The Student Wellbeing Service (Faculty) ...... 33 The University’s Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Service ...... 33 The University of Sheffield Students’ Union (SSU) ...... 34 Where to Get Advice on Immigration Matters ...... 34
4 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Our Teaching
The Syllabus You start the course by studying the core of six modules. You then choose a more specialised pathway. For 2020-21, registrants to MEDT01 (MSc in Molecular Medicine) can choose one of five pathways, which are entitled, Cancer, Cardiovascular, Experimental Medicine, Genetic Mechanisms and Microbes and Infection. We don’t limit the numbers of students on each of the pathways.
Pathway and Research Project Choices The project and project-related modules are a major part of the entire MSc course. We offer a wide range of subject areas for your Research Project module and we generally have at least a 30% surplus of project titles. We will ask you to select six possible titles. Your choices will need to be compatible with the specialised pathway that you choose at the same time. As far as is possible, taking everyone’s choices into account, we will try to allocate you one of your most preferred choices. Clearly, some projects will be very popular and not everyone (usually only half of the class) can be given their first choice. More details on choosing a pathway and how we allocate projects are given on page 13.
The Clinical Applications Pathway A sixth pathway, Clinical Applications, is only available to MBBS/MBChB (or equivalent) medical graduates and must have been selected by a separate application for the course (MEDT41). The Clinical Applications pathway has a strictly limited number of places that will be set each year. Currently (2020-21) all students for this pathway will need to be interested in infectious diseases and take the Microbes and Infection taught modules. Note that for the Clinical Applications pathway, a 20-week Clinical Attachment module replaces the Research Project.
Descriptions of all modules can be found on our website, www.sheffield.ac.uk/molmed.
Learning Methods in the MSc The MSc course contains both taught and supervised modules. Taught modules will consist of lectures, class and group tutorials, laboratory demonstrations and private study. The supervised modules are the literature review, the project presentation and the project itself. For each of these modules, we schedule a small number of guidance classes but the majority of learning will be achieved in discussion with your individual project supervisor and through your own private study, or in the case of the project, your own lab work and/or analysis of Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 5 data. Your primary supervisor will be the same person for the Project Literature Review, the Project Presentation and the 20-week Project module.
COVID-19 and the Blackboard Learning Environment In normal years, we use our structured on-line learning environment, Blackboard, to give you access to schedules, lecture notes, literature references, lecture recordings and other learning resources. We also use Blackboard as the portal for you to submit work for assessments and you receive your marks through the Grade Centre. We provide you with useful feedback on your work, mainly through email. Blackboard will be available to you as soon as you register and you can access it by logging into ‘MUSE’ on the University web site and following the link.
Because of the continuing Covid-19 epidemic, we will be delivering most of our class presentations online in an interactive classroom setting but we have also arranged half-day, twice-weekly, socially distanced sessions that we will use for question/answer and tutorial type classes.
Online classes will be through Blackboard Collaborate (see links below) and delivery will be scheduled and live. To participate, you will need a good internet connection and a laptop or desktop computer. You will be able to interact with the teachers, and they with you, during most of our presentations in real time, as you would in a real classroom, so we would urge you to attend the live classes. Recordings of sessions will always become available after sessions. Pre-recordings may be provided in some modules. You will be able to access all recordings through Blackboard.
We are aware that the majority of or students are keen to obtain hands-on laboratory experience and we currently expect to be able to run our Laboratory Project module essentially as normal, with appropriate safety measures, from late April. You will also have the option to select a data handling or Bioinformatics project which can be done entirely on- line.
Blackboard is described here, www.sheffield.ac.uk/apse/digital/mole/studenthelphome and support for submitting assignments through Turnitin can be found here, www.sheffield.ac.uk/apse/digital/turnitin/menustudents.
Timetables, lecture notes and other learning resources will be available through Blackboard.
An on-line video and supporting material can be found at www.sheffield.ac.uk/apse/digital/mole/studenthelphome Support for submitting assignments through Turnitin can be found at www.sheffield.ac.uk/apse/digital/turnitin/menustudents
6 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Modules, 2020-2021
The Core Modules
Code Title Credits Leader Email MED6092 From Genome to 15 Martin [email protected] Gene Function Nicklin MED6095 Human Gene 15 Martin [email protected] Bioinformatics Nicklin MED6003 Human Disease 10 Sheila [email protected] Genetics Francis MED6006 Modulating 10 Helen [email protected] Immunity Marriott MED6098 Laboratory Practice 15 Gareth [email protected] and Statistics Richards MED6090 Research Literature 15 Lisa Parker [email protected] Review The core modules coordinator is Dr Martin Nicklin.
The Experimental Medicine Pathway
Code Title Credits Leader Email MED6020 Molecular & Cellular 10 Helen [email protected] Basis of Disease Marriott MED6021 Model Systems in 10 Lynne [email protected] Medical Research Prince MED6022 Novel Therapies 10 Jon Sayers [email protected] The Experimental Medicine pathway coordinator is Helen Marriott.
The Cancer Pathway
Code Title Credits Leader Email MED6040 Molecular Basis of 10 William [email protected] Tumorigenesis and English Metastasis MED6041 Molecular 10 Cyril [email protected] Techniques in Sanders Cancer Research MED6042 Molecular 10 Penny [email protected] Approaches to Ottewell Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment The Cancer pathway coordinator is Dr Penny Ottewell.
Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 7
The Cardiovascular Pathway
Code Title Credits Leader Email CDL401 Vascular Cell Biology 15 Heather [email protected] Wilson
CDL402 Vascular Diseases: 15 Lisa Parker [email protected] Modelling and Clinical Practice The Cardiovascular pathway coordinator is Dr Heather Wilson.
The Microbes and Infection Pathway
Code Title Credits Leader Email MED6060 Virulence 10 Helen [email protected] Mechanisms of Marriott Viruses and Fungi MED6061 Mechanisms of 10 Jon Shaw [email protected] Bacterial Pathogenicity MED6062 Characterisation of 10 Mark [email protected] Bacterial Virulence Thomas Determinants
The Microbes and Infection pathway coordinator is Dr Mark Thomas.
The Genetic Mechanisms Pathway
Code Title Credits Leader Email MED6070 Modelling Protein 15 Jon Sayers [email protected] Interactions MED6071 Gene Networks: 15 Martin [email protected] Models and Nicklin Functions The Genetic Mechanisms Pathway is Dr Martin Nicklin.
The Structure of the Course The next page shows the outline, 'Block' Schedule for MSc in Molecular Medicine. The core components will run after the course introductory days on October 23 and 26, from October 27 until March 9. Pathway and Project-related work begins on March 10 and runs until you submit your dissertation on September 15. During the period October 27 to December 1, four modules will be running at the same time; these will be MED6092 ‘From Genome to Gene Function’, the related module MED6095 ‘Human Gene Bioinformatics’. Preparative classes will also be held for MED6090, the Literature Review. Until the winter break starts on December 15, there will be weekly 8 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Statistics classes as part of MED6098 Laboratory Practice and Statistics. The module MED6003 ‘Human Disease Genetics’ runs as a single block in the two weeks before the winter break. During the winter break, we will require you to complete an on-line test of your statistics learning and prepare your assignment for MED6095. In the first two weeks after the winter break, MED6098 practical classes and exercises are scheduled and you will discuss your Literature Review (MED6090) with your project Supervisor. Then you will draft your literature review. The final taught Core module is MED6006 ‘Modulating Immunity’ is a single block and runs from February 10 until February 21. After this, until March 9, you will produce a final version of your Literature Review. On March 10, the pathway modules begin, depending on your choice (see below). These are all individual, non-overlapping blocks. The second module will be interrupted for two working days to accommodate the Easter holiday. On April 22, your Project will be scheduled to start. The project will run until you submit your project dissertation on Wednesday September 15 and is interrupted only by the Project presentation module from June 14-16.
Assessments of Learning An advantage of a stand-alone course such as the MSc in Molecular Medicine is that the course leadership monitors all of the course’s components and we can avoid overlapping assessments as far as possible. Assessments generally happen at the very end of modules. Extensions, therefore, will invade the next module’s teaching time and so are strongly discouraged. In the case of MED6095, the assessment will be set as a task during the winter Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 9 break, at a time that you may also be working on your statistics assignment; scheduling this year has made this unavoidable. However, the winter break is almost four weeks.
How to Submit Work for Assessment Preparing and files for electronic submission Each piece of coursework has a specific deadline for submission, which will be communicated by the Module Leaders or Course Teaching Administrator within each module. Coursework must be submitted by the deadline in electronic form on Blackboard. We do not expect to need hard copies for any assignment but if we do you will be told in advance what to do and where to leave it. The Course Teaching Administrator will inform you of the requirements for each module.
To facilitate the administrative processing and the marking of your work, we expect that all submitted work would follow the format described in the following paragraphs. Please ensure that you send us the file type that the module leader requests. For written work, we will generally request an MSWord .docx file because it is simple for us to add comments directly to your work if it is in this format. We are likely to refuse to comment directly on a .pdf. The major exception to this rule will be your Project dissertation. Here we assess your presentation as well as the content of what will be a long and complex document. We specifically request a .pdf document, so that there are unlikely to be unexpected changes in formatting between when you last see and when we mark it.
Most assignments must be submitted as a single electronic file, even if they consist of several independent parts or questions. You should not submit your work in multiple files unless this was specifically required in the assignment instructions. In the rare cases when an assignment requires the submission of several files, instructions for naming individual files with different names will be provided in the assignment instructions.
Each electronic file that you submit must be given a filename that consists of your nine-digit registration number. For example, a student whose registration number is 189208772 will submit an assignment produced in Microsoft Word format under the file name, “189208772.docx”. Please do not use any other prefix or suffix as this complicates the handling of files.
Identifying yourself in your assignment Insert your registration number and a page number in the header of the Microsoft Word file so that it will appear automatically on each page, but DOT NOT add your name because we mark work anonymously. Do pay attention to instructions that you will receive about the format for the submission of each assignment.
Submitting work through Blackboard We will almost always ask you to submit work through Blackboard. There will be a submission link in the respective module folders with instructions for the submission. Turnitin software detects copied material. When submitting work as a ‘Turnitin Assignment’, you will need to make a recorded declaration in Turnitin that the work you are submitting is entirely your own. 10 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Please refer to the support material for submitting assignments through Blackboard in Turnitin found at, www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/unfair-means.
Module-specific format requirements In addition to the general rules described above, each individual module leader may add additional formatting requirements to their assignments. These specific rules may concern for example word or page limits, font size and the use of figures and references in the work.
Penalties for using inappropriate formats If either the printed or electronic version of an assignment does not follow the formatting and file-naming instructions described in the previous sections, it may be rejected and the student may be asked by email to re-submit an appropriately formatted version before the assignment is sent to the markers. Because the rejection and re-submission will obviously take place after the submission deadline, the work will incur late submission penalties (see following section).
Submitting electronically after the deadline The submission box on Blackboard closes automatically at the deadline for submission. If you have been granted an extension due to special circumstances, or if you simply miss the deadline, you will no longer able to submit your work electronically through Blackboard. In this case send your assignment directly to Jane Shields ([email protected]) as an attachment to an email. Late submissions of assignments due for marking will be accepted for up to five working days after the deadline, but will be penalised as required by University regulations, by multiplying the mark obtained by 1 – (0.05 x n), where n is the number of working days late rounded up. Note that a delay of one hour will be penalised to the same extent as a delay of one day.
How we Mark your Work
Anonymous Marking To remove both conscious and unconscious biases, we anonymise work before marking whenever this is possible, as is required by the University. To do this, we need your work to be submitted in a standard format so that we can anonymise it, mark it and then identify you so that you can receive your own mark. In written examinations you will write in standard answer books designed to hide your personal details from the markers. Whenever possible, module leaders will only identify the author of an assessed piece of work after the work has been marked and moderated, or double-marked. We will make an exception for students’ work that is clearly not of a standard that could pass, where we might judge that it is in the interest of the student to be helped and advised of the problem as soon as possible, in the hope that the student does not repeat fundamental mistakes in subsequent modules.
When Marking Cannot Reasonably be Anonymous The assignments that will not be marked anonymously are the Literature Review (MED6090), the Project Presentation and any other Journal Club or Poster presentation that might be assessed during your pathway modules. Here anonymous marking is not reasonably possible, Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 11 either because you will need to meet your markers face-to-face on at least one previous occasion or because you will be assessed on the basis of your ability to demonstrate presentational skills to your markers, face-to-face or live, online.
Moderated Marking and Double-Marking Two members of staff will mark all assessed work. They will produce a single mark and feedback either by agreement (moderated marking) or by marking independently and averaging their marks (double marking). The module leader will then produce the final mark by applying appropriate penalties to any piece of work that was submitted late or produced by unfair means. For more details on penalties, see the sections on late submissions and use of unfair means.
Marking the Project Dissertation In the MSc in Molecular Medicine, unlike many other MSc courses, your supervisor and members of your supervisor’s group will never be markers of your dissertation. The two markers of your dissertation will volunteer to mark the project on the basis of its title. They are academically independent of one another and of your supervisor. Markers arrive at their initial marks without discussion. After marking, if the marks are significantly discrepant, then the markers will be provided with one another’s assessments of your work and will be asked to discuss their marks to reach a satisfactory convergence. For highly discrepant marks, we will introduce an experienced third marker. Whenever this happens, the final moderated mark will be subject to the approval of the external examiner who will be presented with all of the marks and comments.
Viva Voce Examination Where a student comes very close to achieving an overall distinction grade, or is just below the level of required for a pass, the student will be offered a viva voce (oral) examination on the subject of their dissertation. This will be a minority of students. The examination will be carried out by one of the markers and the external examiner. We sometimes ask a sample of students who have clearly achieved overall distinction to participate in viva voce examinations too. We do this to supply the external examiner with a sample of distinction-level students. Students will always be informed which category they are in at the same time as we invite them to attend, to avoid unnecessary anxiety. The viva voce exam is never compulsory but marks cannot be improved without it. No student can ever have his or her marks reduced. Distinction-level students will not have their marks changed under any circumstances. See below for more detail on how we mark the Research Project.
Retakes of Failed Modules Students will be allowed only one opportunity to re-take each assessment that is given a mark below 50% at their first attempt. The student will attend a tutorial with the module leader. A student who wishes to be reassessed must register with the University for a re- examination and pay a re-examination fee. Please refer to the following webpage for re- examination/re-assessment, www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/assessment/resits-reassessment/pg.
The circumstances of the re-examination, such as the assessment format, objectives, starting date and deadline for submission, will be determined by the module leader. By University 12 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine regulations, work submitted for a re-examination can only be awarded a maximum mark of 50%, equivalent to a bare pass, even if its quality exceeds the minimum requirement for a pass. Any student who achieves this 50% pass mark at a re-examination will be awarded the full credits for the re-assessed module; however, a student who obtains a mark lower than 50% at a re-examination will not be allowed any further-re-assessment for the same module. Please also note that students may be required to remain in attendance after the official end of the course in order to be re-assessed for failed modules.
Award of the MSc
To be considered for the award of the MSc degree, a student must take all of the core modules and all of the modules belonging to their chosen pathway. Each module is assessed individually and is given an integer mark on a 100-point scale. The pass mark for each unit of assessment (module) is 50 on the 100-point scale and this must be obtained to receive the credits for the module. The credit values of all modules are listed in the table ‘MSc Molecular Medicine Modules and their Credit Values’ on page 6.
A student requires 180 credits to receive a Masters degree automatically. That is, all modules must be passed. The MSc will be awarded with distinction to any student whose final credit- weighted average mark is 69.5 or higher and has 90 credit units marked at 70 or greater. Any student who obtains a final average mark of at least 59.5 but lower than 69.5 and 90 credit units marked at 60 or greater will be awarded an MSc with merit. When calculating the average mark, individual marks are weighted in proportion to the number of credits carried by each module. Students who pass all modules but who do not meet the criteria for a merit category will be awarded a pass.
A student who achieves a pass mark in modules worth 120 credits but who does not pass the criteria for the MSc will be awarded a postgraduate Diploma. A student who passes 60 credits is entitled to receive a postgraduate certificate in education. Students may also choose to pursue these qualifications, as set out in the course Regulations without taking the entire MSc course.
The Andrew Heath Prize At the Higher Degrees Graduation Ceremony in January 2022, a prize of £250 will be awarded to the student from the MSc in Molecular Medicine who has the best overall achievement in the class by the MSc in Molecular Medicine's host department (Infection, Immunity & Cardiovascular Diseases) in honour of Professor Andrew Heath, our late colleague from the Department.
Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 13
The Literature Review and Research Project
Choosing your six preferred projects
In November we will set up an on-line database of all available research projects. You will be able to search the database for topics of interest and download descriptions of selected projects. We also advise you to research the scientific literature relevant to the projects that interest you. Please also note that it will be recommended that you should be vaccinated against Hepatitis B to do certain projects (which will be identified clearly in the database).
During the following weeks, we will ask you to contact the potential supervisors to discuss the projects that might interest you, by a set date which we will announce in an email. At the end of the process, you need to have selected six projects that you would be prepared to do. Do be aware that some projects will be very popular and each project can only involve one student. The most popular project might be the top choice for ten students, so nine must necessarily be slightly disappointed. If you seriously choose six projects, your satisfaction will almost certainly be guaranteed! We strongly advise students against attempting to ’game’ our allocation system as this has often led to consequences that the gamer failed to predict.
You will be asked to select your course pathway and your six preferred research projects (ranked in order of preference) no later than Thursday 21 January 2021 at 9:30 am. All discussions with supervisors must take place before that date.
Most projects are limited to a subset of the course pathways (and sometimes only one pathway) because of their subject areas. To help us to allocate your project and pathway, we strongly advise you to select projects that are compatible with your pathway choice because otherwise we will need to assign your pathway to you on the basis of your project choice.
Your supervisor When you choose projects, be aware that supervisors are all different people at various stages of their careers with different sized groups, different ways of running their laboratories and they may have different attitudes to work and supervision. In many cases, the individual who will be supervising your laboratory activities from day to day will be another named individual within the supervisor’s laboratory and you should meet them too. Make sure that you will be comfortable with the style of supervision before you select a supervisor’s project. Some supervisors may be almost constantly available, others will require you to schedule appointments to discuss your project. Your individual professional interaction with your supervisor is likely to be a factor in how much you enjoy working on your project, if not how much progress you make. These are real-life differences between people that cannot be levelled out and is an inevitable consequence of providing you with so many real projects in real labs. Supervisors will be asked to rate the engagement of the student in their interaction; clearly a student who does not contact a potential supervisor will be judged not to have engaged. We may use this to inform our allocation of projects but supervisors are not allowed to choose the student who takes their project. Please do not select a project that you do not want to do!
14 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
How we allocate projects Projects will be allocated by Monday 25 January 2021. We will try to ensure that every student is allocated one of the six projects they selected. We have failed for only handful of cases out of 650. In practice, usually about 40% of students can be given their first choice. Most other students will receive their second or third choice. Please also note that if your choices of projects do not correspond to your Pathway of choice then we might need to allocate you to either a pathway or a project that you did not request.
Preparation and writing of the Literature Review (MED6090) As the assessed part of module MED6090, you will write a critical review of the background literature relating to your project. You will have two meetings with your supervisor. At the first, between January 25 and 28, you will receive guidance from your supervisor before you draft the review. On February 9 you will submit the draft of the review and your supervisor will provide feedback on your draft assignment between February 24 and 26, so that you can finalise your essay and submit it by March 9 at 9:30 am.
Practical Preparation for the Project As mentioned above, some projects will involve handling human material that is potentially infected with infectious human pathogens and you may then need to be vaccinated against these pathogens in advance, where that is possible. By far the most frequent pathogen of concern, for which prophylaxis is possible, is Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) and we have a system in place for ensuring that students who need to be vaccinated are provided with vaccination at no cost to themselves. See the section below, entitled ‘Health and Safety in the Laboratory’. Training in basic experimental techniques and laboratory safety will be provided in the Laboratory Practice and Statistics module (MED6098) in January. Before you will be allowed to work on your project, you will need to complete on-line courses on fire safety and on working out of hours. The Teaching Administrator will send further details to you.
What Your Project Supervisor will Expect from You
Attendance in the laboratory and leave entitlement. You are expected to be in attendance in your supervisor’s laboratory for the equivalent of 5 full days a week for the whole period of the project module except for the 10 days of leave to which you are entitled. You can use this entitlement to go on holidays or for study if you need to be re-assessed for other modules during the project period. However, you must inform your supervisor as soon as possible of the dates at which you plan to go on leave and at least 2 weeks in advance, so that they can plan laboratory work around these dates. Information on absences. You must inform your supervisor and Jane Shields in case of any unplanned absence from the laboratory (see section on page 10). Unplanned absences caused by medical circumstances will not be counted from your leave entitlement provided you submit a special circumstances form with appropriate evidence (physician’s note) to Jane Shields. Special circumstances claims that are not backed by medical evidence will only be granted at the discretion of the Laboratory Project module leader, who may consult your laboratory supervisor on this matter. Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 15
Contact details. You should provide your Supervisor with your contact details (email/ phone number) in case of emergencies, and the supervisor should ensure that you have their email address and phone number so that the you can contact your Supervisor in case of absence. Supervisory meetings. You must meet formally with your Supervisors twice each month and supervisors should fill in the Supervision Record Form. The students should then stick the records into their lab books. If Ethics approval is needed for your project, you must append the ethics letter to your dissertation. Failure to do this may incur penalties when markers are assessing your work and could cause the University to reject the dissertation until the Ethics statement has been added. Attendance of lab meetings/departmental seminars. Students are required to attend all laboratory meetings and to give progress reports on their projects through lab meeting presentations at least once during the projects.
What you can expect from your Project Supervisor
Daily supervision. A named individual must be available every day as your first point of contact. That person will provide guidance on experimental problems, Health and Safety regulation and lab etiquette. This will either be the project supervisor or any competent member of their group nominated by your supervisor. The day-to-day supervisor should be named on the document that describes the project. If you are not sure who is taking this role, you should ask your supervisor. Formal supervisory meetings. Your project supervisor should meet with you at least twice each month to discuss progress and problems (see paragraph on supervisory meetings in previous section). Many supervisors will meet their students more frequently. We require a report of meetings, twice per month. Integration into the laboratory. Your supervisor should provide support in understanding the background and issues relating to the project; involve you in lab meetings and seminars and give you opportunities to present your results and receive constructive comments from the group. Support in writing the Literature Review and the Project dissertation. Your supervisor should provide you with constructive feedback on drafts of your dissertation. Students can only expect this help if the work is handed to the supervisor at agreed times. Supervisors are expected to provide a schedule, with your agreement, for writing and submitting the draft dissertation (see the following section) and should be available to suggest potential questions that might be presented to you in the event of a viva voce examination.
What your Project Supervisor should not expect.
Your Project fits into a defined period in the Course schedule. Outside this period, you will be working hard on other modules. A project supervisor must not suggest (and still less, insist) that you to start the project early. Your relationship with your supervisor should be at its core, professional. There should be no element of coercion or bullying in that relationship. Should you be concerned for yourself or for your classmates, please feel able to raise the issue with the course leader (Martin Nicklin) who will treat the matter confidentially. Also, be aware, in 16 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine this context, that in the MSc in Molecular Medicine (unlike other Masters courses across the University) your supervisor is expected to provide you with guidance in writing your dissertation but will not be one of its markers.
Health and Safety in the laboratory
Fire and First Aid You must complete the on-line fire training. When working in the lab, you must also know where the nearest assembly point and fire exits from your workplace are and where the fire extinguishers are located. You must be aware of where First Aid boxes are, and who in the department are dedicated First Aiders. Working out of hours The rules concerning out-of-hours work (generally before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.) vary between departments or even within departments. In some areas, MSc students are never permitted to work out-of-hours. The project database will make it clear whether a particular project allows out-of-hours work. Where it is permitted, you must have passed the out of hours and fire training courses and your supervisor must authorise you to work out of hours before you may work out-of-hours. Information on this training will be communicated by the Teaching Administrator early on in the course. COVID-19 and the Lab Project Rules designed to contain the transmission of COVID-19 are likely to be in force during your period working in the laboratory. These will include rules on wearing face covering and social distancing in the lab, in offices, in meetings and in social gathering in and around the lab. You must follow these guidelines. Your department has the power to exclude anyone who does not comply from Departmental spaces including labs and offices. It is also possible that in an emergency, rules may change and that it might be necessary to end or suspend laboratory activity. Projects will be designed to be flexible enough to accommodate a shift from active lab work to data analysis, if this should happen. Good laboratory practice You must know who is designated to advise on Health and Safety in your laboratory. You must ask to be introduced to them and ask about hazards involved in your work unless your supervisor has already dealt with these matters. You must know and adhere to the laboratory rules regarding wearing lab coats, safety gloves and safety goggles. Food and drink must never be consumed or brought into a laboratory. Smoking and applying makeup are also forbidden. Chemical hazards in the Lab Once you begin your project, you should read and sign the COSHH forms for the experimental procedures being undertaken. You must learn how to dispose safely of the chemicals that you use. Biological safety You must dispose of biological material (tissue samples, cultures of cells or micro-organisms) used in your work according to defined, safe methods. These will be described in copies of COSHH forms or in licences for Genetic Manipulation projects which you must place in your own records Vaccinations Exposure to blood-borne viruses is a risk of handling un-fixed human tissues, cells and fluids. The risk of infection as a result of the procedures that you undertake must (according to Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 17
COSHH Regulations, 2002) be assessed by your supervisor and reduced to a minimum and the assessment must be documented. Hepatitis B virus (HBV), currently, is the only blood-borne virus that can be prevented by vaccination. If you are required to handle tissues, cells or blood, you should be aware that vaccination against HBV does not protect you against other blood-borne diseases (such as HIV or HCV). All students undertaking project work that involves human tissue samples or body fluids that are known to be contaminated with Hepatitis B virus (HBV) or that present anything but a negligible risk of exposure to HBV will be offered HBV vaccination. The Department’s offer to you will be recorded. Vaccination against HBV requires two injections. Jane Shields will make all the necessary arrangements to facilitate the process of vaccination and will inform students of the date and venue of their appointments. The cost of the vaccinations arranged in this way will be met by the course, as recommended by COSHH 2002. Please note that any student who fails to attend their HBV vaccination appointments must arrange another appointment themselves and pay for the cost, unless there is a valid reason for missing the appointment. If seroconversion to HBV does not occur in time, this delay might prevent the timely start of the project. https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg342.pdf Further information For more detailed information and specific requirements on Health and Safety please refer to www.sheffield.ac.uk/medicine/molmed/information_staff/healthandsafety
Your Progress in the Laboratory
Keeping your Laboratory Notebook All your experimental work - even unsuccessful attempts - must be recorded in a laboratory notebook at the time that they are performed. Your lab book will be inspected by your supervisor to extract information. So long as its content is clear, the elegance of the presentation is not an issue; your supervisor will judge it to be more important that the work is being recorded as it is being done. You may refer backwards to previous protocols if you write notes to indicate changes to the previous experimental methods. The lab book is an important document that allows your supervisor and your tutor to review the progress of your project. It will contain the experimental details from which your dissertation will be written and which will allow your experiments to be repeated by yourself, your supervisor’s group and by other scientists. It will be needed for your work to be written up and published. Finally, it is a legal document that must be kept according to specific guidelines to protect the University of Sheffield’s Intellectual property rights on your results.
You must use the lab book provided by the University, which has permanent binding and has numbered pages. Your lab book will remain the property of the University and must be returned to your supervisor at the end of the course. You may copy it with your supervisor’s permission but you do not have the right to publish your results.
The brief guidelines below are taken from Keeping a Laboratory Notebook published by BTG plc. The laboratory notebook must be written in permanent ink. The entries must give full details of all laboratory materials and methods, and all computer analyses. They should be sufficiently detailed so that another individual could easily replicate the work. 18 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Results should refer back to the original entry in the lab book, if other entries have been made in the interim. Pictures and computer printouts should be permanently fixed into the book. They should fit onto the page, and the witness should sign across the join (see point 8). Where additional supporting material cannot be kept in the book, reference to that material should be made, and the material stored in an orderly manner. Unused pages/parts of pages should be ruled through. Pages should not be left incomplete. Errors should be simply crossed out, corrected and initialled. Never use correction fluid or tear out pages. All pages should be signed and dated by the author. All pages should be signed and dated by the supervisor. In instances where the supervisor feels results may be patentable, a witness should also sign and date the lab book.
Twice-monthly evaluation of scientific progress. Each formal supervision meeting will include an evaluation of the progress of your work in relation to the objectives of the project.
Interim evaluation of your professional competence and advice for improvement Two months after the beginning of the project, your Supervisor will provide you officially with a written evaluation of your professional abilities as a researcher. This will allow you to identify areas where you need to improve in order to achieve better results in the second half of the project. The final assessment of your laboratory competence by your supervisor (but moderated by senior academic staff) will contribute 12% to the final mark for your Project module, provided that the Laboratory Project runs normally, taking COVID-19 restrictions into consideration.
Independent evaluation of progress and training Halfway through the project period, you will be invited to discuss the progress of your work with your Personal Tutor. This will help you identify the strengths of your work and the areas where improvements might be needed. More details on the role of the tutor in the course are in the student support section on page 24.
Timetable for writing the dissertation The final version of your dissertation must be completed and submitted electronically by the deadline of Wednesday, 15 September 2021, 12 noon. Your supervisor and you should agree on a timetable for production of drafts that would allow the supervisor to provide constructive feedback and to check the final version in the months preceding the deadline. The timeline should take into account your supervisor’s absences (for instance, holidays and travel to conferences). As a rough guide, you should send your supervisor a draft of the ‘Materials and Methods’ section by the end of July and a draft of the full dissertation by the third week of August. Students who do not submit the draft of the full dissertation by the deadline will not be allowed to continue to work in the labs.
Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 19
Marking of the Project and viva voce examinations
Dissertation mark The dissertation will account for 88% of your total mark for the Laboratory Project Module, so long as the laboratory work is allowed to run normally. The proportion may be increased as far as 100% if laboratory work becomes impossible. Your dissertation will be marked by two members of the academic staff (and never by your supervisor). In some cases, a third member of staff and the external examiner might be involved (see section on marking, on page 13, for more details).
Laboratory Skills Mark The remaining 12% of your Laboratory project mark will be based on a final assessment of your professional competence as a laboratory researcher. This assessment will be made by your supervisor on the basis of the professional skills you demonstrate during the second half of the project period. The criteria for this assessment will be identical to those of the interim assessment (see the section above). A member of staff not connected to your supervisor’s research team will moderate this assessment.
Viva voce examinations Some students may be examined in an oral examination (viva voce) by an internal and external examiner before their Laboratory mark is finalised.
20 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Course Rules Etiquette in Class We do not wish to prescribe formal rules of good behaviour in class. Obviously, we expect that students all respect the work of others and of teaching staff and so will avoid behaviour that could disrupt teaching, learning or assessment. In particular, we ask students to silence their mobile phones and avoid unnecessary talking. Please also bear in mind that many non- native-English-speaking students can find low-level background noise much more disruptive of their understanding than native or fluent English speakers. Finally, we expect students to comply with any other requirements made by staff in class.
Assignments and Invigilated Examinations The detailed rules and regulations for examinations, including a highly informative video, can be found at, www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/exams.
Most modules on the course are currently assessed by written assignments, which you complete in your own time and submit by a prescribed time (deadline) and not by examinations. In some modules, though, your assessment will feature oral presentations, demonstrations of taught practical skills and invigilated, timed, written examinations as part of the assessment procedure. At the time of production of this handbook, we intend to use methods other than written assignments to assess the following modules, at least partly.
An oral presentation and assessment of your presentation show is used to assess. The Project Presentation modules (MED6023/43/53/63/73/83). Your completed laboratory notebook is used in MED6098 (Laboratory Practice and Statistics). For 2020-2021, an individualised on- line test will be used in MED6098. Poster Presentations are used in MED6098 and CDL401 (Vascular Cell Biology). A scheduled, timed computer-based test of learning is the basis for assessment of MED6070 (Modelling Protein Interactions).
You will be notified of dates and formats of scheduled examinations and the submission dates for assessments in lectures, on Blackboard or by individual emails. Any student who fails to attend an examination will be given a mark of zero, unless they were granted a special dispensation not to attend because of extenuating circumstances (see below).
To abide by University regulations, electronic translators are not allowed in invigilated examinations. Printed dictionaries between English and a foreign language are allowed if they have been previously approved at the Student Services Information Desk. There must be no written material (in any language) added to the dictionary. Further information about dictionary and calculator approval can be found at, www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/exams/rules/what-you-can-bring
Attendance and Absence Attendance Monitoring As a full-time student, you are required to be attend for the whole period of the course including all lectures, tutorials and examinations that are components of your course. You are Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 21 also expected to work full time in your supervisor’s laboratory during the periods of the Laboratory Project Modules. Your attendance in class will be monitored regularly through sign-in sheets. It is generally of little concern to us if a student occasionally misses a lecture, particularly if the student politely informs the relevant member of staff. Frequent non- attendance often leads to or signals academic problems. Poor attendance is also potentially a disciplinary matter and persistent offenders may be reported to the Faculty Director of Learning and Teaching. We will also monitor your attendance formally at twelve key sessions throughout the academic year; this is required by the University. During the taught period of the course, this monitoring will concern eight specific teaching sessions or submissions of assignments. In the project period, your attendance will be monitored by the Project Supervisor/Course Administrator every 4 or 5 weeks. The University will keep this information. In the case of overseas students, our records can be accessed by the UK Border Agency to check that a student is complying with the criteria for issuing a UK student visa. For further information on immigration and visas see page 34. You need to inform staff if you cannot attend class/laboratory work, submit an assignment on time or attend an examination, as explained below.
Self-Certification and Extenuating Circumstances Reporting if you have been Absent. Please report all absences of a day or more to the Teaching Administrator (Jane Shields). If your absence is planned, please do this in advance. Then, if you are absent from the University for seven days or less, you should complete the Student Self-Certification form. This is for personal emergencies or medical absences (whether they are emergencies or not). It is available on Blackboard, from the Reception Desk on C Floor or from, www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/assessment/extenuating-circumstances For more serious matters, if you are absent for more than 7 calendar days, or the absence has affected examinations or assessments, or the absence has resulted in the late or non-submission of coursework (after an absence of more than 7 calendar days). or another factor has seriously affected your ability to complete an assessment, then please proceed as follows.
Start by informing the Teaching Administrator (Jane Shields). You should then complete an Extenuating Circumstances form, which you will find on Blackboard, at the Reception Desk on C Floor or at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/assessment/extenuating-circumstances Please bring evidence to support your application to the Teaching Administrator. We will need this information to allow you a deadline extension, a rescheduled submission or to arrange a new examination. Be aware that we cannot accept very ‘minor’ circumstances, some of which are listed in the University web pages at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/forms/circsnotes
For medical problems, medical evidence should be obtained from your doctor. If you are registered with the University Health Service (UHS), please complete the electronic version of the Extenuating Circumstances Form located at: www.shef.ac.uk/health. If you are seeking a doctor’s note you should take the form to your doctor for signature when you go for your 22 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine appointment. You can also use the UHS mobile app. A copy of the Extenuating Circumstances Form will then be printed off and provided to you with a stamped doctor’s statement attached. Completed forms must be sent to the Teaching Administrator (Jane Shields). You would also need to provide documentary evidence for non-medical extenuating circumstances, such as a repairer’s invoice or an insurer’s note in case of loss or theft of a personal computer.
If you are ill, we will not pursue you for evidence until you are better! We will accept your application conditionally, but we will only be able to ratify your case at the Examination Board (at the end of the year) when your application is taken into account, if we have acceptable evidence for your application no later than Monday 4 October 2021. Without evidence we will need to reinstate the penalty for late submission.
In Case of Bereavement We can sympathise and realise how painful this may be at the time and will accept your application for special circumstances conditionally. Please provide evidence, such as a copy of the death certificate, before Monday 4 October 2021.
Limits to our Ability to Grant Extensions Requests made after the deadline or examination can only be granted if you were unable to communicate with the module leader or Course Administrator before the deadline (for example if you were in hospital). Module leaders cannot grant any extension of a deadline exceeding ten working days. Based on the explanations and documentary evidence provided by the student, module leaders (in discussion with the Course Leader) can grant extensions for the entire period requested, less than ten days or no extension at all. Applications for extensions for longer than ten days will be passed on to the Faculty Director of Learning and Teaching or the Vice President of the Faculty, who are empowered to grant longer deadline extensions. Because of the structure of the course, it will often be disruptive to the next module if we were to grant an extension beyond a single day. In such cases we might delay submission and redefine the assignment for a more convenient period.
Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 23
What Should and Should Not be in an Assignment
Citations and References The standard citation and referencing format used throughout the course is the Harvard format, where authors and date mention cited references. This will be explained in MED6090. A detailed guide on how to use this format, produced by Leeds Metropolitan University, ‘Quote unquote’, will be available on MOLE throughout the course.
Pictures, Diagrams and Tables We encourage you to include useful illustrative figures that help the understanding of your text (photographs, drawings, diagrams, screen captures) or tables in assignments provided that they are your own work. For example, this could be a table that you generated by assembling pieces of information obtained from several published sources or a figure that you compose and draw yourself. Computer screen captures will be accepted as being your own work if they show images produced by software operated by you (for example BLAST, the UCSC Genome Browser, ENSEMBL, Pymol or CellDesigner).
A figure or table that you add should be seriously useful for reference and should not added for decoration. It is not adequate to include a blurred, illegible image just because a figure is obviously required.
All figures and tables that you include should be accompanied by informative titles and legends (which in the case of computer screen capture should include a reference to the software used and the parameters that you supplied). A figure should be comprehensible in its context without the reader’s referring to the text and the legend makes this possible.
If the figure or table contains text (for instance, sequence data) then the text must be legible and you must supply the text in a form that can be recovered as text, for analysis, to enable the markers to assess it. Do not convert text to a bit-mapped image by dumping the screen (for instance) into an image format. Figure legends, of course, must also be fully legible.
Figures or tables adapted from an original made by someone else will never have the same value as work done entirely by you and will only be accepted when all three of the following conditions are met: You have removed irrelevant details or you have added new elements so that the diagram fits with the message of the text of your own assignment. You have rewritten the original legend to match the changes in content and you have paraphrased it to avoid plagiarism and show your own understanding. Your legend cites the source(s) of the original and explains briefly how you adapted it, as in for example “Adapted from Fig. 3 of Dempsey et al. (2002) by omitting proteins not involved in the pathway discussed here”.
24 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Markers will appreciate a figure or table produced by you if its contents and legend are linked to the main text in a manner that demonstrates that you understand the topic. Please note that simply pasting or re-drawing a figure or table might look attractive but is of no academic value (it does not demonstrate your understanding) and will not contribute to a student’s mark. In fact, a reproduced figure without proper explanation in the text could reduce a student’s mark because it has taken up space that could have been used to demonstrate understanding of the topic.
Markers will not expect your figures or diagrams to look professionally produced though we will expect your skill to improve during the course.
We suggest you use Microsoft PowerPoint or a similar application to generate diagrams or to add captions to photographs, but even scans of hand-drawn diagrams will be accepted. On the other hand, please do not paste in distorted or low contrast images (grey on grey) taken with your phone camera. If you do not yet have the skills or software to improve contrast then it would be better if you scanned the images on one of the available online printer/copiers. You will receive training how to produce your own figures or adapt a published one in module MED6090.
Advice on Avoiding the Use of Unfair Means in Assessment Further information can be found at www.shef.ac.uk/ssid/exams/plagiarism
Your assessed work is the main way by which you demonstrate that you have acquired and can apply these skills. Using unfair means in the assessment process is dishonest and also means that you cannot demonstrate that you have acquired these essential academic skills and attributes.
What Constitutes Unfair Means? The University expects its graduates to have acquired certain skills and attributes. www.sheffield.ac.uk/thesheffieldgraduateaward Many of these relate to good academic practice and professional behaviour, thus we expect our MSc graduates to be critical, analytical and creative thinkers independent learners and researchers information and IT literate competent in applying their knowledge and skills professional and adaptable. The principle underlying the preparation of any piece of academic work is that the work submitted must be your own work and be original. Cheating – submitting bought or commissioned work, plagiarism, submission of the same work for different assessments, Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 25 collusion and fabrication of results are not allowed because they violate these principles. Rules about cheating apply to all assessed and non-assessed work.
1. Submitting bought or commissioned work (for example from internet sites, essay “banks” or “mills”) is an extremely serious form of plagiarism. This may take the form of buying or commissioning either the whole assignment or part of it and implies a clear intention to deceive the examiners and will very probably lead to the expulsion of the perpetrator. The University also takes an extremely serious view of any student who sells, offers to sell or passes on his or her own assignments to other students. 2. Plagiarism (either intentional or unintentional) is passing off the ideas or work of another person as one’s own (including experts and fellow or former students). Plagiarism is considered dishonest and unprofessional. Plagiarism may take the form of cutting and pasting, taking or closely paraphrasing ideas, passages, sections, sentences, paragraphs, drawings, graphs and other graphical material from books, articles, internet sites or any other source and submitting them for assessment without appropriate acknowledgement. 3. Double submission is resubmitting work that has been assessed before, without authorisation from the current module leader. This may take the form of copying either the whole assignment or part of it. Normally, credit will already have been given for this work. Double-submission gives the perpetrator the unfair advantages of having studied the problem before (equivalent to extra time) and of having received feedback from teachers on that earlier work (that is, expert guidance not available to other students. 4. Collusion is where two or more people work together to produce a piece of work, all or part of which is then submitted by each of them as their own individual work. This includes passing on work in any format to another student. Collusion does not occur where students involved in group work are encouraged to work together to produce a single piece of work as part of the assessment process. 5 Fabrication is submitting work (for example, research data) any part of which is untrue, made up, falsified or fabricated in any way. This is regarded as fraudulent, dishonest and completely inconsistent with an academic career.
How Can Students Avoid the Use of Unfair Means? To avoid using unfair means, any work submitted must be your own and must be original (that is, is not a double-submission and does not include the work of any other person, unless it is properly acknowledged and referenced.
As part of your programme of studies you will learn how to reference sources appropriately. This is an essential skill that you will need throughout your University career and beyond. You should follow any guidance on the preparation of assessed work given by the academic department setting the assignment.
26 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
You are required to attach a declaration form to all submitted work (including work submitted online), stating that the work submitted is entirely your own work. This declaration is part of the standard cover sheet that you must attach to any assessed piece of work.
If you have any concerns about appropriate academic practices or if you are experiencing any personal difficulties, which are affecting your work, you should consult your personal tutor or a member of staff involved with that unit of study.
The following websites provide additional information on avoiding unfair means:
The Library provides online information literacy skills tutorials at www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/services/infoskills The Library also has information on reference management software at www.sheffield.ac.uk/library/refmant/refmant The English Language Teaching Centre (ETLC) operates a Writing Advisory Service through which all students can make individual appointments to discuss a piece of writing. This is available at www.shef.ac.uk/eltc/languagesupport/writingadvisory
Automatic Detection of Unfair Means The University subscribes to a national plagiarism detection service, which helps academic staff identify the original source of material submitted by students. This means that academic staff have access to specialist software that searches a database of reference material gathered from professional publications, student essay websites and other work submitted by students. It is also a resource, which can help tutors to advise students on ways of improving their referencing techniques. Your work is likely to be submitted to this service.
Discipline and Penalties
Penalties for Using Unfair Means in Assessed Work Any form of unfair means is treated as a serious academic offence. In particularly serious or persistent cases, action must be taken under the Discipline Regulations under the auspices of the University disciplinary committee and will not then be controlled by the course leadership. Where unfair means are found to have been used, the University sanctions penalties ranging from awarding a grade of zero for the assignment through to expulsion from the University. We are aware that a student may occasionally use unfair means unintentionally, through misunderstanding the rules rather than intending to gain unfair advantage. To reduce the risk of this, we will give advice and training on avoiding unintentional plagiarism and collusion during the introductory sessions and module MED6090. Please pay attention to this advice.
Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 27
Penalties for a first offence. If we discover the use of unfair means in any assessment, on the first occasion, a student will usually receive a written warning and the parts of the assignment that have been produced unfairly will not receive any marks. However, formal disciplinary procedures may be initiated if we believe rules were broken deliberately and extensively and there will particularly be no ‘first offence’ consideration for anyone who commissions work or fabricates data, because it is impossible to see how this could be justified (category 1 on page 21). Penalties for Repeated or Major Offences. Any further instances of use of unfair means committed by a student after they have been warned for a prior offence will incur more severe penalties. In addition to receiving no marks for the fragments that were produced unfairly, a second offence will result in a further deduction of marks from the assessed work. By University regulations, we have the discretion to deduct as many marks as we feel appropriate, down to a mark of zero in cases where the use of unfair means is extensive. Serious or persistent will be dealt with through formal University disciplinary procedures, which are independent of the management of the course, and are frequently penalised by the expulsion of the student from the University. Penalties for Inappropriate Use of Figures and Tables. If the module leader identifies a figure, table or legend that has been reproduced without changing its contents (compared to the cited original source) then the module leader may impose a mark penalty of 2% for the entire module and not just an affected component. Penalties in each module will be cumulative. If an assignment contains several copied figures or tables the penalty will be 2% x the number of offending items. Failure to Cite Sources. It is plagiarism to claim authorship of a figure or table, by not citing its source, either when the material is unaltered (straight copying) or even when the table or figure has been altered (see above). Penalties for Late Submission of Marked Assignments. All marked assignments submitted after the deadlines will incur late submission penalties, except when Special Dispensations have been granted (see section on Special Circumstances on page 10). Late submissions of assignments due for marking will be accepted for up to five working days after the deadline, but will be penalised as required by University regulations, by multiplying the mark obtained by 1 – (0.05 x n), where n is the number of working days late rounded up. For example, if a piece of work due in on Monday at 9.30 a.m. is submitted at 10.00 am (30 minutes late), it is recorded as being 1 working day late (n=1). If the work is given a mark of 58% before penalties, the final mark after applying the penalty will be 58 x (1 – (0.05 x 1)) = 55%. If the same work were submitted on the Wednesday at 10.30 a.m. (49 hours late), it would be recorded as being three working days late (n=3) and the final mark after applying penalty would be 58 x (1 – (0.05 x 3)) = 49%. Work that has not been submitted five working days after the deadline will receive a mark of zero.
28 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
Penalties for Late Submissions of Drafts (Literature Review, Project Presentation and Dissertation) Please also note that although the Literature Review drafts are not marked, you will be penalised by a deduction of 10 marks from the final mark if the drafts are submitted after the deadline or if you do not meet your supervisor to get feedback on the draft. In addition, students who submit the draft Literature review 5 days or more after the deadline will not be entitled to receive any feedback on their draft as such late submissions will make it impractical for supervisors to assess their drafts.
Regulations Relating to the Publication of Research Students must consult their supervisor before submitting any manuscript for publication or presenting their results to conferences, even if they believe themselves to own the Intellectual Property (IP). Premature publication of data could interfere with supervisor’s planned submissions, hinder patent applications or could damage the Supervisor’s and the Department’s reputations.
Irrespective of IP ownership, any submitted manuscript must adhere to the Vancouver Protocol, the internationally recognised standard for determining authorship, and comply with the University of Sheffield policy on authorship of academic publications, available at www.sheffield.ac.uk/rs/services
These requirements imply that the supervisor, as initiator and original designer of the project, must be given the opportunity to contribute to any manuscript arising from the project. It is highly unlikely that you should be the sole author on work produced in your supervisor’s laboratory. By undertaking a research project offered as part of this MSc course, you are agreeing to adhere to this publication policy and to the rules and guidelines mentioned in the previous paragraph. Should these rules be broken, the incident would be investigated as a potential case of misconduct. If you are in any doubt, please speak to your supervisor first, or if you cannot resolve matters in this way, please contact the Module Leader, Dr Rachid Tazi-Ahnini, or the course Leader, Dr Martin Nicklin.
Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 29
Support for our Students
Course Primary Contacts, Emails and Phone Numbers
Role Name email phone Course Leader Dr Martin Nicklin [email protected] 0114 2159541 Project Dr Rachid Tazi- [email protected] 0114 2159556 Coordinator Ahnini Admissions Dr Jon Shaw [email protected] 0114 2159553 Tutor Course Mrs Jane Shields [email protected] 0114 2225535 Administrator Your Tutor (Please fill in!)
Academic Support
Preparing for Life After the MSc in Molecular Medicine ‘Careers Day’ November 25th– Exploring the Opportunities In collaboration with other Masters Programmes across the School of Medicine, we will bring you a series of talks from visiting speakers who are still at a relatively early stage in their careers in which they will describe what they like about their line of work, how they came to be doing it and how they can expect their careers to develop. Details will be posted nearer the time. The Careers Service at the University of Sheffield A range of talks during the autumn semester have been arranged for PGT students in the Medical School, information has been included in your Intro Pack. We encourage you to attend these. The Careers Service offers advice and support on any job or career related issue to students of the University. For students at postgraduate level the help offered by the Careers Service frequently centres on a clarification of next steps and the provision of practical help to achieve them (for instance, how to put together strong job applications, how to do well at interview). The Service has a wide range of information resources and can advise on a variety of job search strategies. See the website for an overview of how the Careers Service can help: www.sheffield.ac.uk/careers The Service offers a very wide-ranging programme of careers related ‘Events’ and interactive workshops throughout the year www.shef.ac.uk/careers/students/events Individual career guidance by advisers is also available through appointments. For details see the Careers Service website at www.shef.ac.uk/careers. The Careers Service is located at Edgar Allen House, 241 Glossop Road, Sheffield, S10 2GW. Telephone: 0114 222 0910
30 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
301 Student Skills and Development Centre 301 Academic Skills Centre is the University’s facility that provides opportunities for students to develop the essential academic and study skills to underpin their learning at University. (It is located at 301 Glossop Road, hence the name, but currently operates entirely on-line). Follow the link to www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/301 301 offers a variety of resources for helping students, for example:
Maths and Statistics help (MASH) Study Skills Tutorials Academic Skills Workshops Specialist Dyslexia/SpLD tutorial Service The Languages For All programme Writing Advisory Service
Requests for Progress Reports and other Administrative Documents If you need a letter confirming your attendance on the course, statements of your current (preliminary) marks and other course-related administrative documents, please contact Mrs Shields by email. Please be aware that processing of these requests will take a minimum of two working days. This service will be provided only until December 2021, when the University will issue you with the access to your Sheffield Higher Education Achievement Report.
Sheffield Higher Education Achievement Report The Sheffield Higher Education Achievement Report (ShARe) is a nationally recognised degree transcript that the University gives to all graduates, to provide them with a comprehensive record of their university learning and experience – both academic and extra-curricular.You will be able to use our ShARe (Sheffield Authorised Records) system to give employers and others access to your HEAR (Higher Education Achievement Record), to provide evidence of your university achievements www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/record.
The University will send you an electronic link to enable you to access your ShARe after the course has finished. Find out more by visiting the HEAR website, at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/hear
Requests for Reference Letters Please be aware that students do not have an automatic right to reference letters, so please obtain a member of staff’s permission before including their name as a referee either on your CV or in a job or a PhD application. Your Personal Tutor and your Project Supervisor should be the first members of staff you consider contacting when seeking references in support of your applications for jobs or other courses. However, students need to be aware that their tutor and project supervisor can decline to write reference letters, particularly during the first semester, when they feel that students have not given them enough information on their career plans and skills. We strongly advise you to participate in Personal Development Planning (PDP) as the best way of providing your Tutor with the information they will need to provide supportive references. Members of staff will also decline requests to write reference Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 31 letters when they think that a student is applying for a position for which they are not qualified.
After Graduation – Maintaining Contact with us On-line We encourage you to register during the academic year on the professional social network site, LinkedIn and post a professional profile and CV on it. Dr Nicklin as Course Leader also encourages you to make LinkedIn contact with him either during or after the end of the course. Dr Nicklin has contact with the majority of the 630 past students from the MSc in Molecular Medicine. On the other hand, because we need to maintain a professional relationship with our students, staff will need to decline requests to become Facebook ‘friends’ until after students have graduated.
Your Wellbeing
General Administrative Enquiries If you have administrative questions, the Student Services Information Desk is likely to be able to provide answers. Please access their webpage, www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid.
Socialising and Eating COVIS-19 restrictions permitting, you are welcome to use the Medical School social space, Café 1828, on C floor. Food and snacks are also available from the Hospital cafeteria on D Floor, from the shops in the main entrance of the Hospital on B Floor and in the Boots shop on C Floor. There are many other food outlets on the main University campus and there are restaurants and take-away food providers in the Broomhill shopping area, close to the Hospital.
University Accommodation Contracts: Important Information! If you are renting University accommodation, you may have signed either a 42-week or a 51- week contract. If you have a 42-week contract, you will need to extend it to 51 weeks before it runs out, to benefit from University accommodation for the entire period of study. This extension is likely to involve moving to different accommodation at the end of the initial 42- week period. If you already have a 51-week contract, you do not need to extend it but please note that the University may still require you to change accommodation during the summer months to prepare for the new intake of students in September.
Registering with the University Health Service If you are not already registered with a local GP, we recommend you register with the University Health Service (www.shef.ac.uk/health) at the earliest convenience. Registration will make it easier for you to see a doctor or nurse and obtain signed evidence if an illness prevents you from studying. The Service is based at 53 Gell Street, Tel. 0114 2222100; email [email protected]. If you need to see a dentist for emergency treatment you can contact the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital on 0114 2717800, ring the emergency number for dental treatment on 111 32 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine or locate a dentist near to you on the NHS Choices website www.nhs.uk/Service- Search/Dentist/LocationSearch/3 Please note that charges will probably apply for dental treatment and we recommend that you take out private insurance if you are an overseas student.
Your personal tutor One of the roles of your personal tutor is to act as first point of contact should a problem arise. You can contact your tutor to discuss personal issues at any time. Your tutor can help you by providing personal advice or find the appropriate support service offered by the University. If you want to discuss a personal issue with your personal tutor, your tutor will treat the information in complete confidence if you ask them to do so, or you can ask your personal tutor to notify the course administrator and course leader, who will also handle your request in complete confidence.
What can you do if you are concerned about another student? In case you become worried about the emotional, physical or mental health of another student, you will find advice on what to do at www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/worried We have a lot of experience with helping students deal with problems and we will always treat your concerns in confidence. Helping students often involves directing them to the right professional source of help. Please feel able to contact the Course Leader, the Deputy Course Leader or the Course Administrator.
Student Support Services - Central Welfare and Guidance www.sheffield.ac.uk/sss/ssg/cwag The University’s Central Welfare and Guidance team offer student support for students in crisis situations - examples include non-elective hospitalisation of students, death and bereavement, national/international disasters affecting student’s relatives and students who are victims of crime. Tel. 0114 2224321 or email [email protected]
Your Mental Wellbeing - Student Access to Mental Health Support (SAMHS) SAMHS is the first point of contact for students to explore a broad range of psychological support needs in a single triage appointment. Find out more about the service at www.sheffield.ac.uk/mental-wellbeing/about-samhs
‘Togetherall’ University of Sheffield students who are going through a tough time can now access free online support with Togetherall. Please follow this link. www.sheffield.ac.uk/mental-wellbeing/bww
University Counselling Service (UCS) Students can contact the UCS to arrange informal and confidential counselling. The counselling service will arrange appointments, or refer clients to appropriate other support services. About UCS https://vimeo.com/109680597 Website: www.sheffield.ac.uk/counselling Address: 36 Wilkinson Street Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine 33
Telephone: 0114 222 4134 Email: [email protected]
The Disability and Dyslexia Support Service If you have a disability, a medical condition or a specific learning difficulty, we seek to ensure that your chances of academic success are not reduced because of it. The DDSS can also advise you in case you are concerned about mental health (such as anxiety or depression). We strongly encourage you to contact the Disability and Dyslexia Support Service (DDSS). DDSS is a confidential and friendly service which offers a range of support, including
Liaising with academic/administrative staff and central services about disabled students’ support needs Helping students to apply for Disabled Students’ Allowances Organising support workers, such as note takers, readers, library support, scribes, interpreters Advising on specialist equipment and technology Referring dyslexic students for study skills support, at the English Language Teaching Centre Referring students who think that they might be dyslexic for diagnostic assessments with an Educational Psychologist Formalising alternative arrangements for examinations and assessments, such as extra time in examinations; reasonable adjustments to assessment tasks; or alternative assessment formats. (These cannot be organised by the department without DDSS involvement.)
If you are likely to need alternative exam arrangements and do not yet have these in place, DDSS can liaise with the exams team on your behalf. They do need time to organise this and you would normally need to contact the DDSS very early in the course. Please talk to the Course Teaching Administrator (Jane Shields) if you are not sure about DDSS arrangements. DDSS can be found at The Hillsborough Centre, Alfred Denny Building. Email: [email protected]. See www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/disability for more information.
The Student Wellbeing Service (Faculty) Student Wellbeing Advisors offer a holistic assessment, formulation and signposting function. All appointments are for a single session, with some students having a follow-up session where appropriate. A third session may be offered if a clear therapeutic rational has been identified that supports the student to meet their agreed goals. Students are asked to complete a pre- and post-appointment questionnaire to assess and help track changes in their mood. Appointments can be booked directly with a Wellbeing Advisor. www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/wellbeing
The University’s Multi-Faith Chaplaincy Service www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/contacts/chaplaincy offers care and support as well as opportunities for worship, prayer and spiritual exploration. Address: The Octagon Centre, Western Bank; email: [email protected] 34 Course Handbook 2020-2021, MSc Molecular Medicine
The University of Sheffield Students’ Union (SSU) su.sheffield.ac.uk The Union is run by students for students. Through the Student Advice Centre, the SSU provides free, professional and confidential advice and support on a wide range of welfare and related issues such as money, housing, academic problems, employment, or immigration. Students can book an appointment by phone (0114 2228660) or email [email protected].
The SSU also manages social activities, sports and other leisure pursuits.
Where to Get Advice on Immigration Matters Most non-EU students have a Tier 4 (General) Student Visa. The Sheffield Student Information Desk (SSiD) provides a wealth of online information about Tier 4 visas; please read this information regularly and look out for updates in our Global Campus emails. Follow this link, https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/immigration/during-study/tier-4-responsibilities The student immigration rules are complex and change frequently. If you have questions about your immigration status, you must seek advice from a qualified and authorised immigration adviser – not from friends or staff in academic departments. The University’s immigration advisers are based in the International Student Support Team. If you are changing course, thinking about taking a Leave of Absence or any other change to your stay in UK, you can contact them via a web form - www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/international/email www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/international/immigration.