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Note: This is the 2010–2011 edition of the eCalendar. Update the year in your browser's URL bar for the most recent version of this page, or click here to jump to the newest eCalendar.
Note: This is the 2010–2011 edition of the eCalendar. Update the year in your browser's URL bar for the most recent version of this page, or click here to jump to the newest eCalendar.
This program is built on a selection of mathematics and biology courses that recognizes mathematical biology as a field of research, with 3 streams within biology: Ecology and Evolutionary Ecology, Molecular Evolution, and Neurosciences.
Before selecting this program, students should have completed the following 28 - 32 credits of science courses or their equivalents.
* PHYS 102 is required only for students following the Molecular Evolution Stream or Neurosciences Stream of this program. It need not necessarily be taken in U0.
Biology (Sci) : An introduction to the phylogeny, structure, function and adaptation of unicellular organisms, plants and animals in the biosphere.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Gregory-Eaves, Irene; Dhindsa, Rajinder S; Seizilles de Mazancourt, Claire (Fall)
Biology (Sci) : The cell: ultrastructure, division, chemical constituents and reactions. Bioenergetics: photosynthesis and respiration. Principles of genetics, the molecular basis of inheritance and biotechnology.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Dent, Joseph Alan; Vogel, Jacalyn (Winter)
Chemistry : A study of the fundamental principles of atomic structure, radiation and nuclear chemistry, valence theory, coordination chemistry, and the periodic table.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Butler, Ian Sydney; Fenster, Ariel; Kakkar, Ashok K; Gauthier, Jean-Marc (Fall)
Chemistry : A study of the fundamental principles of physical chemistry.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Gauthier, Jean-Marc; Fenster, Ariel; Mittermaier, Anthony; Siwick, Bradley (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Systems of linear equations, matrices, inverses, determinants; geometric vectors in three dimensions, dot product, cross product, lines and planes; introduction to vector spaces, linear dependence and independence, bases; quadratic loci in two and three dimensions.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Kelome, Djivede; Anderson, William J; Loveys, James G; Shahabi, Shahab; Clay, Adam (Fall) Kelome, Djivede; Anderson, William J (Winter) Palka, Karol (Summer)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of functions and graphs. Limits, continuity, derivative. Differentiation of elementary functions. Antidifferentiation. Applications.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Drury, Stephen W; Trudeau, Sidney; Shahabi, Shahab (Fall) Hundemer, Axel W (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : The definite integral. Techniques of integration. Applications. Introduction to sequences and series.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Trudeau, Sidney (Fall) Sancho, Neville G F; Drury, Stephen W; Trudeau, Sidney (Winter)
Physics : An introductory course in physics without calculus, covering mechanics (kinematics, dynamics, energy, and rotational motion), oscillations and waves, sound, light, and geometrical optics.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Ragan, Kenneth J (Fall)
Physics : Electric field and potential. D.C. circuits and measurements. Capacitance. Magnetic field and induction. A.C. circuits Semiconductor devices and their application. Electromagnetic waves.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Altounian, Zaven (Winter)
* If a student has already taken CHEM 212 or its equivalent, the credits can be made up with a complementary course in consultation with the program Adviser.
** Students who have sufficient knowledge in a programming language should take COMP 250 (3) Introduction to Computer Science rather than COMP 202.
*** Students may take either MATH 223 or MATH 247.
Biology (Sci) : The physical and chemical properties of the cell and its components in relation to their structure and function. Topics include: protein structure, enzymes and enzyme kinetics; nucleic acid replication, transcription and translation; the genetic code, mutation, recombination, and regulation of gene expression.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Roy, Richard D W; Brown, Gregory G; Fagotto, Francesco; Zetka, Monique (Fall)
Biology (Sci) : This course introduces the student to our modern understanding of cells and how they work. Major topics to be covered include: photosynthesis, energy metabolism and metabolic integration; plasma membrane including secretion, endocytosis and contact mediated interactions between cells; cytoskeleton including cell and organelle movement; the nervous system; hormone signaling; the cell cycle.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Levine, Robert; Hewitt, Kathryn; Brouhard, Gary (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : An introduction to the fundamental processes of ecology and evolution that bear on the nature and diversity of organisms and the processes that govern their assembly into ecological communities and their roles in ecosystem function.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Price, Neil; Larsson, Hans Carl; Potvin, Catherine (Fall)
Biology (Sci) : Principles of population, community, and ecosystem dynamics: population growth and regulation, species interactions, dynamics of competitive interactions and of predator/prey systems; evolutionary dynamics.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Guichard, Frederic (Fall)
Chemistry : A survey of reactions of aliphatic and aromatic compounds including modern concepts of bonding, mechanisms, conformational analysis, and stereochemistry.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Daoust, Michel; Tsantrizos, Youla S; Moitessier, Nicolas (Fall) Daoust, Michel; Fenster, Ariel; Schirrmacher, Ralf (Winter) Daoust, Michel; Fenster, Ariel (Summer)
Computer Science (Sci) : Overview of components of microcomputers, the internet design and implementation of programs using a modern high-level language, an introduction to modular software design and debugging. Programming concepts are illustrated using a variety of application areas.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Petitpas, Mathieu; Frydrychowicz, Maja (Fall) Frydrychowicz, Maja; Pomerantz, Daniel (Winter) Pomerantz, Daniel (Summer)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Taylor series, Taylor's theorem in one and several variables. Review of vector geometry. Partial differentiation, directional derivative. Extreme of functions of 2 or 3 variables. Parametric curves and arc length. Polar and spherical coordinates. Multiple integrals.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Jonsson, Wilbur; Sancho, Neville G F (Fall) Jonsson, Wilbur (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of matrix algebra, determinants and systems of linear equations. Vector spaces, linear operators and their matrix representations, orthogonality. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, diagonalization of Hermitian matrices. Applications.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Loveys, James G; Huang, Hongnian (Fall) Loveys, James G (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : A rigorous presentation of sequences and of real numbers and basic properties of continuous and differentiable functions on the real line.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Yassawi, Reem Adel (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Infinite series; series of functions; power series. The Riemann integral in one variable. A rigorous development of the elementary functions.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Matrix algebra, determinants, systems of linear equations. Abstract vector spaces, inner product spaces, Fourier series. Linear transformations and their matrix representations. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, diagonalizable and defective matrices, positive definite and semidefinite matrices. Quadratic and Hermitian forms, generalized eigenvalue problems, simultaneous reduction of quadratic forms. Applications.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Hundemer, Axel W (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : First order ordinary differential equations including elementary numerical methods. Linear differential equations. Laplace transforms. Series solutions.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Sancho, Neville G F (Fall) Xu, Jian-Jun (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Sample space, events, conditional probability, independence of events, Bayes' Theorem. Basic combinatorial probability, random variables, discrete and continuous univariate and multivariate distributions. Independence of random variables. Inequalities, weak law of large numbers, central limit theorem.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Anderson, William J (Fall) Partovi Nia, Vahid (Winter)
For the 39 credits, students complete 21 credits of BINF, BIOL, NEUR, PHGY, PSYC courses including one of three Streams (Ecology and Evolutionary Ecology, Molecular Evolution, Neurosciences) and 18 credits of MATH courses.
Note: Students selecting a BIOL course count this toward their 21 credits of BINF, BIOL, NEUR, PHGY, PSYC courses while students selecting a MATH course count this toward their 18 credits of MATH courses.
3 credits from the following Math or Biology Research courses:
Biology (Sci) : Independent research project.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Biology (Sci) : Independent research project.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : A supervised project.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Hundemer, Axel W; Kelome, Djivede (Fall) Kelome, Djivede (Winter)
15 - 18 credits of MATH courses chosen from Sequence 1 or 2 and from "Remaining Math Courses" as follows:
12 credits from the following courses:
* Students may take either MATH 317 or MATH 327
** Students may take either MATH 326 or MATH 437
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Derivative as a matrix. Chain rule. Implicit functions. Constrained maxima and minima. Jacobians. Multiple integration. Line and surface integrals. Theorems of Green, Stokes and Gauss.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Jonsson, Wilbur (Fall) Jonsson, Wilbur (Winter) Roth, Charles (Summer)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Error analysis. Numerical solutions of equations by iteration. Interpolation. Numerical differentiation and integration. Introduction to numerical solutions of differential equations.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Bartello, Peter (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : First order equations, geometric theory; second order equations, classification; Laplace, wave and heat equations, Sturm-Liouville theory, Fourier series, boundary and initial value problems.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Tsogtgerel, Gantumur (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Linear systems of differential equations, linear stability theory. Nonlinear systems: existence and uniqueness, numerical methods, one and two dimensional flows, phase space, limit cycles, Poincare-Bendixson theorem, bifurcations, Hopf bifurcation, the Lorenz equations and chaos.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Humphries, Antony Raymond (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : An overview of numerical methods for linear algebra applications and their analysis. Problem classes include linear systems, least squares problems and eigenvalue problems.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Humphries, Antony Raymond (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : The formulation and treatment of realistic mathematical models describing biological phenomena through such qualitative and quantitative mathematical techniques as local and global stability theory, bifurcation analysis and phase plane analysis. Numerical simulation. Concrete and detailed examples will be drawn from molecular, cellular and population biology and mammalian physiology.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Mackey, Michael C (Fall)
9 credits from the following:
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Sampling distributions, point and interval estimation, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, contingency tables, nonparametric inference, regression, Bayesian inference.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Asgharian-Dastenaei, Masoud (Fall) Anderson, William J (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Least-squares estimators and their properties. Analysis of variance. Linear models with general covariance. Multivariate normal and chi-squared distributions; quadratic forms. General linear hypothesis: F-test and t-test. Prediction and confidence intervals. Transformations and residual plot. Balanced designs.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Khalili Mahmoudabadi, Abbas (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Conditional probability and conditional expectation, generating functions. Branching processes and random walk. Markov chains, transition matrices, classification of states, ergodic theorem, examples. Birth and death processes, queueing theory.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Addario-Berry, Dana Louis (Winter)
Remaining 3-9 credits of MATH courses may be chosen from any of the two preceding sequences and/or from the following list:
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : The concept of degrees of freedom and the analysis of variability. Planning of experiments. Experimental designs. Polynomial and multiple regressions. Statistical computer packages (no previous computing experience is needed). General statistical procedures requiring few assumptions about the probability model.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Review of mathematical writing, proof techniques, graph theory and counting. Mathematical logic. Graph connectivity, planar graphs and colouring. Probability and graphs. Introductory group theory, isomorphisms and automorphisms of graphs. Enumeration and listing.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Vetta, Adrian Roshan (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Modern discrete data analysis. Exponential families, orthogonality, link functions. Inference and model selection using analysis of deviance. Shrinkage (Bayesian, frequentist viewpoints). Smoothing. Residuals. Quasi-likelihood. Sliced inverse regression. Contingency tables: logistic regression, log-linear models. Censored data. Applications to current problems in medicine, biological and physical sciences. GLIM, S, software.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Stephens, David (Winter)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Distribution free procedures for 2-sample problem: Wilcoxon rank sum, Siegel-Tukey, Smirnov tests. Shift model: power and estimation. Single sample procedures: Sign, Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Nonparametric ANOVA: Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman tests. Association: Spearman's rank correlation, Kendall's tau. Goodness of fit: Pearson's chi-square, likelihood ratio, Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests. Statistical software packages used.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Genest, Christian (Fall)
Mathematics & Statistics (Sci) : Simple random sampling, domains, ratio and regression estimators, superpopulation models, stratified sampling, optimal stratification, cluster sampling, sampling with unequal probabilities, multistage sampling, complex surveys, nonresponse.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
18 to 21 credits of BIOL, NEUR, PHGY, PHYS, PSYC courses including one of three Streams.
Note: Some courses in the Streams may have prerequisites.
At least 15 credits selected as follows:
3 credits of:
Biology (Sci) : Introduction to modern methods used in organismal biology, including ecological sampling, experimental methods and statistics, taxonomic and phylogenetic analysis of biodiversity, experimental behavioural ecology, microbiological methods, and library search procedures.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Gonzalez, Andrew; MacLean, Eleanor; Schoen, Daniel J (Fall)
3 credits from the following field courses or any other field course with permission:
Biology (Sci) : Field studies of ferns, fern allies, conifers and flowering plants; the use of keys for species identification.
Terms: Summer 2011
Instructors: Lechowicz, Martin J; Aubin, Isabelle (Summer)
Biology (Sci) : Methods of sampling natural populations. Testing hypotheses in nature.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Lechowicz, Martin J; Leighton, Patrick; Davies, Thomas (Fall)
Biology (Sci) : Relevant to agriculture, forestry, fisheries and conservation of natural resources. Field component taught at the University's Bellairs Research Institute in Barbados, for two weeks in early May. The course is organized in a series of small-group field projects of 2-3 days each. Interested students should check the course website, attend the full information session and fill out an application form.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Guichard, Frederic; Price, Neil (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : Relevant to agriculture, forestry, fisheries and conservation of natural resources. Field component taught at the University's Bellairs Research Institute in Barbados, for two weeks in early May. The course is organized in a series of small-group field projects of 2-3 days each. Interested students should check the course website, attend the full information session and fill out an application form.
Terms: Summer 2011
Instructors: Guichard, Frederic; Price, Neil (Summer)
Biology (Sci) : A study of the physical, chemical and biological properties of lakes and other inland waters, with emphasis on their functioning as systems.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Gregory-Eaves, Irene (Fall)
At least 9 credits chosen from the following list, of which 6 credits must be at the 400-level or above:
Biology (Sci) : Introduction to basic principles, and to modern advances, problems and applications in the genetics of higher and lower organisms with examples representative of the biological sciences.
Terms: Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Schoen, Daniel J; Chevrette, Mario; Western, Tamara (Winter) Dankort, David; Western, Tamara (Summer)
Biology (Sci) : This course will show how the theory of evolution by natural selection provides the basis for understanding the whole of biology. The first half of the course describes the process of selection, while the second deals with evolution in the long term.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Bell, Graham (Fall)
Biology (Sci) : Ecological bases of the natural causes and consequences of current global environmental changes, including how biodiversity and ecosystem processes are defined and measured, how they vary in space and time, how they are affected by physical and biological factors, and how they affect each other and human societies.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Loreau, Michel; Seizilles de Mazancourt, Claire; Davies, Thomas (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : This course presents evolutionary genetics within an ecological context. The course covers theoretical topics together with relevant data from natural populations of plants and animals.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Biology (Sci) : Study of theoretical ecology and of mathematical tools available to explore the dynamical behaviour of model populations, communities and ecosystems. Models addressing major ecological theories including population stability, community dynamics and ecosystem functioning, epidemic and disturbance dynamics, spatial models, game theory.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Guichard, Frederic; Seizilles de Mazancourt, Claire (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : Mathematical models of game theory and evolutionary dynamics; classical models and current research.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Biology (Sci) : Theoretical foundations for a new ecological synthesis that merges the perspectives of population, community, evolutionary and ecosystem ecology. Focus on theory in interaction with experimental and empirical work, and covers current topics at the interface between community and ecosystem ecology.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Loreau, Michel (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : Evolutionary ecology is the study of evolutionary change in natural populations. General predictive approaches in evolutionary ecology, including population genetics, quantitative genetics, optimality, and game theory will be examined. Emphasis will be placed on the mathematical underpinnings of each approach, particularly as they relate to classic and contemporary problems.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
At least 16 credits selected as follows:
Biology (Sci) : Introduction to basic principles, and to modern advances, problems and applications in the genetics of higher and lower organisms with examples representative of the biological sciences.
Terms: Winter 2011, Summer 2011
Instructors: Schoen, Daniel J; Chevrette, Mario; Western, Tamara (Winter) Dankort, David; Western, Tamara (Summer)
Biology (Sci) : An introduction to laboratory techniques with a focus on methods used to investigate fundamental questions in modern cell and molecular biology. Techniques including gene cloning, DNA and protein isolation and manipulation are covered, along with functional analysis of genes and proteins, basic bioinformatics, and computer-based experimental design and data analysis.
Terms: Fall 2010, Winter 2011
Instructors: Moon, Nam Sung; Harrison, Paul; Zheng, Huanquan (Fall) Moon, Nam Sung; Harrison, Paul; Zheng, Huanquan (Winter)
At least 9 credits selected from:
Bioinformatics : Bioinformatics methods and reasoning in relation to genomics, proteomics and metabolomics strategies with an emphasis on functional genomics data. The course will cover introduction to UNIX, Perl programming, data processing and integration, file parsing, relational database design and implementation, angled towards solutions relevant for genomics.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Biology (Sci) : Conserved processes in Eukaryotic organisms, including the cytoskeleton, the cell cycle, complex traits/disease, global analysis/bioinformatics, and innovative studies/techniques in cell biology.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Brouhard, Gary; Vogel, Jacalyn (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : The influence of developmental mechanisms on evolution. This course draws on recent examples from plants and invertebrate and vertebrate animals. Topics include homology, modularity, dissociation, co-option, evolutionary novelty, evolution of cis-regulation and gene regulatory networks, developmental constraint and evolvability, heterochrony, phenotypic plasticity, and canalization.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Biology (Sci) : Evolutionary change in DNA and proteins and its implications for cellular, organismal, and population/species evolution.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Biology (Sci) : 'Post-genomic' bioinformatics. Concepts behind large-scale computational analysis and comparison of genomes/proteomes (and beyond), and the implications for our understanding of the basic processes of molecular and cell biology and the evolution of those processes.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2010-2011 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2010-2011 academic year.
At least 15 credits selected as follows:
Biology (Sci) : Neural mechanisms of animal behaviour; neuroethology; cellular neurophysiology, integrative networks within nervous systems; neural control of movement; processing of sensory information.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Pollack, Gerald; Dent, Joseph Alan (Fall)
At least 12 credits selected from:
Biology (Sci) : Methods of neurobiological research, including extracellular and intracellular recordings, electrical stimulation, and the study of neuro-behavioural problems.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Pollack, Gerald; St-Amant, Louis; Dent, Joseph Alan (Winter)
Biology (Sci) : Neural mechanisms underlying behaviour in vertebrate and invertebrate organisms.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Pollack, Gerald (Winter)
Physiology : In depth presentation of experimental results and hypotheses underlying our current understanding of how single neurons and ensembles of neurons encode sensory information, generate movement, and control cognitive functions such as emotion, learning, and memory, during voluntary behaviours.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Watt, Douglas; Martinez Trujillo, Julio; Vollrath, Melissa (Fall)
Physiology : An introduction to quantitative analysis of physiological data, both to the mode of thinking and to a set of tools that allows accurate predictions of biological systems. Examples will range from oscillating genetic networks to understanding higher brain function. Modelling and data analysis through examples and exercises will be emphasized.
Terms: Fall 2010
Instructors: Cook, Erik; Glavinovic, Mladen I; Chacron, Maurice (Fall)
Psychology : A systematic examination of the sensorimotor system, drawing on models and data from both behavioural and physiological studies. Topics include: cortical motor areas, cerebellum, basal ganglia, spinal mechanisms, motor unit properties and force production, prioception, muscle properties.
Terms: Winter 2011
Instructors: Ostry, David J (Winter)
For the remaining BINF, BIOL, NEUR, PHGY, PSYC complementary course credits, if any, students top up their credits to the necessary 21 with any course listed in the above streams in Biology or any other course in Biology with the approval of the program coordinator.