Cell & Developmental Biology (CDB) is a second year NatSci module that builds on the knowledge gained from the Part IA Biology of Cells (BoC) module in first year.
As the name suggests, CDB is split into two parts; Cell Biology and Development. The Cell Biology section covers the structure and function of the cell nucleus, prokaryote genetic systems, genome organisation and function, gene expression and regulation, organelles (chloroplast, mitochondria, cytoskeleton), membrane trafficking and intercellular communication. These topics cover the majority of the course and run until the last quarter of Lent term. The remainder of the year is dedicated to the Development section which covers the development of organisms such as insects, plants, amphibians, fish and mammals.
In general, the lecture quality varies far and wide, but if you think you’ll enjoy even just half the course, it could be worthwhile, especially since the exam structure means you can get away with not revising everything. CDB is also a good starting point for several Part II subjects including Genetics, Plant Sciences, Zoology and Biochemistry, so it helps keeping your options open if you’re undecided.
The course is assessed by three exams, each of which lasts for three hours. Paper 1 comprises of four essays chosen from 13 titles split into three sections relating to the content covered in each term. Having 45 minutes for each essay is more than enough, but you have to choose at least one paper from each term so make sure you have at least one topic covered from each term! Paper 2 consists of eight mandatory short-answer questions and two essays from five titles. Again, the time-limit is not a big issue, but the short-answer questions, which could ask about anything learnt in the year, mean you might have to gamble a bit if you don’t want to revise everything. Paper 3 is a practical paper with eight questions of similar length to those asked in the BoC module in first year.
CDB doesn’t have particularly interesting practicals (there is a bioinformatics and journal review practical) and are split into two sessions. Practicals are timetabled as running from 11:00 to 17:00 but, depending on which group you session you choose at the beginning of the year, you will either work from 11:00 to 14:00 or from 14:00 to 17:00. Like the BoC practicals, CDB practicals are not marked and it’s completely up to you how much time and effort you want to spend on them. The helpfulness of demonstrators varies significantly so figure out who is the most helpful and willing to divulge answers the the beginning of the year and target them for your questions.