Essential Biology
Subject Overview
Essential Biology is the opening theory paper of the B.Sc Medical Laboratory Science program, building the biological foundation the rest of the degree assumes. It starts with biology's branches and career scope within medical laboratory sciences, moves through tissue structure (epithelial, connective, muscular, nervous), and gives a detailed treatment of the cell — prokaryotic vs eukaryotic structure, the fluid-mosaic membrane model, organelles, and cell division. It closes with the molecules of life (carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, nucleic acids) and the basics of heredity, from Mendel's laws through DNA structure and replication. A 4-credit core theory paper across 5 units.
Unit-wise Syllabus
5 units — click WhatsApp below to get the full notes for each
Unit 1: Introduction to biology
Biology and its branches, scientific methods in biology, scope of biology and career options in Medical Laboratory Sciences
Unit 2: Tissues
Structure and function of epithelial, connective, muscular and nervous tissue
Unit 3: The cell as the basic unit of life
Cell theory, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells, unicellular and multicellular organisms, ultrastructure — cell wall, cell membrane (fluid-mosaic model), membrane transport, exocytosis and endocytosis, cell organelles (nucleus, mitochondria, plastids, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, lysosomes, microtubules, centriole, vacuole, cytoskeleton, cilia and flagella, ribosomes)
Unit 4: Molecules of the cell and cell division
Inorganic and organic materials — water, salts, mineral ions, carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, proteins, nucleotides, nucleic acids (DNA and RNA); binary fission; mitosis and meiosis
Unit 5: Continuity of life
Heredity and variation, Mendel's laws of inheritance, chromosomal basis of inheritance, incomplete dominance, multiple allelism, quantitative inheritance, genome, linkage and crossing over, gene mapping, recombination, DNA structure and replication, RNA structure and role in protein synthesis