Biochemistry 530
Seminar course – Requirement for Graduation (all students)
1) 530 seminars
participation and attendance (mandatory for all grad students, all years)
25 minute talk, 5 minute questions
Both speakers should arrive at 11:50 to ensure their presentations are working properly.
evaluation of each talk (form-based; turned in at the end of each BIOC 530 session).
Term 1: 3rd year PhD students (compete for Zbarsky award) and 3rd year MSc students, then
4th year students
Term 2: 2nd year students, then 1st year students.
2) For PhD students, a mandatory talk on their thesis upon the point of graduation.
45-50 minutes
part of the BMBDG seminar series (usually on Monday’s at 3:00 pm)
arrange once defense date chosen
select date with your supervisor then tell Sahar (she will schedule your exit seminar).
3) BMBDG seminar series
Attendance is mandatory for all students (all years).
Mandatory adj., adv. Obligatory, required.
Course evaluation
1. First and Second Year seminars
65%
• Primarily based on presentation quality (as opposed to the science).
2. Evaluation of BIOC 530 and BMBDG seminar speakers
35%
• For BIOC 530, fill out evaluation form and hand it in at the end of each session.
• Put your name on it (ensures you are credited for your attendance).
15%
• Provide constructive critique only.
• Comments collated by grad secretary and passed onto speaker in anonymous fashion.
• Questions, including one of each seminar speaker the week following your 530 seminar. 10%
• For BMBDG seminars, provide your name, year of study, date and seminar title (presenter)
at the top of the page.
• For each speaker, write a single paragraph of up to 250 words (230-270). 10%
• Focus on the scientific content of the seminar, not the style of the speaker.
• In 2-3 sentences identify the problem the speaker is addressing and summarize the key
message (s) or conclusion (s) that the speaker delivered.
• In 1 – 2 sentences, summarize the new information that you learned from the seminar.
Tips for an effective Seminar
Overall organization
Introduction – 5-10 minutes. Sell your topic. What is the system? Why is this worth
studying? What do we know so far? What questions are you going to address?
Results – 10-15 minutes. Explain the experiments/results in detail! Don’t overestimate
your audience. They are unlikely familiar with your area. Better to explain one or 2
experiments well than several superficially. What have you learned (both from positive
and negative results)?
Future Goals – 5 minutes. Where will the work go from here? Why is it important?
Individual slides
Keep slides simple and focused on one or 2 points.
Use visuals when possible (i.e., not too many words!)
Reference others work appropriately (Authors et al., Journal, Volume, Page, Year).
Check font size/color on big screen.
Speaking style
Avoid reading. Rote memorization also sometimes doesn’t work as you can get lost.
Look at audience as much as possible (above their eyes).
PRACTICE WITH YOUR LAB BEFORE HAND TO IMPROVE FLUENCY AND TIMING.
Zbarsky Award
Best 3rd year BIOC 530 seminar as judged by grad student body
Only students who have attended all seminars (from evaluation
sheets) will have a valid vote.
Prof. Sid Zbarsky - first member of Dept of Biochemistry (1950).
Honorarium courtesy of Zbarsky family and department.
Recent winners:
13-14
12-13
11-12
10-11
09-10
08-09
07-08
06-07
Dheva Setiaputra (Yip)
Dustin King (Strynadka)
Kristina McBurney (Howe)
Genevieve Desjardins (McIntosh)
Justin Lee (Cullis)
Kush Dalal (Duong)
Christopher Jang (Jan)
Michael Gretes (Strynadka)
05-06 Jennifer Cox (Overall)
04-05 Mark Wilke (Strynadka)
03-04 Eduardo Vottero (Mauk)
02-03 Mike Johnson/Winco Wu (Cullis/Molday)
01-02 Daniel Lim (Strynadka)
00-01 Michael Page (MacGillivray)
99-00 Natalie Rundle (Roberge)