Seminar Course in Biochemistry - BCH2020Y/BCH2022Y
Level 1/ Level 2
This is the Wednesday Noon student seminar series. See the current schedule for student seminar presenters and Connell Lectures.
Attendance at, and participation in, this course are mandatory. Attendance will be recorded. Although students are not expected to attend every seminar, students with poor attendance records will not have their applications for awards supported by the Department.
Students remain registered in their seminar courses for the duration of their program. Please carefully read the sections below to understand when course credit is assigned.
BCH2020 and BCH2022 are credit/non-credit courses, therefore no formal grade is assigned. However, students will receive feedback on their seminar from faculty immediately following the presentations of the day. Students will also receive a summary of evaluation forms completed by the faculty.
Jump To:
BCH2020 - Level 1
BCH2022 - Level 2
Seminar Format
BCH2020 Level 1- This course is to be taken by:
- Students completing the MSc program, presentation prior to scheduling MSc Thesis Exam
- MSc Students who seek to Transfer to the PhD program, presentation prior to scheduling the Transfer Exam
- Direct entry PhD Students, presentation prior to scheduling the Qualifying Exam
Students give a minimum of one Seminar at the First Talks Symposium in the spring of their second year of study.
Scheduling The date and time for your seminar will be provided to you about 4 months prior, in the Fall Semester. Remind your committee members that Departmental Guidelines ask that they be present at your seminar. This is true even if they have just attended a seminar that you presented elsewhere or if you have just had, or are about to have, a committee meeting.
The student must present his/her seminar prior to Requesting Permission to Write the MSc Thesis, Scheduling a Transfer Exam, or Scheduling a Qualifying Exam.
Please Note: Students remain registered for this course and receive credit only at completion of the MSc Program or the Transfer/Qualifying process.
BCH2022 Level 2 - This course is to be taken by:
- PhD students with a Prior Masters Degree (Two Seminars)
- PhD students who have Transferred from the MSc Program (Two Seminars post Transfer Exam)
- Direct Entry PhD Students who have completed their Qualifying Exam (Two Seminars post Qualifying Exam)
Scheduling Sign-up for a seminar slot is done mid-summer through the Graduate Assistant. You will receive an email from the Graduate Assistant asking whether you would like to present your work in the upcoming academic year. If you reply in the affirmative, a seminar slot will be assigned to you. Two weeks before your presentation date, give the title of your seminar to Carrie Harber (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca) so that she can post the title of the talk on Cette Semaine. Remind your committee members that Departmental Guidelines ask that they be present at your seminar. This is true even if they have just attended a seminar that you presented elsewhere or if you have just had, or are about to have, a committee meeting. Since the last seminar given as a PhD student is a forum for members of the Department to learn what the outcome of the thesis project has been, this seminar should be given as close as possible to the time at which the thesis research is complete.
Students must present their seminars prior to requesting to schedule a PhD Thesis Exam.
Please Note: Students remain registered for this course and receive credit only at completion of their PhD Program.
Seminar Format
Your seminar should include sufficient background information on the goals of your project and the experimental approaches that you use for the diverse expertise of the members of the audience. You are strongly encouraged to rehearse your seminar presentation and to think about how you might answer questions that you may receive. The Peer Communications Team is a great resource for preparing your presentation. You are advised to keep PowerPoint animations to a minimum as the audience generally finds these distracting rather than instructive. Be aware of your colour choices. Avoid red or blue immunofluorescence images on a black background!