Cancer and Embryonic Development Journal Club meets every Friday from 2:30 - 3:30 pm in 3131 MRBIII.  Each week, two 20-minute related papers (one developmental and one cancer biology) presented by the students, followed by up to 10 minutes round table discussion on each paper.  This will be attended by the two lecturers for that week to help with questions and facilitate the conversation.  Ideally, these discussions will extend the Monday and Wednesday discursions and draw the contrasts and similarities between the two disciplines for the students.

For each Friday session, one half of the class will read each of that week's assigned papers and write a brief report on each (approximately one page) .  The speakers will be excused from this assignment on the week that they are scheduled for an oral presentation.   To view the presentation dates and group assignments visit the following page:

2009 Oral Presentation Dates and Journal Club Group Assignments

Written Review Guidelines
All reviews must be typed and include: a) a brief summary; b) comments about the single most important piece of data; c) major criticisms; and d) ideas generated by reading the paper, as well as the student's name and turn-in date.  For clarity's sake it is suggested that students keep to the four headings.  Papers are due every Friday at the start of Journal Club.  Each paper will reviewed by the teaching assistants, under the supervision of the course director, and returned the following Monday.  

These reports are a critical part of the overall grade as they represent 33% of the total.  50% of each paper's grade is based on handing the assignment in on time (i.e: at the Friday class).  The other 50% will be determined by the content.   Each paper is worth 20 points maximum with a total 260 possible points over the duration of the course. 

Oral Presentation Guidelines
The purpose of the short oral presentation is to give students experience giving focused scientific talks on selected topics in a group environment.   This is useful since it is important that students learn to synthesize and present focused summaries of their work throughout their graduate careers. 

Presentations will be relatively short (approximately 20 minutes) and will strictly timed.  If the paper has relatively few images all of the data may be shown; in papers with many images it is up to the speaker to select the most relevant graphics.  It is recommended that presentations not exceed 20-30 slides and that speakers practice beforehand to ensure that the 20 minute time limitation is not exceeded.

Since public speaking is likely to be a new experience for many students it is strongly recommended that the lead teaching assistant, Lynda Anderson, or course director be consulted prior to the student's scheduled oral presentation.

Oral presentations will not be graded but each speaker will be given oral feedback from the course director and lead TA after each journal club.