Research Projects | Office of the Associate Dean | Life Sciences & Biochemistry | Queen's University

The Programs Office has been working to streamline the 12.0-unit undergraduate research courses across the Biochemistry, Health Sciences, and Life Sciences programs. As part of this effort, research projects will now be grouped by topic area or discipline, rather than by program.This update does not affect your confirmed research project for the 2026–27 academic year.

For Life Sciences Specialization students, this change is minimal and involves an update to course codes only. Beginning in 2026–27, all 12.0 unit 499 courses (ex. PHAR 499/12.0) will be spilt into two 6.0-unit courses offered over Fall (PHAR 598/6.0) and Winter (PHAR 599/6.0) terms. The combination of these two courses will replace the 499 requirements across all sub-plans.

In addition, for students considering the Biomedical Discovery (BMDS) or Biomedical Sciences (BMSS) sub-plans, three new research course pairs have been introduced: BMED 598/6.0 and BMED 599/6.0, GLPH 598/6.0 and GLPH 599/6.0, and IDIS 598/6.0 and IDIS 599/6.0. For BMDS, these courses will be added to the list of approved research options under sub-plan requirement 1b. For BMSS, they will be included in LISC_Labs_E.

How To Get Started

Life Sciences students interested in pursuing a 598/599 project in their fourth year should contact professors late fall of their third year unless a professor indicates a specific date. Please refer to the following websites for faculty associated with 598/599 projects (note: sometimes students will go outside of these but they will require approval - email lifesci@queensu.ca.)
Students are expected to provide an unofficial transcript to their potential supervisor, thus confirming their eligibility for a 598/599 project.
Once an agreement has been made between you and a supervisor, please email lifesci@queensu.ca from your Queen's email (and include your student number) letting us know who your supervisor is (and copying them on the email) and indicating which 598/599 project (course code) you will be completing.
Please note that some research grants will be announced later in the winter term, so faculty will not know until later in the term if they will be taking a 598/599 student. We can add 598/599 projects into September to a students schedule.

Below you will find more information about each of the 598/599 research courses that are offered. Please note: the "Previous/Current Supervisors" list for each course is provided to give students an idea of faculty members who have supervised students in that particular topic in the past, but students are not limited to only those faculty members.

BCHM 598/599

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

BMED 598/599

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

CANC 598/599

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite: :

Previous/Current Supervisors

EPID 598/599

Coordinator: Dr. Ana Johnson

Prerequisite: EPID 301 (or equivalent of either HLTH 323 or HSCI 270)

Co-requisite: : EPID 401

If you are eligible, please contact potential supervisors directly from the Public Health Sciences web site: primary faculty, cross-appointed and adjunct faculty. Please let the EPID 598/599 Coordinator know once you have found a supervisor (and who it is).

Previous/Current Supervisors

GLPH 598/599

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

IDIS 598/599

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

MICR 598/599

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

NSCI 598/599

A research project into a selected area of neuroscience. The project involves experimental design, data collection, interpretation, and analysis, written reports and oral presentations. This course will enable students to:

acquire the intellectual and technical skills that are characteristic of scientists
experience the excitement of discovery

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Visit the Centre for Neuroscience website for a full listing of faculty researchers.

Previous/Current Supervisors

PATH 598/599

A research project involving the study of human disease processes. The project will be supervised by a faculty member in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine and will provide opportunities for experimental design, data analysis and both written and oral presentation of results.

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

PHAR 598/599

A research project into a selected area of pharmacology and toxicology. The project involves experimental design, data collection, interpretation, and analysis, written reports and oral presentations. This course will enable students to:

acquire the intellectual and technical skills that are characteristic of scientists
experience the excitement of discovery

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

PHGY 598/599

An investigation in a selected area of physiology. The project involves experimental design, data collection and analysis, submission of written reports, and oral presentations. Students attend seminars/tutorials on related topics.

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

REPD 498/499

Prerequisite:

Co-requisite:

Previous/Current Supervisors

DISC 598/599 Discovery Lab Research Projects for Team-Based Experiential Learning

This course is designed to provide team-based experiential learning to undergraduate students over two semesters so that they have the competencies required to successfully contribute to interdisciplinary research that advances the biomedical and health-care sectors of our society. This course will provide opportunities for these teams of students to gain experience in various research disciplines, including biochemistry, microbiology, cell biology, physiology, anatomy, neuroscience, computational analyses of data sets, and knowledge translation.

You can learn more about DISC 598/599 and the application process here.

Independent Research Projects (LISC 594/3.0; LISC 595/6.0)

Life Sciences Major students entering their 4th year who wish to complete fewer than 12.0 units of research may complete an Independent Study with approval by the Director of Life Sciences.

Independent Project supervisors are usually faculty associated with the following departments:

Note: sometimes students will go outside of the departments listed above, but they will require approval by emailing lifesci@queensu.ca

The application form for the Life Sciences Independent Study can be found below. Applications must be received at least one month prior to the term the project is starting.

Independent Study Application Form (if you receive an error message when opening this file in your browser, please ensure that your browser PDF viewer is up to date OR download the file and open it in your PDF reader)

Please note that the supervisors of the Independent Projects will need to forward the final grade to the Life Sciences and Biochemistry Program Office at: lifesci@queensu.ca for posting prior to the grade deadline.