The teaching of physiology on professional (eg MBChB, BDS) and science programmes (eg Medical and Biomedical Materials Science) has traditionally been by a systems approach in which, for example cardiovascular, respiratory and renal physiology are taught in different modules. Clearly, there are many common themes and physiological concepts that apply to all systems (Michael et al. 2009) but such curriculum delivery can lead students to compartmentalise their learning. In addition, this approach reduces the opportunities for students to recognise physiological principles common to different systems and to integrate their knowledge of the whole body. The curriculum requirements of professional bodies (eg GMC and BDA) makes a different approach more challenging but a focus on physiological concepts could be of benefit to science students and provide them with the skills to apply, analyse and synthesise their knowledge, thus allowing them to integrate their understanding of different systems and other areas of the curriculum. This way they will advance to the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives without additional delivery. To trial this we decided to alter the delivery of teaching of cardiovascular and respiratory physiology to year 1 Biomedical Materials Science students at the University of Birmingham; this had previously been done sequentially within one module. The content was split into four themes: Mechanics, Resistance, Transport and Integration. Lectures, ~2 per theme, covered common concepts such as transport by convection and diffusion (Fick’s law), and the factors governing flow and resistance (Poiseuille’s law). Each theme had a small group tutorial to allow students to discuss the material and give them the opportunity to integrate and apply their knowledge of different systems. A final interactive session challenged students to consider how these systems would respond during exercise to optimise O2 delivery; a subject that had not been covered in lectures. We also changed our summative assessments to reflect this approach. Feedback from students suggests that they found the focus on common concepts useful and that their understanding of a physiological principle in one system was reinforced by their knowledge and understanding of the other. Tutors also felt that students had a better understanding of the common principles and were able to apply their knowledge more widely to areas not yet delivered in lectures. We believe that this approach will benefit the students when they continue their physiology education in year 2. A focus on common themes and principles could be applied to any area in which there is a need for students to integrate and apply their knowledge. It is particularly suited to programmes for which curriculum can be developed without the constraints placed upon it by professional bodies.