Advanced Biomedicine, 30 Credits

Contents

The course integrates four biomedical research areas - infection and immunology, cancer and bioinformatics, metabolism and metabolic diseases, and neuroscience and diseases of the nervous system. Specific examples illustrate principles and mechanisms that regulate normal cell and organ functions, as well as molecular processes that lead to dysfunction and disease.

The course also includes sessions covering literature searching, ethical aspects of research and scientific work, epidemiology and biostatistics, as well as bioinformatics.

The course is divided into following five modules:
Infection and immunology, 7 hp
Cancer and bioinformatics, 7 hp
Metabolism and metabolic diseases, 7 hp
Neuroscience and diseases of the nervous system, 7 hp
Epidemiology and biostatistics, 2 hp

Expected learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding:

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

• Show an understanding of basic biological mechanisms within cells and organs, and highlight how alterations at the molecular level can influence these processes, potentially contributing to the onset of diverse diseases.
• Provide an overview of the human body's reactions during microbial infection and inflammation (module infection and immunology).
• Describe the multi-step process of tumour formation, development and invasion (module cancer and bioinformatics).
• Illustrate cancer pathology as observed for some of the major cancer types (for example, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer) with major focus on risk factors, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment (module cancer and bioinformatics).
• Describe how tumour cells interact with tumour-associated micro-environment, specifically understand the concept of "tumour immunology" (module cancer and bioinformatics).
• Analyze genomic instability, cancer signaling pathways in relation to the multi-step process of tumour progression, involving angiogenesis and metastasis, exemplifying one of the three major cancer types: prostate cancer, breast cancer or lung cancer (module cancer and bioinformatics).
• Describe laboratory models used for studying cancer biology and targeted cancer therapy (module cancer and bioinformatics).
• Describe the body's adaptive responses to various metabolic situations, including meal consumption, fasting, and exercise (module metabolism and metabolic diseases).
• Identifying key metabolic pathways and their dysregulation in various metabolic disorders such as monogenic metabolic diseases and insulin resistance (module metabolism and metabolic diseases).
• Give an overview of the molecular and cellular principles that are important for the function of the nervous system (module neuroscience).
• Exemplify how the nervous system processes, converts and stores information (module neuroscience).
• Identify epidemiological design, that is, ecological study, cross-sectional study, case-control study and cohort study (module epidemiology and biostatistics).

Skills and abilities:

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

• Be able to discuss the significance of molecular changes of symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of various diseases.
• Critically analyse and summarize a scientific article and describe the importance of its specific elements.
• Possess the capability to effectively communicate scientific concepts orally through presentations.
• Provide examples of different microbial infection strategies and reflect on their relationship to the effector functions of the immune system (module infection and immunology).
• Apply bioinformatics to assess alterations in cancer cells at genomic and proteomic levels (module cancer and bioinformatics).
• Integrate and synthesize theories of causative mechanisms for a selection of nervous system disorders (module neuroscience).
• Calculate and interpret measures of disease occurrence and comparative measures of disease occurrence (prevalence, incidence and cumulative incidence, risk-, rate-, and odds ratio) (module epidemiology and biostatistics).
• Demonstrate the ability to plan and conduct an experimental study (factorial experiments and trials based on repeated measurements). Analyse and report the outcome (module epidemiology and biostatistics).
• Analyze factorial experiments with continuous outcomes with one-way and multi-way variance analysis (module epidemiology and biostatistics).
• Indicate methods for analysing factorial experiments where the outcome might be counts or binary (module epidemiology and biostatistics).

Judgement and approach:

After completing the course, the student should be able to:

• Show a scientific approach towards, and a responsibility for one's own learning.
• Demonstrating critical thinking skills by analyzing case studies and applying problem-solving strategies to metabolic disease scenarios (module metabolism and metabolic diseases).
• Recognizing the importance of lifestyle interventions and preventive measures in managing and reducing the risk of metabolic diseases (module metabolism and metabolic diseases).

Required Knowledge

180 ECTS from finished courses containing at 20 ECTS in Chemistry, including at least 5 ECTS in Biochemistry, or alternatively, 20 ECTS from a combination of courses in Chemistry and Physics and/or Mathematics, including at least 5 ECTS in Biochemistry; and in addition, 5 ECTS in Classical Genetics, 7.5 ECTS in Cell Biology, and 15 ECTS in Human or Zoo Physiology including Immunology, Neurobiology and Pathology. Proficiency in English equivalent to Swedish upper secondary course English B/6.

Form of instruction

Teaching is in English through lectures and in student-active forms with cases, exercises, own work and group work. Compulsory attendance applies at all teaching sessions except lectures. The biostatistics section includes laboratory exercises that train - examination planning, study implementation, analysis and reporting, as well as use of specific software (i.e.: will include work with computers).

Examination modes

The theoretical part of each module is examined through a written individual examination. The modules infection and immunology, metabolism and metabolic diseases, cancer and bioinformatics, and neuroscience and diseases of the nervous system are examined with hall exams. The epidemiology and biostatistics module is examined with a home exam. Participation at a mini symposium held after the neuroscience module is mandatory for the successful completion of the course.

Other compulsory teaching assignments are examined continuously during the course. Case reports, exercises and group assignments are examined in groups with individual assessment and to pass these, active participation is required. Active participation means that the student contributes with his/her own posts, reflections, and questions, and that the student tries to answer questions posed to him/her or the group. For case reports, the answers must be essentially correct and related to the task. The individual assignments are examined individually.

At written exams (infection and immunology, metabolism and metabolic diseases, cancer and bioinformatics, and neuroscience and diseases of the nervous system) the grades used are Pass with Distinction, Pass, or Fail. For examination of the epidemiology and biostatistics module the grades used are Pass or Fail.

A student who does not fully meet the learning goals at an exam but is close to the grade Pass can, after a decision by the course leader, be given the opportunity to complement the results to achieve the grade Pass on the course. Complementing the examination must be adapted individually based on the goal or goals that the student has not achieved and must take place no earlier than ten working days after the students have been informed of the exam result but before the next examination opportunity. It is only allowed to complement a grade Fail to Pass, complementation for higher grades is not allowed. If the student wishes, he/she has the right to take a re-examination instead of a complementation and thus get the opportunity to obtain a higher grade than Pass. A student who has received the result Pass on an exam may not take a new exam for a higher grade.

In order to obtain the grade Pass on the entire course, the student must have received the grade Pass on all written exams as well as in all other compulsory parts. To achieve the grade Pass with Distinction on the entire course, in addition to the requirements for the grade Pass, individual written assignments must be submitted within specified times and assignments must be reported according to given instructions. In addition, the grade Pass with Distinction must be obtained in at least three out of the four modules (infection and immunology, metabolism and metabolic diseases, cancer and bioinformatics, and neuroscience and diseases of the nervous system), pass the epidemiology and biostatistics module, and attend the mini symposium.

Deviations from the examination form of the course syllabus can be made for a student who has a decision on pedagogical support due to disability. Individual adaptation of the examination form should be considered based on the need of the student. The examination form is adapted within the framework of the expected learning outcomes of the course syllabus. Students who need an adapted examination must request adaptation from the department responsible for the course no later than 10 days before the examination. Upon request of the student, the course leader shall promptly decide on the adapted examination form. The decision must then be communicated to the student.

A student who has twice failed an examination for a course or a part thereof, has the right to have another examiner appointed, unless special reasons speak against it (HF Chapter 6, Section 22). Requests for a new examiner are made in writing to the Program Council for the Biomedicine Programmes.

Transitional Provisions
In the event that a course has been terminated or that a new syllabus has replaced the previous one, students shall be guaranteed at least three examinations (including the ordinary examination) according to the previous syllabus for a maximum period of two years from the time when the previous syllabus expired or the course was no longer offered.