Current Issues in Developmental Biology

Course manual 2022/2023

Course content

Whether you continue your career in scientific research or in any other field (business, politics, communication, teaching, entrepreneurship), you will continuously come into contact with new scientific discoveries. In this day and age, many of those are related to various aspects of developmental biology (think about aging research and regenerative medicine, for instance). Having been trained as a scientist, you will be expected to be able to critically evaluate the claims that you hear or read in the news. For this, it is crucial that you are able to go beyond the tweet, newspaper article or blogpost and back to the original source: the scientific publication. But how do you reach the level where you can critically assess and interpret the state-of-the-art in basic biomedical research? In this class, you will learn how to read and dissect the scientific literature.

Students will get the opportunity to broadly sample the recent (i.e. mostly published in the last 2 years) literature sampling the broader biological/biomedical sciences and read these publications in depth. Papers will be critically discussed in a 'journal club' style setting. Class size will intentionally be kept small, to stimulate and interactive exchanges of ideas and opinions. We will incorporate short feedback moments at the end of each class so everyone is continuously challenged to further develop their skills.

After a positive experience with teaching this class online in 2020-2021, we will continue with this format.

Study materials

Syllabus

• Hand-outs and papers, posted on Canvas + Links provided via Google Docs

Objectives

• discuss current concepts and challenges in developmental biology research and the state-of-the-art experimental approaches used to tackle these.
• analyze and interpret the primary literature.
• concisely present a paper in front of a peer group.
• discuss and critique a paper within a peer group.
• dissect the strength and weaknesses of a primary research article.

Teaching methods

• Self-study
• Supervision/feedback meeting
• journal club

Weekly group sessions ('journal club' style) under the guidance of dr. Renée van Amerongen and dr. Frank Jacobs. At least one guest speaker will be invited whose paper will be discussed in class.

Students are expected to show up to class prepared, having read the paper to be discussed and to actively take part in the in class discussions.

Learning activities

Attendance

Requirements of the programme concerning attendance (OER-B):

1. Attendance during practical components exercises is mandatory.

Additional requirements for this course:

Students can miss one class without any repercussions, but they do need to communicate this in advance with the course coordinators. Students are expected to show up prepared and to actively participate in the in class discussions. The setting is optimal for an interactive exchange of ideas and offers a safe environment to practice and improve scientific discussion skills. 

Assessment

The final grade will be calculated based on the in class participation (active participation in discussion and presentation(s)), quality of the questions submitted prior to each class, and written assignments. 

A detailed rubric is provided on Canvas.

Inspection of assessed work

Contact the course coordinator to make an appointment for inspection.

Assignments

Critique of paper

• You will write a short critique of the paper that you discussed during the class. This critique should be a synthesis of the in-class discussion and your own opinion of the paper. It should thus incorporate the points that were brought up during class, so make sure to collect these/write them down on ‘your’ evening!

  (critical review report, 20%)

News & Views style

• Follow the format of a Nature style News and Views article

  (20%)

Questions about paper

• Submit these via Canvas assignments

  (15%)

Presentation assigned paper(s)

• Presentation of journal club article, knowledge of technical detail,  critical notes
  (15%)

Active participation

• Speaking up, raising points, formulating questions and/or criticism, participation in a scientific discussion

  (30%)

Details on the grading and % of the final grade will be made available via Canvas.

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Additional information

Last minute changes will be communicated by e-mail via Canvas.

All materials will also be provided on Canvas.

Contact information

Coordinator

• dr. Renée van Amerongen

Co-coordinator

• dr. F.M.J. Jacobs