Advanced Psychopathology

12 EC

Semester 1, period 1

5234ADP12Y

Owner Master Biomedical Sciences
Coordinator dr. A. Korosi
Part of Master Biomedical Sciences, track Psychopharmacology and Pathophysiology, year 1

Course manual 2016/2017

Course content

Brain disorders form a heavy and increasing burden for society. They affect the essence of human functioning and an individual’s personality, often in a progressive manner. They thereby affect society as a whole and contribute largely to our healthcare budget.

Advances in genetics have helped to establish that it is an interaction of genetic make-up as well as (early) environmental factors that determine the vulnerability to neurodevelopmental, psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

 However, for many of these disorders, still too little is known about their pathophysiological mechanisms, the biological substrate and the role of the environment early in life, and during adulthood, in their onset. What are the unique developmental mechanisms by which early experiences can, positively and negatively, have long-term consequences for risk and resilience to brain disorders? As a result, treatment options are often limited with frequent side effects and recovery options are poor.

The main aim of this course is therefore to familiarize the student with the pharmacotherapy and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying common brain disorders including depression, anxiety disorders, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson’s disease, eating disorders, addiction and epilepsy.

Study materials

Literature

  • Relevant review papers will be made available beforehand on Blackboard.

Objectives

Master students will attend specialized classes and workshops aimed at understanding and targeting the fundamental mechanisms at play in human psychiatric and neurological brain disorders. An overall goal of the course is to reflect on scientific research in different settings (academia vs private institutions).

After the course, the student is able to:

  • describe and critically discuss
    • the neurobiological substrate and etiology of some of the main human brain disorders,
    • basis and mechanism of action of the pharmacotherapy currently available
    • research trajectory that is followed to develop and test new drugs for these disorders, starting from basic research in animal models, up to how this is organized in the setting of a pharmaceutical company
  • summarize and relate exisitng research in predefined research area in order to identify and formulate a new reseacrh question that will bring the field forward.
  • communicate this in a written report.
  • explain and argue about a predefined research question in a concise form during a debate.
  • orally present and critically discuss a research paper both concerning the content and its methods.
  • propose innovative solutions for the future of pharmaceutical companies in the Netherlands.

Teaching methods

  • Supervision/feedback meeting
  • Seminars, guest speakers
  • Presentation by employees of a pharmaceutical company
  • Reading and discussing recent reviews
  • Student Presentations
  • Scientific debate
  • Written assignments
  • Lecture

Learning activities

Activity

Number of hours

Hoorcollege

69

Tentamen

4

Werkcollege

62

Zelfstudie

201

Attendance

The programme does not have requirements concerning attendance (OER-B).


Additional requirements for this course:

Assessment

Item and weight Details

Final grade

35%

Exam

Must be ≥ 5, Allows retake

40%

Statement Paper

10%

Debate

10%

Presentation of research papers

5%

Save the Dutch Pharma assignment

Career prospective assignment

Inspection of assessed work

The date, time and location of the inspection moment are in the DataNose timetable.

Assignments

State Paper

  • In groups of 3-4, you summarize and discuss conflicting or contradictory papers on a given topic and then decide and state your own opinion in this matter. And propose a virtual experiment that solve the matter.

Debate

  • In groups of 2 against 2, you will prepare arguments in favour or opposing a statement on an assigned topic to debate this.

Presentation

  • In couples, you will give an oral presentation of assigned research paper.

Career assignment

  • Critically relfect on research environments and career prospectives.

Save the Pharma assignment

  • In groups of 6 you will prpopose innovative solutions for the future of pharmaceutical companies in the Netherlands.

Onderstaande opdrachten komen aan bod in deze cursus:

  •    Naam opdracht 1 : beschrijving 2
  •    Naam opdracht 2 : beschrijving 1
  •    ....

Fraud and plagiarism

Dit vak hanteert de algemene ‘Fraude- en plagiaatregeling’ van de UvA. Onder plagiaat of fraude wordt verstaan het overschrijven van het werk van een medestudent dan wel het kopiëren van wetenschappelijke bronnen (uit bijvoorbeeld boeken en tijdschriften en van het Internet) zonder daarbij de bron te vermelden. Uiteraard is plagiaat verboden. Hier wordt nauwkeurig op gecontroleerd en streng tegen opgetreden. Bij verdenking van plagiaat wordt de examencommissie van de opleiding ingeschakeld. Wanneer de examencommissie overtuigd is dat er plagiaat gepleegd is dan kan dit maximaal leiden tot een uitsluiting van al het onderwijs van de opleiding voor een heel kalenderjaar. Zie voor meer informatie over het fraude- en plagiaatreglement van de Universiteit van Amsterdam.www.uva.nl/plagiaat

Course structure

Course structure and deadlines can be found on Blackboard.

 

Timetable

The course schedule can be found at https://datanose.nl/

Additional information

This course has a Blackboard site.

Course will be taught in English.

Contact information

Coordinator

  • dr. A. Korosi