12 EC
Semester 1, period 1
50521FB12Y
This course will focus on three of today’s biggest societal health challenges: “Cancer”, “Aging” and “Food for Health”. Students will
Taking normal developmental biology as a starting point, students will learn
Frontiers in Medical Biology I starts by giving students a solid foundation in developmental biology, focusing on complex multicellular animals. Taking the three germ layers (ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm) as a starting point, students will learn the fundamental principles of cell communication and cell movement, tissue patterning and gene regulation. Healthy cell behavior will continuously be compared to diseased situations, with a more in depth focus on aging (including stem cells and their promise for regenerative medicine), cancer formation (taking breast cancer, melanoma and neuroblastoma as an example) and nutritional challenges (e.g. metabolic disorders and food allergies). At the end of week 8, the students’ knowledge of these topics will be tested in a written exam.
In the time leading up to the exam, students will get ample opportunity to process and actively engage with the material. Special emphasis will be placed on the integration of different knowledge areas, by combining insights from wet-lab experiments and synthetic biology approaches with computational modeling. To achieve this, the material will be presented in the form of lectures (hoorcollege) and directly applied in tutorials (werkcollege) and practicals (either wet-lab experiments or computer excercises). To further develop their insight into the material presented in Frontiers in Medical Biology I, students will also work on a science communication assignment, for which they will make a webvideo to explain a basic biological concept covered during the course to a broad audience.
Frontiers in Medical Biology I provides the basis for (and has been designed together with) Frontiers in Medical Biology II, which follows immediately after. In this course students will actively and creatively apply the knowledge and skills acquired in Frontiers in Medical Biology I, enabling them to not only explore potential fields of interest (e.g. cancer research, regenerative medicine), but also to discover which area/approach suits him/her best (e.g. science communication, business, fundamental research).
will be made available on Blackboard
Make sure to bring a lab coat to the wet lab practicals! You will receive a manual during the practical.
you will be asked to install R on your personal laptop
After having taken Frontiers in Medical Biology I, students should be able to
The learning material will be presented in the form of lectures (hoorcollege). This will be alternated with tutorials (werkcollege) and practicals (either wet-lab experiments or computer excercises), allowing students to process and actively engage with the material. In the communication assignment (web video) you will get the opportunity to handle the material from a different perspective.
Students are expected to actively engage with and process the material during the time allocated for self-study ('zelfstudie') and science communication assignments (‘verwerkingsopdracht’). Please note that in the Datanose schedule, the time that should be allocated to self-study is not explicitly indicated! It is your responsibility to use the open time slots for this purpose.
|
Activiteit |
Aantal uur |
|
Hoorcollege & werkcollege |
94 |
|
Practicum & laptopcolleges |
60 |
|
Presentatie |
4 |
|
Project |
24 |
|
Tentamen |
3 |
|
Vragenuur |
4 |
|
Werkcollege |
12 |
|
Zelfstudie |
182 |
During contact hours, the material will be presented in the form of lectures (hoorcollege) and directly applied in tutorials (werkcollege) and practicals (either wet-lab experiments or computer/modeling exercises). Students are expected to actively engage with and process the material during the time allocated for self-study and science communication assignments (‘verwerkingsopdracht’).
You will develop your critical thinking and analytical skills as we move away from the text book into 'real world' examples and papers in the tutorials ('werkcolleges') and practicals.
You will develop your communication skills (which are becoming more and more important as scientists are frequently asked to interact with the general public) in the communication assignment.
Programme's requirements concerning attendance (OER-B):
Additional requirements for this course:
Additional requirements for this course:
- Attendance at the lectures is highly recommended.
- Attendance during tutorials and practical components (wet-lab experiments and computer/modeling exercises) is mandatory. Students that still end up missing one of the tutorials/practicals will have to make up for this in a personal assignment to be decided upon by the responsible teacher.
- Students that are repeating the course ('recidivisten') because they did not pass the final exam last year can get a 'vrijstelling' for the wet lab practical and the communication assignment, provided that they successfully passed these components in the year before. They are however expected to attend the computer practicals. Please note that this 'vrijstelling' only holds for one year. After this, all course components must be taken again.
| Item and weight | Details |
|
Final grade | |
|
1 (100%) Tentamen |
To pass this course, students must obtain a final grade ≥ 5.5.
This final grade (scale from 1 to 10) is calculated as follows:
(0.7 * [written exam])
+
(0.2 * [communication assignment])
+
(0.1 * [computer assignment])
Please note the following:
Up to twenty working days after the announcement of the results of the written examination, students can request to inspect their work and the standards applied for marking.
Students will work in teams of 2. At the end of the practical, each individual student must hand in the completed questions (found in the practical hand-out), demonstrating that they properly understood and interpreted the experiments. They will receive a pass/fail based on these answers, as well as their professional attitude during the practical. Students that fail the practical must complete an alternative assignment to be decided upon by the responsible teacher. Details will be provided during the wet-lab practical.
At the end of each computer practical, students must hand in their answers to a set of questions. Together, these answers will count towards 10% of the final grade of the course. Details on these assignments will be provided during the computer practicals.
Students will complete a communication assignment inspired by one of the topics covered in weeks 1 through 6. The deadline for handing in these assignments is Thursday 20 October 2015 at 23:59 (towards the end of week 7).
Assignment: Make a web video (3-4 minutes max.) to explain a fundamental biological principle to a broad audience. This assignment is performed in teams of 2-4 students.
This communication assignment will count towards 20% of the final grade of the course. Details on these assignments can be found in the course syllabus.
Examples of last year’s communication assignments can be found on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHQAB7Xbqm_1CYJdKWlkeUA
Onderstaande opdrachten komen aan bod in deze cursus:
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.uva.nl/plagiarism
In weeks 1 through 7, students will obtain a solid foundation in cell and developmental biology, focusing on complex multicellular animals. Taking the three germ layers (ectoderm, endoderm and mesoderm) as a starting point, students will learn the fundamental principles of cell communication and cell movement, tissue patterning and (epi)genetic regulation. Healthy cell behavior will continuously be compared to diseased situations, with a more in depth focus on aging (including stem cells and their promise for regenerative medicine), cancer formation (taking breast cancer, melanoma and glioma as an example) and nutritional challenges (e.g. metabolic disorders and food allergies). Special emphasis will be placed on the integration of different knowledge areas, by combining insights from wet-lab experiments and synthetic biology approaches with computational modeling.
Wet lab practicals are scheduled in weeks 1 and 5.
Computer-aided practicals are scheduled throughout.
Students are free to decide when they will work on the communication assignment, although time is specifically set aside in the course time table on Fridays in weeks 3-6 (this includes the availability of a room to work in). The deadline for handing in these assignments is Thursday 20 October 2015 at 23:59 (towards the end of week 7).
The students’ knowledge and understanding of the material presented in weeks 1 through 7 (including the computer modelling) will be tested in a written exam at the end of week 8, on 28 October 2016.
Frontiers in Medical Biology I (12 EC) should be taken together with Frontiers in Medical Biology II (12 EC). This track will be offered in English.
A minimum of 16 and a maximum of 30 students. When the course if oversubscribed, preference will be given to students from the Biomedische Wetenschappen program (including beta/gamma students that have declared a biomedical sciences major). Additional selection, if needed, will be based on study progress.