12 EC
Semester 1, period 1
50521FB12Y
The emphasis of this course is on basic (or fundamental) biomedical research. How does research progress at the boundary of the known and unknown? What skills and creativity are required to unravel biology's mysteries and come up with novel solutions for health problems?
The 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).
In the time leading up to the exam(s), 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).
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). The track is completed by Advanced Genomics, which also builds on Frontiers I.
We have switched to the 12th edition of Gilbert: Developmental Biology, since we were informed that students could no longer obtain the 11th edition.
will be made available on Canvas
Make sure to bring a lab coat, lab journal, pen and pencils to the wet lab practicals! You will receive a manual during the practical.
you will be asked to install R on your personal laptop
Additional hand-outs and papers, posted on Canvas.
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. This requires active participation on your part: we will cover a lot of different topics, but rather than just absorbing the material, we encourage you to ask questions and to dig deeper. How do biomedical scientists go about finding the answers to their questions? How do you design and interpret an experiment? How do you formulate a logical scientific argument? Which experimental approaches and techniques do you pick to address a specific biological question?
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:
- Attendance at the lectures is highly recommended, since these are interactive and provide additional examples that may not be in the textbook.
- 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 again. 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%) Deeltoets 1 |
To pass this course, students must obtain a final grade ≥ 5.5.
This final grade (scale from 1 to 10) is calculated as follows:
(0.4 * [written exam 1])
+
(0.4 * [written exam 2])
+
(0.1 * [computer assignment])
+
(0.1 * [wetlab practical])
Please note the following:
Contact the course coordinator to make an appointment for inspection.
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. Contact the course coordinator via e-mail to make an appointment.
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 grade based on these answers, as well as their professional attitude during the practical (counting towards 5% of the final grade of the course). 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 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 15% of the final grade of the course. Details on these assignments can be found in the course syllabus.
Examples of previous communication assignments can be found on You Tube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHQAB7Xbqm_1CYJdKWlkeUA
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
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 ("verwerkingsopdracht" - this includes the availability of a room to work in). The deadline for handing in these assignments is towards the end of week 7.
The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.
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 40 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.
This course is well evaluated (receiving an average of 7.6 in 2016-2017, a 7.8 in the 2017-2018 and a 7.9 in the 2018-2019 student evaluation). Students find the course academically challenging and interesting. Overall, students are highly motivated to commit themselves to the material and they always indicate to have learned a lot about a variety of different topics.
We stress that this is a 3rd year course and that, as a result, students are expected to take control of their learning experience (e.g. students are expected to be able to discriminate between "hoofd- en bijzaken", to ask for more explanation when things are unclear, to be able to adapt to the different teaching styles of individual lecturers) and to actively work on developing a critical academic attitude (e.g. to be self-critical, to reflect on their work, to process feedback, to practice in formulating scientific problems/questions and solutions). The smaller group size is well suited for scientific discussions and interaction with the teachers, so use this opportunity!
Changes implemented based on student feedback (course evaluation end self-evaluation):
Other changes implemented: