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Objectives
The course
Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is intended to give students a full apprehension of both the theoretical background and practical application of clinically relevant biochemical and molecular biological research.
Contents
Medical Biochemistry means the chemistry of life in health and disease. In the course “Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology”, the teachers will introduce you to a thorough understanding of how molecules take care of all the important chemical and cellular processes that occur during health and disease. The recurrent theme is integration: genetic, signal transduction and metabolic reactions form an integrated complex network of interactions that is at constant steady state with its environment. Alterations like mutations and polymorphisms in single molecules not only affect single chemical processes but also cellular behavior and can have a severe impact on the proper functioning of complete organs and the organism itself. Furthermore, environmental factors like toxins and lifestyle can disturb the behavior of otherwise normal molecules thereby disrupting complete systems. Thus, studying biochemistry nowadays extends from genetics to genomics, proteomics and gene and protein networks, to metabolic networks of lipids, carbohydrates and proteins, to cellular communication and signaling cascades all the way to complex disorders of organs and the cardiovascular circulation. The research tools used in modern biochemical research similarly span a wide range of techniques from genome-wide micro-arrays to metabolic profiling to mass spectrometry of peptides, proteins and other biomolecules. In most cases these studies are no longer performed in the test tube, but in complete cells, tissues or organisms, using genetic approaches like viral transductions, RNAinterference and knock-out or transgenic mice. Therefore, we have chosen a format for this course, in which you will cover all the major issues in medical biochemistry both at the textbook level, and at the forefront of biomedical research in a clinical setting. What we hope to accomplish is not for you to memorize detailed knowledge or books by heart, but to come to an integrated insight and understanding of the molecular basis of metabolism and disease processes, which will guide you through the multidisciplinary way in which modern day medical biochemical research is performed.
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| Week 1
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Transport processes and cell-cell communication +preparation of assignments (FNWI-REC)
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| Week 2
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Protein structure and function (Proteomics)+ preparation of assignments (FNWI-REC)
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| Week 3
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Gene-expression networks / developmental processes + presentation assignment (FNWI-REC)
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| Week 4
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Inherited disorders of cellular metabolism + assignments (AMC)
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| Week 5
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Complex and acquired disorders of metabolism, liver and vessels + assignments (AMC)
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| Week 6
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Integrated and multi-organ systemic disorders + presentation assignments (AMC)
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| Week 7
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Examination (open book)
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Recommended prior knowledge
Chapters 1-9 from “Molecular Biology of the Cell” (Alberts et al., 4-th ed.)
Registration at
Via studieweb, at least before 10 April 2007
Format
This course forms part of the Masters in Biomedical Sciences, and is compulsory for the program in Medical Biochenistry, but also suited for the program in Medical Biology. As most of your Masters study is filled with experimental research work and theoretical background of the specific area you are working in, we have chosen a specific format for this course. It is purely theoretical, to give you both an overview of the extensive research fields of molecular biology and medical Biochemistry, while at the same time supplying a firm understanding of the important basic concepts in these fields and how they directly relate to both state-of-the-art research topics and medical practice. To that end the course is based on two integral, similarly formatted parts, each hosted by one of the contributing Departments and is based on two of the most landmark textbooks on these subjects. The first part of the course is based at the SILS of the Science faculty (FNWI-UvA), hosted by the Department of Molecular Biology and Food Safety. It’s morning lectures will cover the basic concepts of Molecular biology by treating selected chapters from “Molecular Biology of the cell” by Alberts et al.. In the afternoons of these first 3 weeks the students will work unsupervised on Clinical problems related to these subjects, and their Biochemical and Pharmacological background guided by the book Human Molecular Biology (HMB) edited by Epstein. A total of eight case studies with biochemical, clinical and pharmacological keynotes will be studied and summarized and presented by the students at the end of this period. The second part of the course is based at the Academic Medical Center (Medical Faculty-UvA), hosted by the Department of Medical Biochemistry. It’s morning lectures will cover the basic concepts of Medical Biochemistry from the view point of clinical correlations to the basic concepts of “Biochemistry” by Berg et al. In the afternoons of these second 3 weeks the students will work unsupervised on specific assignments related to these clinical subjects, focusing on cutting edge research topics. At the end of each day, these will be the subjects of student discussion groups, which are lead by appointed students, with staff members merely acting as coach. Finally, a complex integrated metabolic disease will be studied from all the angles treated in the preceding weeks, and summarized and presented by the students at the end of this period. The last week is for self-study and the final examination by essay questions and open book.
Time
The course schedule will be published on the website
http://www.student.uva.nl . Choose the specific Master.
Study materials
“Molecular Biology of the Cell”, Alberts et al (4-th ed, publisher: Garland)
“Biochemistry”, Berg, Tymoczko and Stryer (5-th ed, publisher: Freeman)
Min/max participants
Maximum capacity: 16 students.
Assessment
Written assignments (25%), Oral Presentations (25%), Open book exam (50%)
Remarks
Location: FNWI REC and AMC.
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