Prospectus

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Biophysics and Bioengineering for Pharmaceutical Sciences

Course
2023-2024

Admission requirements

Master students of Bio-Pharmaceutical Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Life Science & Technology. Required background knowledge is thorough knowledge of human biology.

Description

Interdisciplinary approaches are being increasing used to addressed biomedical challenges.
In this course, students will be introduced to some of the recent developments at the interface of physics and engineering with biomedicine and pharmaceutical sciences.

Topics include:

  • Molecular biophysics: contributions and opportunities for biopharmaceutical sciences.

  • Cell biophysics: contributions and opportunities for biopharmaceutical sciences.

  • Systems biophysics for biopharmaceutical sciences.

  • Nanotechnology for biopharmaceutical sciences.

  • Organ-on-chips for biopharmaceutical sciences.

  • Theoretical biophysics and artificial intelligence for biopharmaceutical sciences.

This course aims to:

  • Raise students’ awareness of the contributions of the fields of biophysics and bioengineering to medicine and drug discovery.

  • Give an introduction of several key physics and engineering concepts and tools that are used in biopharmaceutical sciences.

Note that these are expert lectures series and that hence the content might change every year.

Course objectives

At the end of this course the student is able to:

  • Describe the working principles, advantages and limitations of several key structural biology techniques.

  • Describe the working principles, advantages and limitations of key single molecule techniques.

  • Describe the working principles, advantages and limitations of several key microscopy techniques.

  • Describe the working principles, advantages and limitations of several key single cell methodologies.

  • Describe the working principles, advantages and limitations of several key bioengineering approaches.

  • Read scientific literature, and can critically reflect on the rational and experimental approach of the study as well as on the results presented and conclusions drawn by the authors.

Timetable

This course is scheduled for semester 2, period 3.

You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.

MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).

For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.

A detailed schedule of the course will be published on the Brightspace course module.

Mode of instruction

Lectures, tutoring and self-tuition.

Assessment method

The course will be concluded with a written essay and exam (multiple choice questions). The exam counts for 70% of the final grade and the essay counts for 30% of the final grade for the course.

The final grade is expressed using an integer between 1 and 10 and can be rounded off/up to a half integer, with the exception of the grade 5.5. Final grades between 5.50 and 5.99 will be rounded up to 6.0. The final grade should be 6.0 to successfully complete this course.

The time and manner of the inspection and of the feedback session on the examination are specified in the Brightspace module of the course.

Reading list

Will be announced during the course.

Registration

From the academic year 2022-2023 on every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.

Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.

Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.

Contact

Coordinator: Dr. Alireza Mashaghi Tabari (a.mashaghi.tabari@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl).

Remarks

A minimum of 5 participants is required with a maximum of 25 participants. Placement is based on the registration date.

This information is without prejudice. Alterations can be made for next year.