Admission requirements
This course is mandatory for and restricted to BFW students who do the Elective Module ‘Disease Signaling and Drug Targets’ (DSDT). The same admission criteria apply to this course as for the entire Elective Module DSDT.
Description
Cardiovascular diseases are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in the Western society. Atherosclerosis, a progressive inflammatory disease that is hallmarked by an accumulation of lipids and fibrous tissue in the large arteries, is the main pathology underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease and represents the primary research focus of the LACDR division of BioTherapeutics. During the practical course on Therapeutic Modulation of Atherosclerosis (TMA), you will gain hands-on research experience considering (genetic) dysregulations of inflammatory and/or metabolic processes underlying atherosclerosis.
During this practical course, you will work in a research team consisting of a daily supervisor and your fellow students. Under supervision of a scientist from the division BioTherapeutics, you will, in duo’s, design and execute a practical experiment to answer a research question in the field of atherosclerosis. The course starts with an independent search for relevant literature and the formulation of a research question with an hypothesis. This is followed by a week of practical work and subsequent data analysis. The course is finalized with writing an individual report and an oral/poster presentation during the annual symposium on Therapeutic Modulation of Atherosclerosis.
Course Objectives
After this course, you:
collaborate and communicate according to agreements made within a research team.
can articulate your own research question and hypothesis, based on a previous observation made by your supervisor in combination with scientific literature.
are able to design an experimental setup that enables you to test your own hypothesis.
are able to perform practical experiments under the supervision of a PhD student.
are able to gather, analyze and interpret scientific data.
are able to present your data in both a scientific report and a scientific poster or oral presentation.
are able to ask questions to your peers during scientific (poster) presentations.
Timetable
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 successfully registered for in uSis 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 on MyTimetable, watch the video or go to the 'help-page' in MyTimetable.
PLEASE NOTE
Always check the detailed schedule on the Brightspace module of each Course 2-3 weeks before the start of the Course for group-specific meetings, (intermediate) deadlines, etc..
Mode of instruction
Practical course, consisting of: literature research, practical work, report writing and a concluding symposium (poster or oral presentation). Attendance to all parts of the course, including the introductory lecture on September 23rd, is mandatory for all participating students.
Assessment method
Students will be assessed on the following modalities:
Report (70%)
Academic attitude and motivation (20%)
Presentation at the symposium (poster or oral, 10%) Total grade = 100%
N.B. In order to pass this practical course, the overall grade should be ≥ 6.0, with the report graded a ≥ 5.5. If the report is graded below 5.5, the student gets one chance to re-write his/her report based on the feedback provided by the supervisor.
Reading list
Literature will be provided during the course.
Registration
All students that are admitted to the Elective Module DSDT will be registered for this course in uSis by the Minor coordinator; no other students can take this course.
Contact
Mw. Dr. Ilze Bot
Remarks
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.