Prospectus

nl en

Causes of venous thrombosis: genes, life style and interaction

Course
2010-2011

Admission requirements

  • Successful completion of Clinical Research in Practice is strongly recommended.

  • No special requirements in addition to indicated level, except that participants are expected to speak Dutch fluently. Because the course will be in Dutch.

Description

*Period”: Feb 7 – March 4, 2011

Thrombosis is the major cause of death in western cultures. It may occur in arteries (myocardial infarction, stroke) and veins (deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism). Particularly in venous thrombosis abnormalities affecting blood coagulability play an important role. These may be genetic (e.g., factor V Leiden) or acquired (e.g., oral contraceptives). Recently, research has successfully focussed on identifying new genetic risk factors for thrombosis, and their interaction with acquired factors.
Programme:

  • students will perform a clinical scientific study, related to thrombosis, in which they will pass through all phases of a research project: posing a research question, finding a study design, setting up the study (questionnaire, lab, grant), data-cleaning, analysis and reporting.

  • in this study students will work on actual data, that are part of an on-going study on venous thrombosis.

  • students will work out four parallel subprojects on various risk factors (e.g., type of oral contraceptive, travel, exercise, obesity, factor V Leiden gene mutation, pregnancy/puerperium).

  • site visits will be part of the course, in which students will interview people, for instance a patient with thrombosis, and professionals (physicians, biochemists, Ph.D. students, fieldworkers, technicians) who are involved in clinical care and studies such as these.

This course will particularly work on:

Research competences:
Choosing appropriate techniques, recording, organizing and analyzing data, relate experimental results to those of others

Professional competences:
Collaborating with peers, commitment, motivation and drive, digesting of other people’s opinions, reflecting on personal actions.

Course objectives

To get a good understanding into:

  • hands-on comprehensive experience in clinical research (translational research). During this course, clinical problems and biochemical possibilities are translated into a scientific study. The course also shows how this scientific study can be translated back to clinical practice.

  • how to write a Research Letter or Short Report.

The students will be part of all phases of a study, and obtain understanding for what needs to be done to obtain a dataset, and how to get the best data, related to venous thrombosis.

Mode of instruction

Interactive lectures, practicals, work groups, patient demonstrations.

Assessment method

Writing of a research letter or short report; oral presentation of assignment; student behaviour (motivation, independency, oral reporting, participation in discussion).