Admission requirements
Students can enroll for a half minor if they have obtained 60 credits from the first year.
International Students should have an adequate background in Medicine. Admission will be considered based on CV and motivation letter.
For more information, please contact internationalisering@lumc.nl.
Description
This half minor covers multiple disciplines in which the immune system plays a major role, such as in pediatrics, neurology, rheumatology, pulmonology, nephrology and oncology. Furthermore, more ubiquitous topics such as allergy, transplantation, auto-immunity, tumor immunology and innovative therapies are discussed. In the first two weeks of this half-minor, an introduction to the immune system by immune-mediated diseases will be given. Afterwards, the different disciplines and their relations with immunology will consecutively be taught. The last day of the course, students present a Grant proposal for an innovative therapy in a final symposium.
Course objectives
The student is able to:
Explain and determine by knowledge obtained from lectures and literature the pathogenic mechanism(s) underlying the symptoms of a patient diagnosed with an immunological disorder
Take a patients’ history in order to examine whether (s)he suffers from an immunological disorder (Medical expert)
Create a diagnostic plan by evaluation of immunological laboratory techniques based on a differential diagnosis and motivate why these techniques are appropriate to be able to diagnose the patient correctly (Academic)
Perform independent literature research based on a specific patient case and select relevant papers to analyse and report the immunological background of the patient case in detail (Academic)
Relate the mechanism of disease of a systemic auto-immune disease to organ specific involvement by understanding the defective immunological components related to the disorder
Interpret results from diagnostic tests and subsequently translate these results to potentially underlying immunological diseases (Medical expert)
Develop a therapeutic plan based on results from diagnostic tests and corresponding diagnosis and describe the method to check the effect of the intervention (Medical expert)
Formulate and communicate clearly in collaboration with other students about the imbalance between the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ immune system and develop a therapeutic plan with groups of therapeutics to manipulate the immune system in order to reach a balance again (Communicator, Collaborator).
Timetable
All course and group schedules are published on our LUMC scheduling website or on the LUMC scheduling app.
Mode of instruction
Lectures, workgroups, practical assignments, patient demonstrations, clinical rounds, debates/ethical sessions, peer-teaching, team-based learning, self-study.
Assessment method
Summative assessment plan consists of:
Immunological Knowledge Exam (10%)
Report Immunological Mechanism behind disease (30%)
Grant proposal report and presentations (40%)
Short open question exam Neurology (5%)
Oral presentation and short Pulmonology (5%)
Short open question exam Nephrology (5%)
Oral presentation Rheumatology (5%)
Knowledge exam
The knowledge exam consists of 10 open questions on Clinical Immunology
Rating: Mark 1-10
Assessment form: Mark fixed depending on the number of right answered questions.
Assessed by: Minor teachers
Assessment criteria: N/A
Report immunological mechanism behind disease
In Week 7, the students should combine all knowledge obtained in previous weeks by writing individually a report (2000-2600 words) on a specific immunological disease (MG, SLE, aHUS, Lung oncology; received in Week 3).
Assessment: Mark 1-10
Assessed by: two specialists
Assessment criteria: see module book
Grant proposal
A pair of students will write an original research grant proposal for the development of an innovative therapy in an immunological context. Students should formulate their research proposal based on current literature, new data, tempting viewpoints. They will be supervised by recurrent interaction with their respective tutors/specialists. On the symposium organized on the last day of the half minor each group of two students will present their proposal by an oral as well as a poster presentation.
Rating: mark 1-10
Assessed by: One minor teacher and two specialists
Assessment: The grant proposal will be evaluated based on the written report, the presentations at the final symposium and involvement in the discussion at the symposium. The mark for the oral and poster presentations will be an average of the evaluation of half minor tutors and the mark from the assigned personal tutor(s) (1:1 ratio). The students will also evaluate and rank all the posters using a written anonymous form. The poster with the highest rank will receive a poster award.
Assessment criteria: use of immunological knowledge into novel concepts, innovation, creativity, collaboration, communication, writing skills, presentation.
It is not allowed to choose the same topic as the topic of the report on immunological mechanisms behind disease (Week 7).
Short open question exam Neurology in Week 4
Assessment: Mark 0-10
Assessed by: Medical specialist of the corresponding week.
Assessment criteria: N/A
Oral presentation Pulmonology in Week 6
Assessment: Mark 0-10
Assessed by: Medical specialist of the corresponding week.
Assessment criteria: Being able to collaborate, prepare a clear presentation with literature and knowledge obtained previously, present clear, answer questions. Students with the case Allergy case for the written report of Week 8 should have to another disease this week.
Short open question exam Nephrology in Week 7
Assessment: Mark 0-10
Assessed by: Medical specialist of the corresponding week.
Assessment criteria: N/A
Oral presentation Rheumatology in Week 9
Assessment: Mark 0-10
Assessed by: Medical specialist of the corresponding week.
Assessment criteria: Being able to collaborate, prepare a clear presentation with literature and knowledge obtained previously, present clear, answer questions. Students with the case SLE case for the written report of Week 7 have to choose another disease this week.
Additional requirements
1.Oral presentations Laboratory in Week 1-2
Assessment: Passed/Failed
Assessed by: Diagnostic test teacher Week 1-2 and minor teachers
Assessment criteria: Short oral presentations to show understanding of the application and principle of a dedicated set of clinical tests.
2.Oral presentation patient casus in Week 1-3
Assessment: Passed/Failed
Assessed by: Medical specialist of the casus
Assessment criteria: Prepare a clear presentation in a group of max. 5 students about the immunological mechanisms and diagnostic tools for a patient case at the end of Week 3.
3. Oral presentation on laboratory diagnostics of the Clinical Chemistry lab in Week 3
Assessment: Passed/Failed
Assessed by: Medical specialist and Minor teachers
Assessment criteria: Being able to prepare a clear presentation in a group of max. 5 students about the diagnostic tools used at the clinical chemistry lab.
Presence
Absence has to be communicated in advance to the tutors of the half minor as well as to the tutor of the specific module. Presence during the complete program will be recorded. Additional tasks should be performed to compensate for the missed hours when coordinators were notified properly.
Re-examination
To pass the course, the report on immunological mechanisms behind disease, the grant proposal and the final mark have to be >5.5 and all pass/fail exercises should be passed. One exam or assessment can be repeated to pass this course.
A maximal number of two failed additional tasks might be repeated to pass all additional requirements. In case of an oral exam, a written report should be handed in.
Examination committee:
L.M. Slot, MSc, Dr D. Berghuis, Dr R.G.M. Bredius, Prof. A.C. Lankester and Prof R.E.M. Toes
The exam dates can be found on the schedule website.
Reading list
The immune system (Peter Parham).
Other study materials are available at the respective department, on Brightspace or will be handed out.
Registration
Contact
L.M. Slot, MSC
LUMC, Dept. of Rheumatology
L.M.Slot@lumc.nl
Dr. D. Berghuis
LUMC, Dept. of Paediatrics
D.Berghuis@lumc.nl
Dr. R.G.M. Bredius
LUMC, Dept. of Paediatrics
R.G.M.Bredius@lumc.nl