Admission requirements
The course is open to students that are enrolled in the minor Molecular Biotechnology.
Description
Plants are photosynthetic eukaryotes belonging to the kingdom Plantae or green plants, which includes more than 300.000 species. Apart from being an important source of healthy food, fodder, building and other biomaterials, food additives or medicinal compounds, plants contribute significantly to our healthy environment as they purify the air and fix CO2, thus reducing global warming.
This course consists of two parts. The first part introduces students into the genetic, molecular and cell biology aspects of plant biotechnology. This includes an overview of important uses of plants and methods to improve plant/crop traits for more sustainable production or specific applications, either by genetic modification, directed genome editing or modern breeding. Methods in crop propagation will also be presented. Guest speakers from both the horticultural field as well as the ornamental industry are included in this part.
The second part of the course will focus on plant metabolites and their biosynthesis, identification, purification, and applications. Like all organisms, plants synthesize small molecules (metabolites) that play important roles in functioning of the organism in its physiology and interacting with other organisms and environments. Their characteristic biological activities of have made plant metabolites the most important chemical platforms for foods, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. In the 2nd part of the course, phytochemistry, chromatography and spectroscopy as well as their applications to life sciences like pharmaceuticals will be covered.
Course Objectives
After this course, students will be able to:
1) Describe and explain GM and non-GM methods for (genome editing in) crop breeding.
2) Describe and explain trait discovery and breeding for stress or disease resilience in crop plants, apply this knowledge in a research proposal (presentation)
3) Describe and explain breeding targets for propagation and more sustainable production of crop plants.
4) Describe and explain breeding targets for healthy food and plant-based medicines or products.
5) Recognize three major of plant primary metabolites.
6) Recognize the major groups of plant secondary metabolites
7) Understand basic biosynthesis pathway of plant metabolites
8) Explain separation and purification methods for plant natural products.
9) Understand spectroscopical methods for plant natural product identification.
10) Explain how bioactivity of plant natural products can be tested.
Timetable
A detailed timetable will be published on Brightspace.
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
Staff lectures, case study, practical workshop, self-study.
Assessment method
Evaluation of individual oral presentations and participation and two written exams.
The final grade will be calculated from the following partial grades:
Written exam for part 1 (breeding/trait discovery): 40%
Case study part 1: 10%
Written exam for part 2 (natural products): 50%
Practical workshop part 2: pass / fail
Attendance/impression: round off grade
Minimum grade:
Courses require a minimum, unrounded 5.5 grade to complete.
If a course has 2 or more written partial exams, the minimum grade only applies to the weighted average of the exams.
For partial grades from components other than exams (e.g. practicals, seminars, writing assignments), the bottom grade does apply to the individual components.
Please refer to the Student Charter for an overview of regulations.
Reading list
Course material will be supplied by the lecturers.
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Exchange and Study Abroad students, please see the Prospective students website for information on how to apply.
Contact
Coordinator: Kiki Spaninks, Dr. Y.H. Choi
Email: k.spaninks@biology.leidenuniv.nl; y.h.choi@biology.leidenuniv.nl
Remarks
Announcements, course information and course material will be communicated via Brightspace.
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.