Admission requirements
The course is open to students that are enrolled in the minor Molecular Biotechnology who have completed the previous courses Industrial Biotechnology and Plant Biotechnology.
Description
The Medical Biotechnology course will provide a fascinating overview of how living cells and animal models are used to investigate and produce pharmaceutical and diagnostic products that help to identify, treat, and prevent human diseases. This course will demonstrate how an integrated and multidisciplinary approach can yield critical new leads to our understanding of disease development. Via a series of stimulating lectures from invited experts in the research field, students will become familiar with the techniques, approaches and inventions leading to future generations of pharmaceuticals. The students will also receive lectures from specialists of companies in the Leiden Bio Science Park to illustrate current applications in biotechnology. Topics that will be covered include the drug discovery pipeline, vaccine development, biopharmaceuticals, transgenesis, gene therapy, stem cell therapy, and tissue engineering.
Course Objectives
After completion of the course, students are able to:
1. Explain the principles and give definitions of commonly used terminology concerning the drug discovery pipeline, medicinal chemistry and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics.
2. Explain different biotechnological approaches to vaccine development and evaluation.
3. Name different types of pharmaceutical drugs and explain how they are clinically applied.
4. Explain methods for transgenesis or gene-editing to generate animal models for biotechnological research and explain the current state-of-the-art applications of gene editing for clinical use.
5. Explain different approaches and molecular tools for ex vivo and in vivo gene therapy.
6. Explain the principles and clinical application of stem cells and tissue engineering.
7. Perform literature research into biotechnological strategies used to develop novel therapeutic approaches for a specific disease, assess their potential, and present conclusions regarding future development of novel therapies.
Timetable
Lectures by invited speakers and time for self-study on a daily basis. Participation in lectures is obligatory. The detailed schedule will be provided 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
The course comprises a series of obligatory lectures provided by invited specialist speakers, which will be combined with self study from selected review articles that will be announced on Brightspace. The students will have to prepare for the lectures by submitting online multiple choice tests.
Assessment method
Exam 1 30%
Exam 2 30%
Group assignment with presentation 30%
Average of the online tests 10%
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
Selected review articles, see Brightspace.
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: Dr. C. Margadant
Email: Dr. C. Margadant
Remarks
The course information, time table, test questions and powerpoint presentations of the lectures will be available 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.