Admission requirements
Successful completion of How To Write A Research Proposal is strongly recommended.
Lab work experience is required.
The course will be given at level 500 (Biomedical Sciences, LUMC), expanding on knowledge acquired in the second-year Bachelor's course Immunology.
Description
Period: 5 February 2024 - 1 March 2024
The theme of this advanced course in immunology is to obtain a more detailed understanding of the involvement and interactions of immune effector compounds and mechanisms that are involved in immune responses. Furthermore, it is expected that biomedical research into the interactions between immune cells will lead to new therapies against infectious and immune-mediated diseases. This course will provide detailed insights into the latest developments in fundamental biological research aiming at understanding mechanisms of the immune system as well as into the role of the immune system in today‘s clinical practice.
Programme
The first week will consist of a refreshment and prior-knowledge activation of immunology (E-learning), lectures to expand knowledge on immunology, and journal clubs. These aspects are aimed on the roles of different components of the immune system in four main topics: infectious disease, mucosal immunology, transplantation, and autoimmune disease.
In the second week students will choose between two topics, i.e. “infectious diseases” and “chronic inflammation”, and in the third week each student will choose between “transplantation” and “autoimmune disease”. During these two weeks the students will closely collaborate with an experienced technician and/or PhD student involved in the research lines of choice. This in-lab training period consists of both theoretical and practical work, and the students will become familiar with the various aspects of the scientific research. Besides a wet-lab project, it also may be possible in some cases to choose a dry-lab project that is oriented on data science analysis.
During this period the student will have familiarized itself with the various topics allowing to prepare a research proposal in the field of the topic of choice in the last week. As this assignment is rather intensive, student will start with their research proposal in week 1 of this course. In week 4 of the course, students will present their proposal both orally by a pitch presentation and in writing.
Course objectives
Students:
1. can explain the various roles that immunological processes play in health and disease
2. can perform experiments and analyze and report the results of such experiments
3. can identify current problems in the field of the topics of choice. Moreover, the student can: formulate new hypotheses regarding these problems and prepare a research proposal including a limited experimental design to address such a hypothesis
4. can identify targets for therapy of infectious and immunological diseases using their knowledge of the various topics
5. will become familiar with the different activities of the researchers in the various institutions within the LUMC that are involved in immunological research.
6. actively participate in scientific discussions.
Timetable
All course and group schedules are published on MyTimeTable.
Mode of instruction
Plenary seminars provided by experts in the field, self study assignments and interactive discussions between tutors and trainees as detailed in the course book, practical work during the lab-projects and workgroup discussions by postdoc/PhD students and tutors. Guidance in preparing the research proposal (both in writing and presentation).
Assessment method
Summative assessment:
Written research proposal (28% final mark)
Oral presentation research proposal (12% final mark)
Practical work and oral report (2x25% final mark)
Participation in discussions and journal club (10% final mark)
To pass this course the marks for lab projects, the research proposal and participation in the discussions and journal club groups should all be at least sufficient (each ≥5.5 on a scale from 1 to 10).
Reading list
Will be distributed during the course.
Registration
Registration for FOS courses, H2W, Scientific Conduct, How to start, Course on Animal Science , and CRiP and Adv concepts courses takes place in lottery rounds in the beginning of July. After the lottery rounds: if you want to register for a course you are kindly asked to contact the student administration at masterbw-courses@lumc.nl.