Courses Biology of Disease

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1 Courses Biology of Disease The theoretical component yields 10 weeks or 15 EC. Under the auspices of Biology of Disease seven courses are organized. Mechanisms of Disease: compulsory for all BoD students Plus four out of following six have to be chosen: Biology of Disease: Immunity and Infection Biomolecular and Cellular Biology Thrombosis and Haemostasis Essentials of Neuroscience Metabolic Pathways Cardiovascular Immunology Mechanisms of Disease Coordinator: Maria L. Zonderland, PhD The course aims to integrate the biological principles of disease processes with their clinical manifestations- the signs and symptoms, which enable a diagnosis to be made. Clinical lectures (e.g. on chronic heart failure, valvular heart disease, cancer and stroke) and lectures on mechanisms of disease (ischemia, oxygen radicals, apoptosis, ageing) and therapy (e.g. stem cells, regenerative medicine, cell-mediated cytotoxity, cancer developeent) are given. Students have to deliver a presentation on one of the diseases in which the aetiology, therapies and experimental models used to study these items are discussed. The course is concluded by a written exam.

2 Biology of Disease: Immunity and Infection Maximum number of participants: 20 Coordinator: Kristin Denzer, PhD Clinical and experimental lectures on various subjects, e.g. bacterial, viral and fungal infections, autoimmunity, hypersensitivity and transplantation. NB: If you have participated in the advanced BMW course Clinical Immunology (code: BMW31105) this master course is not of use for you. Choose another master course. Thrombosis and Haemostasis Maximum number of participants: 30 Coordinator: Suzanne (J.A.) Korporaal, PhD The course will elaborate on the mechanisms responsible to prevent bleeding after injury (haemostasis) and the role of these mechanisms in the aetiology of arterial and venous thrombosis. The biology of coagulation and the interaction between the vascular wall and circulating blood (cells) will be explained. In addition to basal biochemical sessions, the course will contain special sessions on therapeutic strategies, such as oral anticoagulants and thrombosis, state of the art developments and actual business such as the risk of thrombosis during air travel, thrombosis prevention with healthy nutrition, epidemiology of thrombosis and RNA profiles for thrombosis prediction. The students will train their knowledge of thrombosis and haemostasis in six workshops and students will get the

3 opportunity to perform state of the art experiments in thrombosis and haemostasis research. Biomolecular and Cellular Cardiology Maximum number of participants: 36 Coordinator: Marti F.A. Bierhuizen, PhD The course aims to familiarize master students with different molecular and cellular approaches applied in the study of the healthy and diseased heart. Lectures will be given on various aspects of cardiac disease, such as alterations in microrna expression, Ca 2+ regulation or gap junctional communication. Moreover, the molecular basis of arrhythmias (either inherited or acquired) and the potential of stem cellderived cardiomyocytes will be featured as well. This theoretical part will be concluded with a written exam. Students will further have to work on an assignment on one of these subjects and present their results in both a written report and presentation. Essentials of Neuroscience Maximum number of participants: unlimited Coordinator: Geert M.J. Ramakers, PhD This intense two weeks course is intended for non-neuroscience master students who want to get more background into neuroscience. The aim of the course is to provide sufficient background in molecular and cellular neuroscience to understand mechanisms underlying neurological diseases. The lectures during the course cover a broad range of neuroscience topics from gene to neurological disease and include neuro-anatomy, neurodevelopment, synaptic plasticity,

4 neurogenetics and diseases such as Epilepsy, Anorexia nervosa, Obesity and Parkinson s disease and are given by experts from the Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neurosciences. During the afternoons the students will work in couples on an assignment on a neurological disease. This assignment will result in a scientific presentation on the disease, which will discuss all aspects covered in the lectures, ranging from clinical symptoms and treatment, to molecular and cellular mechanisms, to genetic studies and genes involved. These presentations will be held on the last Friday during a symposium. Metabolic Pathways Coordinator: Joost Koedam, PhD The course Metabolic Pathways approaches metabolism and endocrinology from several different angles. Lectures and tutorials in the first week discuss the molecular mechanisms involved in regulating glucose, fat and protein homeostasis. Transcriptional regulation of metabolism and oxygen metabolism will be discussed, as well as metabolic dysregulation in diseases like type 2 diabetes and cancer. Finally, the course will introduce metabolomics and other diagnostic tools for monogenetic and multifactorial metabolic diseases. Presentations by students and a written exam are part of this week. In the second week students have to develop a new research aim in a small group (3-5 students) and present this as a poster.

5 Cardiovascular Immunology Coordinator: Prof. Dominique de Kleijn Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease characterized by the accumulation of atherosclerotic plaque in the lumen of the larger arteries. In the year 2004, cardiovascular diseases caused 33% of the deaths in the Netherlands mostly by myocardial infarction and stroke, having atherosclerosis being the primary cause. Worldwide, atherosclerosis is been considered as the single leading cause of death nowadays. Recent research has shown that inflammation plays a key role in coronary artery disease (CAD) and other manifestations of atherosclerosis. Immune cells dominate early atherosclerotic lesions, their effector molecules accelerate progression of the lesions, and activation of inflammation can elicit acute coronary syndromes. In this course, we focus on the role of the immune system in atherosclerotic disease and manifestations of this disease like myocardial infarction. Special attention will be given to the different types of immune cells and their role in atherosclerosis, plaque rupture and acute coronary syndrome as well as signalling of these cells via for example Toll-like receptors. Also the tuning of the immune system in relation to diabetes will be discussed.

Version 1 2015. Module guide. Preliminary document. International Master Program Cardiovascular Science University of Göttingen

Version 1 2015. Module guide. Preliminary document. International Master Program Cardiovascular Science University of Göttingen Version 1 2015 Module guide International Master Program Cardiovascular Science University of Göttingen Part 1 Theoretical modules Synopsis The Master program Cardiovascular Science contains four theoretical