General provisions

The course is offered as part of the Master's programs in the Faculty of Medicine.

Entry requirements

Admitted to the Master Programme in Medical Research,

or

admitted to the Master Programme in Biomedicine,

or

admitted to the Master Programme in Drug Management,

or

within the Pharmacy Programme, it is required that the student has participated in all courses during terms 1-7 of the programme and passed all courses on terms 1-5,

or

for freestanding course; 150 credits are required of which 60 credits within pharmaceutical sciences (at least 9 credits in biochemistry and 7.5 credits in molecular genetics), or an equivalent knowledge acquired within medical, scientific, dental, pharmaceutical or veterinary science education.

Knowledge in English equivalent to that required for basic eligibility to Swedish higher education on basic level.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to:

* describe the cell cycle and its regulation

* explain the genomic organisation and control of geneexpression

* explain the importance of DNA-damage and -reparation for tumour development

* classify tumours according to morphological and cellular properties

* explain cellular signal transduction chains and their alterations at neoplasia

* analyse which new possibilities and limitations of therapy arise from the knowledge of mechanisms behind cancer

* discuss scientific questions and orally present short summaries of content of selected course literature

Content

The goal of the course is to highlight cellbiological mechanisms that control genetic stability and variation, as well as gene expression of normal and tumour tissue. Furthermore cell communication is discussed with specific examples of different tumour types.

The course utilises current research problems to illustrate different cell biology-related basic phenomena and its applications within tumour biology. Fields that are treated are inter alia: transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation; signal transduction; genetic polymorphism as results of DNA-damages. Furthermore, type examples of different tumours are included. The course also gives insight in current research activity and methodology within the field of tumour biology.

Instruction

Teaching will be performed with lectures, complemented with training of scientific communication during mandatory seminars. The students will read selected texts from the course literature to present short summaries for other class members. The activity will give training in collecting and presenting scientific texts in discussion besides handling course content. Presence at the course call is mandatory.

All teaching is performed in English.

Assessment

Written examination is arranged at the end of the course. For a Pass grade in the course, besides a passed written examination (6 hp), passed compulsory parts (1.5 hp) are required. Possibilities to complement non-passed mandatory elements is given at the earliest during the next following course and only in case of course space.

Students who have failed the first examination are allowed five re-examinations.

If there exist special reasons the examiner can give allowance for alternative sets of assessment to examine an individual student. Specific conditions may e.g. be special pedagogic support described by the university's coordinator for special support.