General provisions

The course is an independent course.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree in medical science, biomedical laboratory science, psychology, sociology, gender studies, biology, chemistry, engineering or nursing. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

After the course the student shall be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• explain the mechanisms behind human reproduction
• describe the role of sex and sex hormones of relevance to the brain
• describe the basics of mass spectrometry and neuroimaging
• present / give an overview of the latest key findings in psychoneuroendocrinology of women´s mental health

Skills and abilities

• perform the basics of advanced mass spectrometry methods
• apply a basic neuroimaging data analysis pipeline
• integrate the state of the art and current research on a chosen topic on women´s mental health

Evaluation and approach to the subject

• demonstrate the ability to critically approach the literature on psychoneuroendocrinology of women´s mental health
• advocate an interdisciplinary approach (integrate and share knowledge) to the study of women´s mental health during the reproductive year

Content

• Lectures: HPG axis, puberty, menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause, basics of neuroimaging techniques, basics in chemistry related to hormone synthesis and steroid hormone analyses
• Lectures: Women's mental health (sex differences in psychiatry, gene by environment interactions, historical and future trends); Neuroimaging hormonal fluctuations and their effects on behavior and mental health throughout the lifespan; Neural correlates of premenstrual dysphoric disorder and peripartum depression;
• Dry lab: identifying relevant clinical applications, advanced sampling and sample pretreatment strategies, extraction, multidimensional liquid based separation, high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and multivariate data analysis; wet lab: sampling, preparation, extraction, Ultra-Performance Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Hyphenated to Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UPSFC-MS/MS) and analysis of peripheral levels of gonadal hormones; dry lab: neuroimaging data analysis 
• Guest lectures: from HUMSAM and TEKNAT to enrich the course´s interdisciplinarity

Instruction

Lectures, seminars, wet and dry labs, project as guest of one research group associated with WoMHeR, seminars with student´s presentations

Assessment

For a passed course, a passed result in written and practical examinations in all sub-subjects is required, as well as approved participation in seminars and laboratory work.

For special reasons, the examiner may exempt from the indicated examination method and allow an alternative examination form. A special reason may for instance be a decision by the University's disability coordinator that special pedagogical support should be provided.