Course Syllabus

 

Semester & Location:	Fall 2024  - DIS Stockholm
Type & Credits:	Core Course - 3 credits
Core Course Study Tours:	Lund, Dublin
Major Disciplines:	Biology, Biomedicine / Biotechnology, Pre-Medicine / Health Science
Prerequisites:	One year of biology, including one course in either molecular biology or genetics, and one chemistry course, all at university level.
Faculty Member:	Chenhong Lin (Current students please use the Canvas Inbox for contact)
Program Director:	Susana Dietrich shsupport@dis.dk
Time & Place:	Meeting time is at 3:00-5:00 p.m. on Tuesdays and some Fridays. Classroom: 1D-509

Course Description

Standard clinical care is shifting its focus towards precision medicine, where the choice for treatment relies on the specific physiological characteristics of a given patient. The rapid development of ‘omics’, including genomics, epigenomics, and proteomics, is currently adding a new dimension to the advancement of precision medicine and clinical care.

This course covers current clinical practices of precision medicine in disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis, with a special focus on precision molecular therapeutics in cancer. The course also introduces several major human organ systems in a peer teaching approach. In addition, you study patient cases and address diagnosis and treatment by using the precision medicine approach.

Note: Please be aware that the course does not provide regular medical training corresponding to that of medical students and does not include shadowing of doctors or physical examination of patients. But field studies are included, which is to to visit relevant clinicians or researchers and their work environment.

 

Learning Objectives

After the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Describe and illustrate knowledge of human anatomy and physiology in respect of some major organ systems.
• Understand the knowledge of human pathophysiology (basic underlying mechanisms) with regard to specific diseases.
• Understand the technologies of modern “omics", and know their current and potential use in modern disease diagnostics, treatment and prognosis of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases.
• Discuss the pros & cons of medical health care systems in different countries
• Identify and summarize the relevant positive and negative findings in case studies
• Suggest and rationalize the diagnostic tests and assays, including conventional techniques (eg. microscopy, blood tests) with modern molecular tests (eg. PCR, NGS, etc.)
• Suggest the tentative diagnosis and differential diagnosis with the aid of reliable source of information
• Suggest and rationalize treatments in an evidence-based approach

 

Faculty

Chenhong Lin M.D. , graduated from Norman Bethune College of Medicine, Jilin University, China. (2008-2015) Clinical training in First Hospital of Jilin University. (2014-2015) Ph.D. in medical science, from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. (2016-2021) PhD work focused on spinal cord injury, stem cell therapy and biomaterial. With DIS since 2022.

 

Required Readings

• Clancy J, McVicar: Physiology and Anatomy for Nurses and Health Practitioners: A Homeostatic Approach (e-textbook under Modules)

• Chapters from "Precision Medicine: A Guide to Genomics in Clinical Practice" Jeanette J. McCarthy, Bryce A. Mendelsohn

• Chapters from "Precision Medicine" Edited by Tao Huang, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 2204

• Chapters from "Personalizing Precision Medicine A Global Voyage from Vision to Reality" Kristin Ciriello Pothier, from Wiley, 2017

• Chapters from "Textbook of Personalized Medicine" Kewal K. Jain

• Relevant articles and videos will be uploaded on Canvas.

All necessary reading material will be posted on Canvas latest two day prior to the class. Notice that the anatomy and physiology part of the class will be conducted in a peer-teaching approach, which makes it prominent to do the self-learning prior to the class in order to participate!

There will be questions posted together with the carefully chosen reading materials, to guide the self-learning process. Students do not need to go through the materials word by word but they need to be able to answer the questions and illustrate the knowledge to the others after the self-learning. 

These preparation work will be evaluated by submitting written material or doing a presentation in the class. You have an obligation to your fellow classmates and yourself to come prepared to class.  

If you have questions or need clarification about a reading or lecture material do not hesitate to speak up and/or contact the faculty (see contact information above). In the case that a meeting is needed, please feel free to set up appointments with them via email.  

 

Approach to Teaching

The course will include both faculty lecturing and peer teaching, together with interactive teaching with discussion of theoretical and clinical cases and diagnostic algorithms, utilization of virtual reality and other teaching methods.

 

Expectations of the Students

• Students should do prepare before each class with the guidance posted on Canvas. Students should find the answer to the questions by browsing the reading material and be able to illustrate the knowledge by writing, drawing, or presenting. 
• Each student will get one turn to share their learning experience and results with others in the class and learn from each other. They also need to do a peer-review for the student's presentation.
• Students will be encouraged to work together to conduct survey and the final project.
• Students are expected to actively participate in the class by ask relevant questions, interacting with the lecturer and the peer when being asked.
• Laptops may be used for note‐taking, fact‐checking, or assignment in the classroom. Using laptops or other electronic devices for activities not related to the class will be forbidden. 
• Students need to be present and participating to receive full credit. The final grade will be affected by unexcused absences and lack of participation or preparation. The participation grade will be reduced by 10 points (over 100) for every unexcused absence. It's important to be in class on time or communicate with the teacher when you can not. 
• Classroom etiquette includes being respectful towards everyone (the other students and the teachers) in the class and of their opinions, listening to others and entering a dialogue in a constructive manner.

Field Studies

Examples: 

• Visiting the Medical History Museum in Uppsala.
• Visiting the Chemical Biology and Genome Engineering (CBGE) infrastructure platform at SciLifeLab
• Visiting the Breast Cancer Screening Centre of Södersjukuset.

 

Study Tour

The study tours is an integral part of the core course. The classroom is “on the road” and theory presented in the classroom is applied in the field. Students will travel with classmates and DIS faculty/staff. Students are expected to:

• participate in all activities
• engage in discussions, ask questions, and contribute to achieving the learning objectives
• Take Note! It can be with pen or laptop or tablet. It's not ideal to take note with phone since this may be distracting for the speaker. 
• be respectful to the destination/location, the speakers, DIS staff, and fellow classmates
• represent self, home university and DIS in a positive light

While on a program study tour, DIS will provide hostel/hotel accommodation, transportation to/from the destination(s), approx. 2 meals per day (except day one) and entrances, guides, and visits relevant to your area of study or the destination. You will receive a more detailed itinerary prior to departure.

Travel policies: You are required to travel with your group to the destination. If you have to deviate from the group travel plans, you need approval from the program director and the study tours office.     

Evaluation and Grading

The factors influencing the final grade and the weight of each factor is detailed below: 

Component	Weight
Participation (Attendance + Active engagement)	10% (7% + 3%)
Field study preparation + Debate preparation	2% + 1%
Pre-class quizzes	10%
Post-class quizzes	35%
Peer teaching	5%
Study Tour Assignment	12%
Patient Case	10%
Final Project	15%

Students are expected to turn in all the assignments on the due date. If an assignment is turned in after the due date, the grade of the assignment will be reduced by 10 points (over 100) for each day the submission is late.

Participation covers the following areas:

1. Compulsory attendance to both scheduled classes and field studies (You will get 1% deducted from the final grade for each unexcused absence)
2. Active engagement and contribution to class discussions and field studies

Preparation:

You will need to prepare for the field study and debate in advance. You will be asked to submit questions or bullet points for debate prior to the events.

Study Tour Assignment:

Students will be expected to conduct a survey and read relevant literature in order to do a poster presentation. The objectives of the assignment is to summarize and discuss the pros & cons of the health care systems of two (or more) countries. A more thorough description will be given at the study tour orientation.

You will also need to submit questions you prepare for the individual academic visits prior to the academic visits. 

Patient cases:

During the semester, you will be presented with 1 patient cases in class to submit as an individual assignment.

Everyone will be introduced to the cases and we will discuss in groups during the class. Each student will be required to hand in a written assignment detailing the process of finding the proper diagnosis and/or treatment in an evidence-based approach, as well as suggesting and rationalizing possible application of omics or other precision medicine approaches.

This assignment will be graded. If fail to attend the class connected to a patient case, the result for this section will be failed.

Pre-class quizzes:

You will need to submit your answers to the quiz prior to the corresponding class time. You will be evaluated based on the accuracy and 

Post-class quizzes:

There will be 7 post class quizzes and 1 practice quiz to evaluate your understanding of essential concepts like anatomy and omics. You will have limited time to finish the quizzes.

These are open-book tests. You are allowed to refer to your own study note (limited pages) during the tests. These tests will be on Canvas and you should not have any other documents, software open or other online resources and tabs open on your web browser once the exam begins. Canvas will log all your activities on the computer. You have the responsibility to make sure not leaving this test tab during the test. If the faculty notice any abnormal activity, then the student(s) have the burden of proof. 

Any activity violating the intention or spirit of the DIS Academic Honor Code (see below) may lead to 0 point for the specific test or assignment.

Final Project:

A description of the project will be given to the students at the first day of class together with the core course week study tour orientation.

Detailed description can be found under the assignment tab.

 

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

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