Module 1
Module 1
Course description
This course will discuss the structure and function of biologically important molecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins and the molecular events that govern cell function. Also, includes the theory and application of nucleic acid extraction and molecular diagnostic tools, including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), reverse transcription, probe hybridization, and microarray technology. The relation between advances in molecular biology and the completion of genome projects will be discussed. This will help the learner to understand the molecular basis of illnesses in the more advanced courses in the next modules.
Intended Learning outcomes (ILOs)
By the end of the course the student will be able to
- Describe theories, principles and specialized knowledge related to the field of molecular biology.
- Explain the molecular mechanisms that contribute to genetic variation, mutations, and diseases.
- Integrate molecular biology concepts into pharmacogenomic research and clinical applications.
- Collect, analyze and present genomic data using various bioinformatics tools.
- Understand the basic principles of molecular biology and genetics.
- Apply online interactive learning resources and virtual labs to understanding molecular biology concepts.
- Survey different resources to acquire knowledge and develop skills.
- Communicate ideas effectively, individually or in a group.
Course description
This course will first discuss moral theories and the basis of morality. Then it will zoom in on clinical ethics and its four main principles, and how they are used in different clinical situations.
It will also teach students about different bioethical issues, such as genetically modified organisms, experimentation and enhancement of humans and ownership of clinical and genetic data. All these issues will be connected with real life examples and role play to make sure that the students can translate their knowledge to situations in real life.
Intended Learning outcomes (ILOs)
By the end of the course the student will be able to:
- Define the meaning and importance of bioethics.
- Describe the different schools of Moral Theory and their influence on everyday life.
- Discuss the impact of ethical principles on the fields of medicine and biology.
- Appraise the morality of different behaviors in general, academic, and clinical situations.
- Apply the four principles of clinical ethics to different clinical situations.
- Predict problems that may arise from the lack of a bioethical framework.
- Solve ethical problems in medicine or research.
- Discriminate between ethical and unethical applications of genetics and medicine.
- Differentiate between bioethics in different cultures.
- Discuss the accessibility of personalized medicine to different segments of society.
Course description
This course provides an overview of basic principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics and their applications in pharmacogenomics. It also deals with the qualitative aspects of the basic elements of pharmacokinetics (ADME). It illustrates signalling mechanisms of drug action based on drug-receptor interaction theory. In addition, the current course focuses on the genomic basis of drug response as well as the use of genomic information for targeted drug development.
Intended Learning outcomes (ILOs)
By the end of the course the student will be able to:
- Use pharmacokinetic & pharmacodynamic information to estimate personalized drug dose and protocol of therapy.
- Discuss and evaluate the mechanism of several examples of genomically-determined differential drug responses, and adverse drug reactions.
- Critically evaluate a wide range of information to assist with clinical judgements and decision making.
- Interpret data and convert into knowledge for use, in a clinical setting, by healthcare colleagues, individual patients and groups of patients.
- Present information clearly in the form of written reports.
- Communicate effectively by presenting complex ideas in simple language.
- Self-direct their learning and reflect upon that learning, identifying areas for further improvement.
Course description
Mastery of the field of pharmacogenomics is not possible without the essential data analysis toolkit. This course covers the general fundamentals of statistics and branches out into methods of defining a sample, testing a hypothesis and comparing one, two or more groups. The course explains methods of comparison that are based on parametric assumptions (e.g., one-way ANOVA) as well as non-parametric tests (e.g., Mann Whitney test). The course also teaches how to design an observational or an experimental study, how to conduct systematic reviews and meta-analysis, and how to model collected data with linear or non-linear regression. As an application of the learned tools, the students will use a statistical software, namely SPSS, to analyse clinical data.
Intended Learning outcomes (ILOs)
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Identify the basic concepts of statistics.
- Choose proper graphical representations according to the type of data.
- Contrast different classifying techniques.
- Visualize and interpret data using software such as SPSS.
- Define study design from different perspectives.
- Apply the biostatistical principles and the different statistical tools in analyzing clinical data.
- Critically evaluate experiments and clinical cases.
- Assess the quality of different studies based on the used statistical methods.
- Integrate statistical knowledge into their broader understanding of the world.
- Make decisions based on their data.
- Discriminate between use and misuse of data analysis.
Course description
With the advent of technological advancements in biology came the need to develop methods for analysing high amounts of complex data. This resulted in the birth of the field known as “bioinformatics”, which is totally concerned with biological data analysis and interpretation. This course covers the basics of bioinformatics from the definitions to the operating systems and programming languages. It also covers the most commonly used bioinformatic techniques, such as phylogenetic analysis and molecular modelling, as well as their clinical applications.
Intended Learning outcomes (ILOs)
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Describe the importance of bioinformatics.
- List different biological databases and their uses.
- Perform advanced search of the literature.
- Distinguish between different programming languages and their applications.
- Analyze DNA sequences.
- Design primers.
- Distinguish between methods used in genetic and genomic analysis.
- Demonstrate the use of genomic methods for studying human genetic variation.
- Perform multiple sequence alignments.
- List proteomic tools used for analyzing proteomic data.
- Identify the importance of protein modelling.
- Recall the methods and databases used in protein modelling.
- Apply the bioinformatics tools on clinical research and practice.