This minor in ‘Medical biology – General orientation’ gives you an introduction to various topics in medical biology. More information on a specific course mentioned above, can be found in the online course guide. If you scroll down you can find an active course guide link in the section "Learning Goals/Leerdoelen".

If you study a relevant Applied Sciences Bachelor's programme (see Requirements/Ingangseisen) this minor can replace the mandatory Pre-Master's. That means that with this minor of 30 ECTS, you will be directly admitted to the relevant Master’s specialisation in Medical Biology at Radboud University after having finished your Applied Sciences diploma.

Note that our Master's programme has 3 different specialisations. You need to choose your minor in a good way so that it connects to the Master's specialisation of your choice. In case of doubt contact us.

You will follow three courses per period: one course on Monday/Tuesday, one course on Wednesday and one course on Thursday/Friday. In the schedule below, you can choose a course of your own preference on the Wednesday in period 2. 

Note that the course Genomics for Health and Environment has restricted places. The teacher will ask you about your preference for the practicals. 

PERIOD 1

Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday

• Genomics for Health and Environment (NWI-BB086) - restricted admission.

Wednesday

• Introduction to R Programming (NWI-BB095)
On campus course

or

• Biology and Society (NWI-BB011B)

PERIOD 2

Monday/Tuesday

• Infectious Diseases (NWI-BB097)

Wednesday

• Introduction to R Programming (NWI-BB095)
Self study course

or

• Exploring Science in Society (NWI-FC0041)

or

• History of Biology (NWI-BB028B)

Thursday/Friday

Molecular Principles of Development (NWI-BB084B)

Genomics for Health and Environment: The general objective is to provide students with theoretical background and hands-on experience in microbial (meta)genomics, medical genomics and transcriptomics.  Bioinformatic aspects of genome complexity, read mapping, next generation DNA sequencing (NGS) signal quantification and functional interpretation are taught.

This course runs on Mon/Tue and on Thu/Fri and is 12 EC. It requires an email to be send to dr. Colin Logie via c.logie@ncmls.ru.nl to determine the practical part.

Introduction to R Programming: This course provides a gentle and stepwise introduction to the world of R programming. After completion of this course, you will master the basics of programming in R. In particular, you can

1. Create, load and manipulate data
2. Perform exploratory data analysis
3. Visualize your data in attractive graphs
4. Create efficient code by applying functions to series of objects
5. Find help and resources to take your coding skills to a next level.

Biology and Society: In this course the societal role of biology will be addresses: biology plays a role in society and this can cause conflicts, tension and ethical issues.

Infectious Diseases: This course will focus on the epidemiology, pathogenesis and mechanisms of viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections, thereby integrating the microbiological and immunological principles of infectious diseases. The students will learn about the basic mechanism of the routes of entry and transmission of pathogens and the course of infection of different sites of the body. Furthermore, this course will also include the molecular and cellular details on microbial adaptation to the host, virulence mechanisms and mechanisms of cell and tissue damage leading to acute and chronic infections. The student will reflect on the societal impact of infectious diseases and will learn about the diagnosis, vaccination and treatment of infections.

Exploring Science in Society: The purpose of this course is to get acquainted with topics of science in society on the basis of case studies and to gain insight into the interaction between science, politics, media and citizens. 

History of Biology: It may sound like a dreadful cliché, but the aim of this course is to learn from the past. The course will not present you with an endless stream of historic facts or isolated funny anecdotes (although some of the history of biology can be quite entertaining). The stress will be on the interpretation of history: we will try to understand patterns and relations in the development of biology, rather than list who discovered what, where, and when.

Molecular Principles of Development: Cells can be induced to adopt a state of pluripotency, but can also transdifferentiate to other cell types. These discoveries are relevant for regenerative medicine and have spurred a renewed interest in the regulatory mechanisms of embryogenesis. This course links genes, gene products and pathways to the complex processes underlying developmental biology.

See the learning goals of each individual course in the online course guide for more detailed information.

Third or fourth year's students from the Bachelor's of Applied Sciences Universities. In general all medical and molecular sciences related course programmes, such as BML and bioinformatics.

See the literature (mandatory or optional) of each individual course in the online course guide.

The courses of period 1 are scheduled from September 2 – November 1, 2024. The courses of period 2 are scheduled from November 4 – January 24, 2025

As soon as you are fully enrolled at Radboud University you will be able to construct your Personal Schedule via the Student Portal by adding the course codes or course name to your Personal Schedule.

For every course there is a first exam and a resit opportunity in the same study year. The first exam is scheduled at the end of the period and the resit is scheduled in the last week of the next period.

See the information in the online course guide for more details about exams / products of each individual course.

At the end of the minor when all courses are passed you can request your grade list at the coordinator of the minor programme. More information will be given during the introduction meeting and you will receive emails during the minor to update you on this.