Each Course has
its own site on Blackboard that you need to enroll to. The courses that you
will do are listed in this website with links to each course and their
catalogue number: https://studiegids.leidenuniv.nl/en/studies/show/4335/exchange-biomedische-wetenschappen
Remember that the
name of the Biomedicine programme in Leiden is Biomedical Sciences or
Biomedische Wetenschappen in Dutch.
Immunology (BS) -
9 ECTS
Catalogue number: 311201110Y
This course focuses on the mechanisms of the immune system. It is
heavily based on the textbook, since it is an open book exam. So I suggest that
you get the book at the very beginning of the course, so that you familiarize
yourself with the material throughout. You can put sticky notes in your
textbook, to reference pages, diagrams and tables. (No loose papers are allowed
in the exam!)
Most lectures in this course are brief and have been described as
introductory lectures. This course mainly focuses on daily workgroups that
provide you with reference chapters to read in preparation and questions to
answer with additional patient case studies. The questions for each workgroups
can be found in the module book. These workgroups go in depth and require you
to think about each topic, so it is very important that you come prepared to
each workgroup. I suggest that you answer the questions the day before and
highlight the diagrams and pages in the textbooks that you used to answer these
questions.
For the exam, you have only 3 hours to answer 15 essay-type questions.
You are therefore very limited in time compared with KI exams. So, it is very
important that you answer the questions that you are familiar with first,
without checking the textbook. At the end you can complete the more challenging
questions that require checking the textbook. A warning: Open-book exams are
not easier than closed-book exams!! The questions are not straight-forward that
you can find directly in the textbook and you are limited in time.
Infectious Agents & Immunity - 6 ECTS
Catalogue number: 311204010Y
The first part of this course is similar to the Immunology course
consisting of lectures and workgroups for each topic. The main difference is that there is no single textbook that
you should focus. Instead, you need to learn to understand the basic concepts
of the topics taught in lectures and apply your knowledge to analyze scientific
articles given in most workgroups. These workgroups are good practice to
prepare for your exam. There are also two interim practice tests online that
will also help assess your progress. The final exam will make up 80% of your
final grade in this course but you will still need a 5.5 to pass the exam and
the course. (Not open-book exam!)
20% of your grade will be based on the second part of the course:
mini-projects. You select a mini-project during a workgroup. You meet up with
your mini-project group that selected the same topic and read up on articles
related to that topic. You design lab experiments for your topics and prepare a
report of results and present your work in a powerpoint presentation that is
also submitted to CIS (separate course in Communication in Science that runs in
parallel).
The final part of your course is
Electives, in which you again chose a topic of interest and meet up with
your groups. There will be lectures for each topic for the whole class. You
study your topic in depth by studying literature and prepare presentations for
your original workgroups. This part is graded with a pass/fail. It is very
important to listen to everyone’s elective presentations, because these topics
will be in the final exam.
Additionally you need to write two summaries of guest lectures throughout
the course.
Physiology, Basic
Concepts - 8 ECTS
Catalogue number: 3112085PPY
This is the most demanding course in this
semester. It is divided into two parts. Each part ends with a multiple choice
exam. You need to pass both exams with at least 5.0 to complete the whole
course.
The first part of the course is Cardiovascular
and Respiratory Physiology. It starts with an introduction of cardiovascular
anatomy lecture and a computer lab (digital microscopy). In addition it covers
ECG but mainly focuses on the Cardiovascular Physiology. There is one large
lecture that goes through the Respiratory Physiology, followed by a workgroup
in that topic. Each topic has a practice test online in Blackboard, called a
poll test. This is very good practice for the exam!
It is important to attend the lectures in this
course, since it is the main source of information in this course. The
textbooks are large and extensive, so it is very important to focus on the
lectures and keep up with the topics, especially with the online weblectures.
There are very few workgroups, but a lot of Self Study Assignments, which are
questions in the Module Book that guide you through the material you need to
know. The answers to each Study Assignment is uploaded onto Blackboard.
This first part ends with an exam: 50 multiple choice question in 2
hours. (Not open-book exam!)
The second part of the course is Kidney Physiology and Homeostasis.
The overall structure of the course is very similar to the first part. Starts
with anatomy and digital microscopy class. Followed by lectures that go through
Kidney function, physiology, regulation and homeostasis. There are seminars
(SM) held in lecture halls that go through the Self Study Assignments, which
are a great opportunity to ask questions and go through the material in depth
after lectures. There is one practice test online (poll test) that is also good
practice for the exam. This second part also ends with a 50 question multiple
choice exam in 2 hours. (Not open-book exam!)
Communication in
Science (CIS) for Exchange Students - 2 ECTS
Catalogue number: 3112091PPY
CIS is a smaller course that runs in parallel
with the courses mentioned above. It mainly focuses on your professional
writing and presentation skills, particularly in the scientific world. The
teachers are mostly linguistic and therefore focus on your language skills,
rather than the content (compared to the other courses). They prefer to focus
on your pronunciation, clarity, body language and visual aid in presentations.
They assess your language, structure and flow in your writing.
You have two main written assignments: Article
Review and Argumentative Essay.
And two presentations: Article presentation and
Mini-project presentations.
Biomedical
Academic Scientific Training (BAST) for Exchange Students - 3 ECTS
Catalogue number: 311209700Y
BAST also runs in parallel with the other
courses. It starts with the course leader Dr Leendert Trouw giving us an intro
to Academic Research and a few classes discussing the factors contributing to
research. You will need to get into groups and select a PhD student and their
supervisor to interview. These interviews are a great opportunity to get an
insight of what daily research looks like and give you an idea of what your
future might look like!! You need to write summaries/manuscripts of your
interview (I suggest you voice record the interviews with their permission).
Then you write up a final report with your group about all the topics assigned:
Financing, collaborating, planning, publishing, etc. You will end the course
with a presentation and evaluation of the class.
This was the most fun course, mostly because we
had a very friendly teacher (Leendert) and it went beyond us studying from the
textbooks!
Applied
Electrophysiology for Exchange Students - 2 ECTS
Catalogue number: 311201200Y
This mainly runs in parallel with the Immunology
course. You will have 2 main lectures covering the basics of ECG. You will have
a fun practical, where you get your ECG’s taken. During this time you have two
assignments to complete, studying and analyzing a few ECGs that are submitted
via email to the professor. These assignments are fairly simple, as long as you
attend the classes to prepare you for them. Finally you have a long article
review on a topic of your choice regarding ECG. This article review is very
long and takes up a lot of your time so you should not leave to the last
minute, although you have plenty of time to complete it.