SBIK10194U Advanced Biotechnology and Intellectual Property Rights

Volume 2013/2014
Education
MSc Programme in Biology-Biotechnology - compulsory
Content
The course is theoretical and during the first week different biotechnological challenges are presented from companies and/or research groups.

In the second week project groups are formed and the projects are initiated with a workshop on idea generation within the biotechnological area. Groups will be encouraged to contact relevant industrial and/or academic partners to test their ideas. The second course week is focused on generating ideas and making a vision for the project. In the third week the focus is on background litterature and patents relevant to the project. During the third week the scientific hypothesis and the aim of the project is written based on the relevant written material. In week four the focus will be on creating a timeline for the project and describing the project strategy in details. In week five the project plan and the critical deliverables will be described along with the expected deadlines. Assessment of various risks will also be evaluated during week five. In week six the focus will be on commercial and scientific potential of the project and the groups are encouraged to contact relevant industrial and/or academic partners to test their project plan. Week seven is devoted to industry and incubators and the project groups will end up describing the possibilities of getting their project into real life. Week eight is deadline for the project reports and presentations of the final outcome for a panel of experts.

During weeks two to eight there will be lectures giving guidelines the group work and each week there will be knowledge sharing between groups either by presentations or other formal activities 

During the first seven weeks basic intellectual property right issues will be taught in parallel with the project activities.
Learning Outcome
The course forms a final synthesizing element of the MSc education and it is the final preparation for the MSc projects

After completion of the course the student is expected to have the following knowledge, skills and competences:

Knowledge:
- Communicate in depth knowledge on selected topics within the area of biotechnology
- Identify current technical problems within the area of biotechnology
- Describe the relationship between patenting and scientific discovery
- Describe the patenting process and how it relates to the international patent authorities and organizations.
- Understand patents as strategic tools in business developement
- Understand how intellectual property rights relates to and handles genetic sequences and other biological material

Skills:
- Read and interpret state of the art scientific literature within the area of biotechnology
- Generate new ideas to tackle technical problems within the biotechnological area
- Evaluate which strategies and laboratory procedures to use to solve technical problems within the biotechnological area
- Use and understand advanced methods in molecular biology in the context of research and development
- Determine the freedom to operate for a given new biotechnological product emphasizing intellectual property rights.
- Understand how to interact with external partners both industrial and academic. 
- Understand entrepreneurship in general.

Competences: 
- Identify scientific problems within the area of biotechnology and design strategies for investigating the problems
- Make a well documented project plan including a hypothesis, a time line with deliverables and expected deadlines, risk assessment and future perspectives. 
- Exploit knowledge of advanced technologies and products based on  animal, plant and microbial biotechnologies. As examples technologies could include biomarkers, vaccines, bioremediation, development and tailoring of production organisms, diagnostics,  rational drug design and the use of animal and cell-based models. Products could comprise food/feed ingredients, diagnostic tools, biomedicine, pharmaceuticals and transgenic crop plants and animals. 
Literature
An IPR compendium
Selected scientific papers, reviews and patent material relevant for the specific project.
Mikrobiologi
Molekylær genetik
Plants Genomics
Mammalian Genomics
Bioinformatik 1
Biokemi 1
Heterologous Expression
Genome and Cell Biology
Lectures, work shops, group work, discussions and presentations in relation to the project.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Colloquia
  • 20
  • Exam
  • 1
  • Guidance
  • 20
  • Lectures
  • 40
  • Practical exercises
  • 20
  • Preparation
  • 40
  • Project work
  • 271
  • Total
  • 412
Credit
15 ECTS
Type of assessment
Oral examination, 25 minutes
Oral examination without preparation. The exam will start with a 5 min pitch presentation from the student. Exam topics will cover the biological background of the project, the project phases, general and specific intellectual property right issues and funding aspects.

Weight: Oral examination 100 %.
Exam registration requirements
An approved written project report, made in groups, is a prerequisite for access to the oral examination.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
More than one internal examiner
Criteria for exam assesment
In order to achieve the maximum grade of 12, the student shall give an excellent performance during the exam displaying a high level of command of all aspects of both the advanced biotechnology and the intellectual property rights. The student shall give a clear presentation of the group project and show a exhaustive comprehension of all the relevant topics touched during the exam with no or only few minor weaknesses.

Specific knowledge, skills and competencies, see learning outcome.