NBIK14035U Medical Bacteriology

Volume 2024/2025
Education

MSc Programme in Biochemistry
MSc Programme in Biology
MSc Programme in Biology with a minor subject
MSc Programme in Biotechnology
MSc Programme in Molecular Biomedicine

 

Content

To give students a thorough understanding of the field of Medical Bacteriology with emphasis on the specific traits that enables certain bacteria to cause disease. The course will cover specific bacteria, the diseases they cause and possible treatments. The course will rely heavily on genetics and molecular biology.

The course vill be organized into the following themes:

  • Structure of bacterial cells and viruses, physiology and evolution
  • Host-pathogen interactions
  • Molecular mechanisms for bacterial pathogenesis and infection including Biofilm-formation
  • Strategies for control of microbial diseases
  • (Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic) modeling in treatment of bacterial infections
  • Epidemiology
  • Antibiotic resistance and spread of resistance
  • New strategies for antimicrobials development
  • Introduction to the most important infectious diseases (e.g. respiratory infections, gastrointestinal tract infections and urinary tract infections), The causative organisms, routes of infection and epidemiology. Diagnostics.
Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

After completing this critical literature based course in medical microbiology the student will:

  • Understand how structure, growth physiology, biochemistry and genetics of microorganisms all contribute to their ability to evade the host defense mechanisms and cause disease.
  • Be familiar with the most important infectious diseases.
  • Have a basic knowledge on how bacterial infections are treated.


Skills:

After completing this course the student will be able to:

  • Critically read original research articles in the field
  • Understand, interpret, evaluate and convey data from scientific experiments presented in these articles.


Competences:

After completing this course the student will be able to:

  • Understand the mechanisms behind bacteria and virus' ability to cause disease.
  • Be able to correlate the symptoms of common infectious disease with putative pathogenic microorganisms.
  • Engage in a discussion of pros and cons of present treatments of infectious diseases.
  • Discuss new approaches to treatment of infectious diseases.
Literature

See Absalon

Academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree is recommended.
Lectures. Group discussions based on problems presented to the students at the previous session. It is expected that students have worked on problem solving prior to the lecture. Mandatory student presentation of research papers. It is expected that a significant part of this course is taught by guest teachers from the Region’s Hospitals as well as from Statens Serum Institut.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 48
  • Class Instruction
  • 24
  • Preparation
  • 106
  • Seminar
  • 24
  • Exam
  • 4
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Individual
Continuous feedback during the course of the semester
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
On-site written exam, 4 hours under invigilation
Type of assessment details
The on-site written exam is an ITX exam.
See important information about ITX-exams at Study Information, menu point: Exams -> Exam types and rules -> Written on-site exams (ITX)
Exam registration requirements

At least one approved student presentation of research paper.

Aid
All aids allowed

As the exam is an ITX-exam, the University will make computers available to students at the ITX-exam.

Students are not permitted to bring digital aids like computers, tablets, calculators, mobile phones etc.

Books, notes, and similar materials can be brought in paper form or uploaded before the exam and accessed digitally from the ITX computer. Read more about this at Study Information

Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
External censorship
Re-exam

The same as the ordinary exam.

If the exam registration requirements is not fulfilled, it has to be fulfilled no later than three weeks before the reexamination by agreement with the teacher. 

If ten or fewer students have signed up for re-exam, the type of assessment will be changed to oral examination (20 minutes) with preparation time (20 minutes) and all aids.

 

Criteria for exam assesment

In order to obtain the grade 12 the student should convincingly and accurately demonstrate the knowledge, skills and competences described under Learning Outcome.