Biomedical and precision medicine
Precision Medicine is the way that healthcare will be delivered worldwide in the next decades. It requires a deep understanding of genes, genomes, sequencing technologies, data management and data digitalization. Precision Medicine is a field of study that is rapidly expanding to deliver personalised treatments based on a genetic understanding of diseases. This approach is allowing clinicians to create personalised treatment plans which are more effective than one-size-fits-all treatments.
If you are studying or are interested in any aspect of Medicine, Veterinary Sciences, or in any field of Natural Sciences related to human or animal biology and/or health, this course will provide you with a strong foundation in this extremely important field of study, which is central to current medical research.
The project will be conducted under the guidance of professors from prestigious overseas universities, aiming to help students build biomedicine and precision medicine, comprehensively improve their ability to solve practical problems, and lay a solid foundation for future study and job hunting.
Introduction to Precision Medicine – What it is, Applications and Future Developments
The course aim is to introduce the students to the basic concepts and applications of the field of Precision Medicine (also often referred to as Genomic Medicine).
The course targets students with interests in Medicine, Life Sciences, Veterinary Sciences, or related fields. The students will leave this course with a comprehensive overview of how this important field is currently developing. The online lectures aim to be attractive, entertaining, and encouraging the students to ask questions and further develop their interest. There will be opportunities for the students to participate and to interact with public genomic databases.
High school/college students
Students majoring in medicine, immunology, biology or other related majors or wishing to study related majors
University of Cambridge
Professor Ana then did her PhD in Bochemistry at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK, under the supervision of Gordon Dougan and George Salmond. After a post-doctoral position in stem cell proteomics in the same institute, she joined the European Bioinformatics Institute, also at the Wellcome Trust Genome campus, where she worked for several years. She pursed an MBA at the same time to follow her interest in the industry and translational science, especially applied genomics.
The University of Cambridge is a collegiate public research university in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by King Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking word and the world's fourth-oldest surviving university. The university grew out of an association of scholars who left the University of Oxford after a dispute with the townspeople. The two "ancient universities" share many common features and are often referred to jointly as "Oxbridge".
Cambridge is formed from a variety of institutions which include 31 semi-autonomous constituent Colleges and over 100 academic departments organised into six schools. As of 2019, Cambridge is the top-ranked university in the United Kingdom according to all major league tables. It is a member of numerous associations and forms part of the "golden triangle" of English universities. The university has educated many notable alumni, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, politicians, lawyers, philosophers, writers, actors, monarchs and other heads of state. As of October 2019, 120 Nobel Laureates, 11 fields Medalists, 7 Turing Award winners and 14 British Prime Ministers have been affiliated with Cambridge as students, alumni and faculty or research staff. University alumni have won 194 Olympic medals.
UNIT 1:
Part 1. What is Precision Medicine or Genomic Medicine? The key scientific developments that allowed this field to emerge, flourish and promise a new era in healthcare.
Learning objectives: The content of Part 1 of Day 1 will be an introduction to Precision Medicine. It will allow the students to become familiar with the basic concepts, history and principles of the key scientific developments that are the basis of this field of study.
Part 2. Genes and genomes. Genome browsers.
Learning objectives: To familiarize the students with the biology involved in Genomic Medicine and the use of genome browsers.
UNIT 2:
Principles of Sequencing and First-Generation Sequencing (Sanger sequencing). Overview of Next Generation sequencing (NGS).
Learning objectives: To give the students an in-depth understanding of sequencing and sequencing technologies.
UNIT 3:
The principles of the NGS platforms currently available: Second-Generation sequencing platforms (454, Illumina, Ion Torrent, SOLiD).
Learning objectives: To familiarize the students with the principles of the Next Generation sequencing (NGS) sequencing platforms currently available and used in Genomic Medicine. Examples of uses in Genomic Medicine.
Essay instructions
UNIT 4:
Part 1. The principles of the Next Generation sequencing (NGS) platforms currently available: Third-Generation sequencing platforms (PacBio, Oxford Nanopore (MinION)).
Learning objectives: To familiarize the students with the principles of state of the art sequencing technologies involved in Genomic Medicine. Examples of uses in Genomic Medicine.
Part 2. Essay Instructions (30 minutes).
UNIT 5:
Applications of Precision Medicine:
Part 1. Applications of Precision Medicine in oncology, endocrinology, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases.
Learning objectives: To familiarize the students with examples of current applications of genomic medicine in some of the classical clinical areas.
Part 2. Applications of Precision Medicine in Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) and Rare Diseases.
Learning objectives: To familiarize the students with examples of current applications of genomic medicine. Examples of these two fields where genomic medicine has made a major contribution.
UNIT 6:
Principles of infectious disease diagnosis based on rapid and genomic methods. Advantages of these rapid methods.
Learning objectives: To familiarize the students with the principles of applying genomic methods in the diagnosis of infectious diseases. They will learn about the importance of validated methods in clinical diagnosis.
UNIT 7:
The importance and use of online databases in Precision Medicine. Role of the patients’ participation in many initiatives (example: rare diseases). Confidentiality.
Learning objectives: To familiarize the students with the main public online databases that characterize genes known to be involved in different diseases. The students will also be introduced to basic concepts of confidentiality in the management of clinical data in the databases.
UNIT 8:
Part 1. The future of Precision Medicine. Precision Medicine and Global Health.
Learning objectives: The students will be taught how Precision Medicine is likely to evolve in the coming years, and the importance of Genomic Medicine in Global Health.
Part 2. Students’Presentations.
Learning objective: The students will have the opportunity to make individual oral presentations (approximately 10 minutes each) about a topic of the course in order to assimilate and deepen their learning.
UNIT 9:
Program review and presentation
UNIT 10:
Program deliverable tutoring
For more information, please contact us.
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