Biological Sciences

Darwin's idea of evolution by means of natural selection has united the biological disciplines in the previous century and is currently recognized as a very fruitful concept for Humanities and Social Sciences as well. This course on evolution offers a synthetic view and understanding of human nature, cooperation, and culture from the perspective of biological evolution. It allows students of different departments to be acquainted with the evolutionary theory and its manifold implications as well as to practice evolutionary thinking. Evolutionary thinking refers to analyzing complex topics from an evolutionary point of view, applying the concept of evolution to understand what has shaped the human being over millions of years into its current appearance, behavior, and cultural expressions. A large part of the course deals with different aspects of cooperation, including altruism and reciprocity, and its biological and social relevance. Through this course, students combine their knowledge from different departments and disciplines, and construct a fresh and interdisciplinary look at broader scientific, social and cultural issues, all aimed to foster an improved understanding of human nature. Although Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection has been recognized as one of the great achievements of human kind and as the most profound shift in conceptual thinking in the last millennium, the evolutionary theory nevertheless is also notoriously controversial. Not only in society (i.e. creationism, intelligent design, and eugenics), but also within the academic world, groups of scientists question the relevance and applicability of evolutionary thinking to human affairs. Attention is also given to the arguments and counterarguments that are often used which still lead to debates.

This class focuses on stem cell biology and stem cell therapy. In the stem cell biology part of the course, the following topics are covered: stem cell and regenerative medicine, adult stem cell, embryonic stem cell, induced pluripotent stem cell, stem cell niche, technique of purification and characterization (FACS). In the stem cell therapy part of the course, the following topics are covered: the basics of stem cell transplantation, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), cancer stem cell and targeted therapy, skin stem cell and their clinical application, stem cell and cardiac repair.

This course offers a comprehensive study of parasites of medical importance with an emphasis on their life cycle, transmission, feeding habits, diagnosis, and treatment. The course is accompanied by hands on lab work studying various parasites and their forms.

This course is an introduction to the Danish natural terrestrial habitats and their preconditions. It provides students with methods for describing groups of organisms (e.g. plants, fungi, beetles) and vegetation structure, deadwood and soil conditions as indicators. Students practice describing and characterizing locations using essential ecological parameters and appropriate groups of organisms.

The course covers cutting-edge theoretical and experimental knowledge of cell biology with special emphasis on cellular structures, organization and function of organelles, physiological properties of cells, signaling pathways, and interactions between cells and their environment. The course thus provides the student with in-depth knowledge on the complexity of cell biology and how defects in cellular processes are associated with pathological conditions.

This course explores some of the biological bases of behavior. It focuses on learning and memory, mainly using spatial and episodic memory as a model system with which to explore issues such as how neurons represent information, and how this representation is modified by experience. Students use multiple levels of description ranging from the genes contained within the neurons, through the proteins they make, the dynamical functions carried out by neurons (e.g. synaptic transmission, modification of connections etc.), the interactions of groups of neurons in circuits to form cognitive representations, and all the way up to the animal's macroscopic behavior and how this interacts with the environment.

The course covers the principles of protein structure, including secondary structure, motifs and domains, and protein folding in vivo. Methods for separation, purification, detection, structural and functional analysis of proteins are considered. The course also covers protein-protein interactions, and the principles of protein engineering and design, as well as the mechanisms of enzyme catalysis and regulation. Students gain experience using fundamental techniques in protein separation and analysis such as SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Further coursework involves the structure and function prediction of an unknown protein sequence using bioinformatics tools.