Biological Sciences

This course explores the basic relationships between the diverse forms and functions in plants. Each plant group shares a common basic structural plan but contains many members that deviate from the basic plan in response to selection pressures from the environment. Knowledge of organismal biology is enhanced through selected topics in morpho-anatomical designs and functional adaptions.

This course deals with fundamental as well as applied aspects of insects and focuses on major themes in modern insect biology. Students choose their own trajectory to develop essential knowledge on (1) biological phenomena for which insects are good model systems or on (2) novel methods to apply fundamental knowledge to the management of insects in natural or agricultural environments, temperate zones, or in the tropics. The major aspects covered in this course include chemical and molecular ecology, behavioral and population ecology, functional biodiversity and agroecology, insect reproduction, and pollination ecology along with its application in crop protection, protection of human health, vector control, nature conservation, and insects as food and feed. Two topics are selected for essays written under the supervision of the Laboratory of Entomology.

This hybrid course combines the fields of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Global Public Health to look into infectious diseases that have caused pandemics in the past decades. The topics discussed in Infectious Disease Epidemiology include history, basic epidemiological concepts and terminology, descriptive epidemiology, the epidemiologic triad model, and vaccine efficacy and effectiveness. Global Public Health topics include social and political determinants of health, public health policies, laws and ethics, international cooperation in health emergencies, and also the One Health concept. The hybrid nature of the course is realized through three viruses that have caused major zoonotic/infectious disease outbreaks, which are retroviruses (i.e., HIV/AIDS), influenza viruses (i.e., H5N1, H1N1, H7N9), and coronaviruses (i.e., SARS, MERS, COVID-19). The global impact of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is explored in the third part of the course. Factors affecting antibiotic use, both on macro and micro levels, are discussed and analyzed. The course ends by highlighting the “One Health” concept (i.e., human-animal-environment interfaces) in responding to zoonotic diseases and AMR threats, both now and in the future.