Advanced degree:

Biology and Biomedical Applications (cod.5032)

FACOLTÀ DI SCIENZE MATEMATICHE FISICHE e NATURALI

A.Y. 2012/2013

CLASS LM-6: Biology

DEGREE COURSE WITHOUT ADMISSION TEST

5 places available for non UE citizens.

Tuition fees

The annual overall amount is euro 878.50, plus Right to Education regional tax and stamp duty and is divided in two installments:

the 1st INSTALLMENT includes: Right to Education regional tax euro 140.00, stamp duty euro 29.24, tuition fees euro 439.25.
the 2nd INSTALLMENT includes: tuition fees euro 439.25 plus possibile INCREASE depending on the income documentation submitted ON-LINE.
In case the student fails to present the income documentation the maximum INCREASE will be applied (F3).

For the payment and the documentation presentation deadlines, and further tuition fees information: Servizio Contributi e Diritto allo studio

Summary of the tuition fees:

INCOME ISEE RANGES	1st INSTALLMENT	2nd INSTALLMENT	OVERALL
F0: ISEE up to euro 28.000,00 no increase	euro 608.49	euro 439.25	euro 1,047.74
F1: ISEE from euro 28.000,01 to euro 38.000,00 increase euro 206.58	euro 608.49	euro 645.83	euro 1,254.32
F2: ISEE from euro 38.000,01 to euro 75.000,00 increase euro 256.58	euro 608.49	euro 695.83	euro 1,304.32
F3: ISEE above euro 75.000,01 increase euro 356.58	euro 608.49	euro 795.83	euro 1,404.32

NOTICE: Payments exceeding the deadlines will be charged with a late payment penalty of euro 50.00.

YEARS OF STUDY: 2

CREDITS: 120 CFU

Activities grouped by curriculum

(CURRICULUM) CORSO GENERICO

Year of study: 1

APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY (6)
ELEMENTS OF NORMAL HUMAN ANATOMY (6)
ENGLISH LEVEL 2B (QUALIFICATION) (3)
Human Histology and Biology and Clinical Applications of Stem Cells. (9)
NEUROPHYSIOLOGY (6)
SYSTEMS PHYSIOLOGY (9)

Year of study: 2

FINAL EXAM (33)
IMAGING BIOLOGIA E MEDICINA (6)
MICROSCOPY AND MOLECULAR TECHNIQUES (6)
MOLECULAR PATHOLOGY (6)
Pharmacology (6)
PHYSIOPATHOLOGY AND CELLULAR PATHOLOGY (6)
PSYCHOBIOLOGY (6)

Admission requirements

Students who wish to enrol for the Master's Degree course in Biology and Biomedical Applications should have a Degree or another qualification attained abroad and recognized as equivalent in accordance with current legislation. For admittance to the Master's Degree course in Biology and Biomedical Applications, students will have to demonstrate that they possess certain curricular requirements, corresponding to an adequate number of credits in scientific subject sectors that will be defined in the academic regulations for the course.

Final examination, if any

The design and implementation of an original experimental study, under the supervision of one or more course professors. The final examination comprises a period of research in subject areas consistent with the Master’s Degree syllabus, performed at a university laboratory, or an external laboratory run by a public or private-sector organization which has activated a convention with the university. By means of this activity, students learn knowledge regarding experimental methodology, analytical tools, and techniques used for gathering and processing data. This is followed by the compilation of an original degree dissertation. The final examination ends with the discussion of the dissertation. 

Educational and professional goals and course description

The second-cycle degree course in Biology and Biomedical Applications is an expression of the contemporary situation, hallmarked, for the biomedical sector just as in others, by a rapid expansion of knowledge, and by the need to combine areas of expertise from different subjects. This Master’s Degree course provides the cultural and methodological foundation essential for studying molecular and cellular mechanisms, and those at tissue and organism level, underpinning normal and pathological processes. The Degree Course was designed with the objective of training graduates with an advanced, operational education in the area of biomedical sciences, possessing detailed knowledge of the methods, analytical tools and techniques used for gathering and processing data. The Degree Course was planned to provide a complete mastery of the scientific method of enquiry, so that graduates are capable of working with a considerable degree of independence. The academic course structure is hallmarked by a consolidated foundation in physiopathological, microbiological and pharmacological subjects, including elements of hygiene, and data processing using computerized systems and statistical tools. Theoretical lectures are accompanied by intense work on applied aspects. In the second year of the Degree Course, students’ academic commitment is focused on the compilation of the dissertation. In fact, the objective is to give students the chance to acquire, by means of a significant period of experimental work in a laboratory, both the cultural tools and the capability of critical analysis necessary to perform research activities or take up positions involving responsibility for projects and facilities. Lastly, the degree course includes a work experience period at Italian or foreign laboratories belonging to private or public-sector institutions.

Knowledge and understanding

Applications will have learnt advanced cultural skills in the biomedical sector, and will have developed an all-round understanding of biological phenomena at biochemical, cellular, molecular and physiopathological levels. Graduates also learn methodological, technological and instrumental skills important for the health of man and animals, along with a complete mastery of the scientific method of enquiry. The academic methods and techniques used to teach the principal topics in the human physiopathology sector are based on lectures, accompanied by extensive illustrative documentation, laboratory experience, and cycles of seminar activities. The theoretical and practical skills acquired will be assessed by means of written or oral tests for each subject, containing questions designed to evoke the critical reformulation of knowledge.

Applying knowledge and understanding

Graduates in Biology and Biomedical Applications possess theoretical and practical skills that enable them to design, conduct and interpret a biological study in the health sector, individually or in a group, with mature critical detachment. The assessment of skills in applying knowledge attained will be performed by means of the following methods: a) the conduction of laboratory exercises accompanying lecture courses, during which students’ skills in using instrumentation for collecting and analyzing biological data will be assessed; b) the compilation of a paper on the work performed, and c) taking and passing a series of examinations.

Making judgements

The consolidated knowledge acquired during the course cycle, and the mastery of multidisciplinary and complementary approaches for the study of the physiopathology of animal organisms at differing levels of complexity (molecular, cellular, and at tissue and organ level), enable graduates to independently identify the most suitable methods of studying complex biomedical problems from a mechanistic viewpoint. The attainment of the objective stated for this descriptor will be assessed by evaluating personal reports by students, in which they demonstrate their individual capability for critically utilizing the results obtained. Another occasion on which students utilize skills of judgement independently, assessed by professors in terms of the attainment of the objective, comprises the activities linked to the “journal club” and the final examination.

Communication skills

At the end of the course, Master’s Degree graduates in Biology and Biomedical Applications will have acquired communications skills and experience, and they will be able to communicate the logical foundations of their research and the interpretation of their results clearly and consistently; they will also be capable of providing a critical summary of the results obtained by other researchers on subjects linked to the sector of research pertaining to the degree dissertation. Assessment of the degree to which the objective of this descriptor has been obtained will be performed during tests run during the course, during "journal club" activities, by means of examinations, and by the final examination.

Learning skills

The academic framework of the Master’s Degree course includes extensive work on bibliographical documentation, providing additional material for some examinations and for the preparation of the final examination. Utilizing this experience, Master’s Degree Graduates in Biology and Biomedical Applications develop skills of independent learning and a critical approach, qualities that are indispensable after the attainment of the degree, both for their continuous learning and for the selection of the most suitable approaches to be taken to biomedical problems. Assessment of the degree to which the objective of this descriptor has been obtained will be performed during tests run during the course, during "journal club" activities, by means of examinations, and by the final examination.

Career opportunities

- Academic career - Public and private-sector research centres working in the biomedical sector; - Independent professional consultants as defined by the Order of Biologists: laboratory activities and their management in chemical and clinical analytical centres; biological analyses in scientific laboratories in the legal medicine sector; analytical activities in the area of the biological and quality control monitoring of products having an impact on human health (foods, drinking water, pharmaceuticals etc.); - Professional and planning activities in the public administration, in the public health and hygiene sector - Scientific communications in the biomedical sector.