Microbiomes and Health

This course is aimed at teaching students the fundamentals of microbiome function, emphasising the major contributions of the collective of commensal bacteria (the microbiota) to host physiology and health. The course will provide an overview of the main terminology and concepts, will outline how gut microbes break down the food, harvest energy from breakdown products and make nutrients available to host, how microbiota "train" the host immune system from newborn to adult and influence host behaviour via the gut-brain axis. It will explain the basic concepts of (co-)infections, disease complexes and emerging diseases. The course will also describe the microbial origins of antibiotics and outline how microbiota-encoded antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has contributed to the current problems in resistance and global call for a One-Health approach to tackle AMR. Lastly, the course will handle current methodologies to study microbiomes such as, culturing, and AMR diagnostics.

• Make their own ethical considerations on animal model experimentation

• Describe the diverse ways by which microbiota contribute to host metabolism and health

• Explain the main concepts and terminology used to describe microbiome functionality

• Apply and compare laboratory techniques to identify and characterise host-associated microbes and antibiotic resistance (written report and practical skills)

• Examine approaches used to study microbiomes

• Design and defend a solution to current microbiome research challenges by oral presentation targeted at a specific (not necessarily academic) audience

• Teach other students specific concepts of the Microbiome and Health field by creative means (making games, posters, stop motion video's)

• Critically review literature in the field of microbiome and health research

• Written test with open and closed questions (65%) not open book
• Assignment report (20%) Practical report (answers to pre-set questions)
• Assignment oral presentation (15%) Presentation of the group work (mark per group).

ZSS06100 Laboratory Safety CBI10306/CBI10806 (Introduction to) Cell Biology

ZSS06100 Laboratory safety

• A reader covering the background to the lectures and a handbook to the practical will be provided. Lectures, reader and associated materials will be made available in Brightspace.