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Swedish title Samspelet mellan neuroinfektioner och neurodegenerativa sjukdomar
English title The Interplay Between Neuro-Infections and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Course number 5677
Credits 3.0
Responsible KI department Institutionen för neurovetenskap
Specific entry requirements Master's degree in Biomedicine/Biomedical Science/Molecular Medicine
Grading Passed /Not passed
Established by The Committee for Doctoral Education
Established 2023-02-16
Purpose of the course This course has the main general purpose of connecting two topics, or disease types, which are generally known by the scientific community to be completely distant from each other, such as Infections of the Central Nervous System (CNS) and neurodegenerative diseases/dementia. Students with a research project focused on CNS infections, neurodegenerative diseases, or neuroinflammation, are particularly encouraged to apply.
Intended learning outcomes 1. Understanding the common molecular processes of neuronal damage between CNS infections and neurodegenerative diseases.
2. Understanding the common neuroinflammatory events between CNS infections and neurodegenerative diseases.
3. Designing an analysis using national registry databases.
Contents of the course Overview of state-of-the-art knowledge concerning the molecular mechanisms of neuroinflammation and neuronal cell damage in CNS infections and neurodegenerative diseases.
Teaching and learning activities Students should gain knowledge on the common neuroinflammatory processes and molecular mechanisms of neuronal damage that are common between neurodegenerative diseases and CNS infections.

This course is intended to be 90% theoretical with 10% practical part. Experts (KI, non-KI, Swedish and/or international) will be invited, either in person or via Zoom during the course for giving lectures and being moderators/workshop leaders during the course. The theoretical parts will be:
1. Lectures given by experts.
2. Workshops given by experts on the use of national registry database. National Registry Databases are useful tools to assess how many people (in Sweden) with a certain type of neurodegenerative disease have been hospitalized with episodes of brain infections, and vice versa.

The practical part will be for half a day (at the end of the second week):
1. Microscopy analysis of fixed neurons from Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, ALS and brain infection models (fixed human cells, mouse tissue, human brain biopsies). The students can visualize the common features of neuronal damage in neurodegenerative disease and infection pathogenesis.
Compulsory elements Attendance to all the activities of the course, individual assignments and participation to the group assignments are mandatory. Absence from mandatory parts of the course will be compensated by other activities after discussion with the course leaders.
Examination Individual assignments:
1. Quizzes
2. Students will also submit an individual assignment in which the disease of interest in their own PhD (or master) research project will be analyzed in connection to either one type of CNS infection or one type of neurodegenerative disease.
Group assignments:
The assignment for each student group will be to select one type of CNS infection or one type of neurodegenerative disease (among the ones discussed during the lectures) and conceive a hypothetical project plan in which they will have to present: 1) State-of-the-art of common molecular mechanisms of their disease of interest with either one type of CNS infection or one type of neurodegenerative disease, 2) Design a new experimental approach that can be beneficial for both the type of CNS Infection and the type of neurodegenerative Disease that they have chosen.
Literature and other teaching material All teaching material will be included on Canvas:
1. Presentations from the experts.
2. Additional references to deepen knowledge on specific topics (references suggested by the experts giving the lectures).
3. Instructions to navigate into national registry databases, with examples of how to define a specific search.
Canvas as "digital teacher". Canvas will also help the students during the quizzes by:
1. Providing the correct answer to the questions answered wrong.
2. Providing references to find on Canvas the content to study to find the correct answer (but not precisely where to find the answer, it will be “task” of the student to re-study the content to find and understand the correct answer).
Course responsible Federico Iovino
Institutionen för neurovetenskap


federico.iovino@ki.se
Contact person