Cell and molecular biology: experimental systems

Teacher(s)

. SOMEBODY; Collet Jean-François; Decottignies Anabelle; Hachez Charles; Lucas Sophie (coordinator); Pierreux Christophe; Vanhollebeke Benoît;

Language

French
> English-friendly

Main themes

Several experimental models with their own distinct advantages are used in research. This course proposes an overview of the eight experimental models that are most often used in research. The course will provide information about how these model organisms contributed to major discoveries in the past and continue to be important tools in research.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Provide an overview of several experimental models used in fundamental research: bacteria, yeasts, plant, C. elegans worm, D. rerio zebrafish, drosophila, mouse and Xenopus.

Content

List of covered topics:

• Mice as an experimental model (Prof. Sophie Lucas)
• Bacteria, particularly, E. coli (Prof. Jean-François Collet)
• Yeast as an experimental model (Prof. Pierre Morsomme)
• Drosophila as an experimental model (Prof. Cyril Guédan, ULB)
• Plants as an experimental model (Prof. Charles Hachez)
• The C.elegans worm as an experimental model (Prof. Patrick Laurent, ULB)
• 3D cell cultures (Prof. Christophe Pierreux)
• zebrafish as an experimental model (Prof. Benoît Vanhollebeke, ULB)
• Amphibian Xenopus laevis as an experimental model (Prof. Jacob Souopgui, ULB)

By the end of this course, students should have an overview of the various experimental models used in fundamental research in the field of biomedical sciences. This should enable them to understand the different types of experimental models they may be required to use in their research careers.

Teaching methods

The course will be organised into modules of two hours each and will be taught by lecturers specialised in the various experimental models. These lecturers will come from UCLouvain or other Belgian universities. Each lecturer will deliver their course in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, which will be made available on Moodle. Therefore, there will be no syllabus.

Evaluation methods

The written exam will consist of open-ended questions requiring mostly short answers. There will be one question (and sub-questions) per topic (9 topics), with 1/9 of the total marks allocated to each question.
The pass mark is set at 10. Marks that are not integers will be rounded to the nearest integer.

Online resources

- The course slides are available on Moodle
- No syllabus

Faculty or entity

> SBIM