Summer School in Systems Biology of Neurodegenerative Disease (BCH8110)
Course coordinators: Dr. Steffany Bennett and Dr. Daniel Figeys
Limited enrollment: your name must appear on the class list to be registered
Dates: June 18 to 28, 2012
Each academic year, our faculty offers a Summer School in Systems Biology organized by the CIHR Training Program in Neurodegenerative Lipidomics and the Ottawa Institute of Systems Biology. The Summer School can be taken for academic credit through the University of Ottawa as BCH8110 Advanced Topics in Systems Biology.
The school offers a unique 11 day intensive training in systems biology with focus on training scientists to overcome some of the challenges facing our understanding and treatment of intractable neurodegenerative disease.
The course consists of:
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formal lectures from invited Canadian and American experts discussing the “omics” of neurodegenerative disease,
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formal lectures from faculty at the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, Carleton University, and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre familiarizing students with recent methodological advances and analytical techniques in proteomics, lipidomics, metabolomics, and genomics as they are applied to neurodegenerative disease,
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“omic” laboratories where students work in pairs to complete a defined project. Trainees will be assigned one of five labs (neurolipidomics, neuroproteomics, neurogenomics, neurosimulation, or neurostructural biology). In each lab, groups of demonstrators led by one professor (Drs Bennett, Baetz, Figeys, Fai, and Couture) will provide one-on-one training with the technologies and softwares required to (a) generate and analyze lipidomic, proteomic, genomic, or structural biology data or (b) visualize, simulate, and represent these large-scale multidimensional datasets for hypothesis generation and testing. At the end of the course, students in the five labs will come together to present their projects as a poster presentation at the 2012 China Canada Symposium/19th Methods in Protein Structure Analysis. Registration fees and costs of poster production for all students are provided thanks to the generous financial support of MITACS.
Participants: The Summer School is open to medical students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, research associates, professors, industrial professionals, and government researchers from the information sciences (e.g., systems engineering, information technology) and the life sciences (e.g., neuroscience, biochemistry, physiology, biology, systems biology) interested in developing their skills in systems biology, information modeling, visualization, and metabolic approaches to studying neurodegenerative disease. Preference will be given to graduate students currently enrolled in a related program of study and fellows currently employed in related fields including neuroscience, systems biology, cell biology, biochemistry, structural biology, behavioural psychology, biostatistics, neurology, nanotechnology, systems engineering, computer science, and information sciences.
Fees: The summer school course can also be taken for official University of Ottawa credit (3) by paying additionally the tuition fees corresponding to your situation (canadian or foreign fees). This can be determined from the webpage http://www.registrar.uottawa.ca/Default.aspx?tabid=3619/ .There is no tuition for academic participants (graduate students, PDFs, professors) not requesting credit. There is a $2000 fee for non-academic participants.
Prerequisites: For students/PDFs in the information sciences: Proof of registration in an accredited degree program or post-doctoral position and proof of 4th year or graduate level courses in digital modeling, 3D imaging, or information modeling, visualization, or simulation (information sciences) will be required to confirm registration. For students in the life/basic sciences: Proof of registration in an accredited degree program or post-doctoral position and proof of 4th year or graduate level courses in life/basic sciences. For non-academic participants: Proof of academic or significant work-experience in digital modeling, 3D imaging, information modeling, visualization, simulation, life sciences, or molecular biology. Registration will be open to highly qualified personnel subject to approval of the course coordinators.
Evaluation: Attendance at all lectures, conference presentations, and presentation of a poster summarizing research performed in the course is mandatory for both auditors and students taking the course for credit (18 h of lectures/ 16 h of laboratory research/ 5 h poster presentations/ 3 days conference presentation). The mark will be based on evaluation of a laboratory project (performed in pairs). The project is presented as a poster presentation by each team on June 28 at the 2012 China Canada Symposium/19th Methods in Protein Structure Analysis. All participants are required to complete the project. These projects will be marked by the school faculty (professors and demonstrators). Those taking the course for credit will also be required to hand in a written report in addition to the poster presentation. The report will be marked by the faculty. All students will receive a letter stating that they satisfactorily participated in the Summer school. Those enrolled for credit will receive their mark from the Office of the Registrar (University of Ottawa) at the end of the university term. Final grade is based on the following:
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Class participation: 10% (any missed class or laboratory will result in the grade of 0 for both components and loss of the confirmatory certificate/letter of participation)
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Laboratory participation: 20% (any missed class or laboratory will result in the grade of 0 for both components) (any missed class or laboratory will result in the grade of 0 for both components and loss of the confirmatory certificate/letter of participation)
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Presentation of Laboratory Project: 35% Due: June 28th 2012
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Written Report: 35% (Each student registered for credit will present and submit an individual report. A single team report will not be accepted. Due: July 12 2012 (emailed to Dr Steffany Bennett by midnight (sbennet@uottawa.ca). Late submissions will receive a 5% deduction per day late).
Funding: In 2012, this course receives funding from the STIHR/CIHR Training Program in Neurodegenerative Lipidomics (TGF-96121) and MITACS. These funds support the travel expenses of the invited speakers, laboratory reagents required for the course, provides financial support for travel and accommodation for students and post-docs registered at Canadian universities attending the Summer School and Outreach Program, and meals associated with course attendance.
