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Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO
CCBIO/Harvard INTPART collaboration

CCBIO907 Cancer-related vascular biology 2020

CCBIO907 is a 6 ECTS course covering topics such as basics of vascular biology, vascular biology related therapeutic approaches, biomarkers in vascular biology – from discovery to clinical application, lymphangiogenesis and vascular biology in non-cancerous diseases. Students attending this course will benefit from the knowledge of researchers who have been in the frontline of vascular biology research for decades, and who are experienced lecturers at Harvard Medical School. This 2020 course will this year be performed through a digital platform, so you can attend even from your home office.

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Vascular biology course by Harvard lecturers at UiB

CCBIO907 was held for the first time fall 2018 / spring 2019 as an innovative collaboration between CCBIO/UiB and the Vascular Biology Program/Harvard Medical School. Read the report of the first CCBIO907 course. The course will now be run again for the benefit of a new batch of students, postdocs and researchers. Although the course is mainly intended for PhD students and Master students, admission is open for others who find this course or single lectures interesting. Teaching language is English. Note that due to the Covid-19 circumstences, the course will be held through a digital platform (probably Zoom), also the group assignments, so you can attend even from the comfort of your own home.

This year, you will get to meet Edward R. Smith, Joyce Bischoff and Hong Cheng in addition to Randy Watnick and Mike Rogers and our local experts Reidunn Edelmann and Oddbjørn Straume.

You will find that what you learn, reaches far beyond the curriculum, and you get the chance of making valuable connections.

Elisabeth Wik and Lars A. Akslen have the academic responsibility, and Heidrun Vethe (heidrun.vethe@uib.no) is coordinator.

When: 21. September - 2. October 2020. Lectures will be afternoon Norwegian time, and morning US east coast time. Group work will also be organized.

Program: See final program here. As there are many lectures relevant for a wider audience, there is also an opportunity to register in a "No ECTS"-link, for those who want to hop in and out of the lectures as they please. See link further below.

Where: digital/online event (Zoom). Logon codes will be sent to the registered participants.

ECTS: This is a 6 ECTS course at the University of Bergen. NOTE: If you need to register ECTS, you need to either be a registered student at the UiB, or register as a guest student. Deadline (extended) for registering as guest student is September 1, 2020.

Students who are already registered at the UiB and need the ECTS, also need to register for this course at StudentWeb. Deadline for this is September 1, 2020.

Registration, 2 links:

With ECTS: For those who attend the complete course, incl. group assignments, and be eligible for the 6 ECTS or a course diploma: Reg. link full course. Also remember to register for this course in StudentWeb, where deadline is September 1.

No ECTS: For those who are only interested in the lectures and want to hop in and out as they please (will not get ECTS or diploma): Reg. link lectures.

Registration will be closed at no notice when maximum is reached. 

You might be interested in reading an earlier news article about the course. 

Cancer related vascular biology

This course provides broad theoretical and practical understanding of basic aspects of vascular biology, cancer-related vascular biology, and other processes and diseases where vascular biology is relevant. The course present knowledge about relationships between vascular biology, cancer progression, and diagnostic and treatment options directed towards the vasculature. Applied methods for studying vascular biology and biomarkers reflecting cancer-related vascular biology are taught. Also, the course aims to stimulate to scientific thinking, critical election and professional discussions. The students are given possibilities to extend discussion with world leading experts in the field of vascular biology.

Each course week is composed of lectures, group discussions with the international faculty, assignments and presentations, as well as time for self-studies. In the weekly assignments, the students present project ideas, ranging from hypothesis to suggestions on experimental design including funding proposals. The course is approved as a PhD course, and with possibility for Master students to earn course credits.

Upon completing this course, the candidate should have the knowledge regarding:

  • Basic vascular biology
  • Principles and challenges related to personalized medicine
  • Cancer-related vascular biology, and how knowledge from this is applied within cancer treatment today
  • Status of frontline research of vascular biology
  • Ways of exploiting knowledge of vascular biology in search for new treatment strategies
  • Cancer-related biomarkers in cancer diagnostics and treatment: Research and clinical practice

And the skills to:

  • Formulate hypotheses to plan and conduct studies on cancer-related vascular biology
  • Consider utility and limitations in use of cancer-related biomarkers
  • Be able to communicate relevant literature and methods concerning cancer-related vascular biology, with critical reflection

The students are also expected to learn to evaluate how knowledge about vascular biology can assist in understanding tumor biological processes and mechanism, and as a guide to improved diagnosis, targeted treatment and follow-up of cancer patients.

The candidates need to participate in 80% of the lectures to pass, prepare for and participate actively in the group assignments, and prepare a presentation together with the group.