Master courses | Year 1
Genetics in Neuroscience
Master Program: Neurosciences, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 2
Course coordinator: Prof. Dr. D. Posthuma
Brief description: The course is offered to students in the Master of Neurosciences. The main goal is to teach how genetic discovery studies are conducted, how results of such studies should be interpreted and how they can be used to conduct neurobiological studies. The lectures will provide a comprehensive overview of the current revolution in the field of human genetics, and will also lay-out the theoretical foundations of this field. In addition, the lectures aim to provide starting points for bridging human genetics and neurobiology. Lectures will include examples of how to apply statistical and bioinformatic tools to gain insight into the genetics of brain-related traits. Practical sessions are aimed at providing hands-on experience with current analytical tools and fostering a critical opinion on published studies in this field.
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/nl/Master/2022-2023/neurosciences-research/AM_1214
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Neurogenomics
Master Program: Neurosciences, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 3
Course coordinator: B.M.W. Borgman
Brief description: The course will address the various aspects of functional analysis of the genome, by addressing the following topics:
- The search for genes and gene variants which are underlying neuronal physiology and pathology, including forward genetics and gene-hunting strategies
- Functional analysis of genes through reverse genetics
- Gene expression analysis of neuronal cells and brain areas (gene expression profiling)
- The analysis of proteins (proteomics) and complexes thereof.
- Simulation of genetic and protein networks
- The introduction of various model organisms relevant for neurogenomics research, such as, man, mouse, Drosophilla, C. elegans, and zebrafish.
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/neurosciences-research/AM_1007#/
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Introduction to omics
Master Program: Genes in Behaviour and Health, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 1
Course coordinator: Dr. R. Pool
Brief description: The master course introduction to omics is designed to give students insights into the molecular aspects of human genetics. The omics technologies adopt a holistic view of the molecules that make up a cell, tissue or organism. They are aimed primarily at the universal detection of genes (genomics), gene expression (transcriptomics), proteins (proteomics) and metabolites (metabolomics) in a specific biological sample in a non-targeted and non-biased manner.
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/genes-in-behaviour-and-health/P_MINOMICS
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Statistical programming in R and Python
Master Program: Genes in Behaviour and Health, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 1
Course coordinator: Prof. Dr. C.V. Dolan
Brief description: The aim of the present course is to teach to practical R skills, within the context of common statistical analyses and genetics. While the emphasis is on using R, the context is useful because it will refresh your statistical knowledge, and introduce you to some genetic concepts. Following this course, you will be able to conduct data management and data analyses in R. During the last two weeks of the course we will focus on translating what you have learned in R to Python, running very similar scripts in a different language and explaining the basic concepts, its usage, advantages and disadvantages of the Python language
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/genes-in-behaviour-and-health/P_MSTPRR
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Behavioural genetics
Master Program: Genes in Behaviour and Health, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 2
Course coordinator: Prof. Dr. Conor Dolan
Brief description:
The MA course Behaviour Genetics provides an introduction to (human) behavioural genetic research methods based on family and twin designs. These designs allow us to infer the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to phenotypic variance, based on the resemblance of family members. The course comprises the following
1) Basic population genetic concepts and statistical concepts
2) The biometrical / statistical model relating genotype to phenotype, and its role in genetic association studies.
3) Application of the model in family and twin designs to infer the
contributions of unmeasured genotypic differences and environmental factors to phenotypic variance
4) Introduction to genetic covariance structure modelling in twin and family designs
5) Using OpenMx (R library) to analyse continuous and ordinal univariate and continuous multivariate twin data
6). Extensions of the twin design: modelling of moderation (GxE interaction) in the twin design and the discordant twin design
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/genes-in-behaviour-and-health/P_MBEHGEN
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Gene Finding: Genome-Wide Association Studies and beyond
Master Program: Genes in Behaviour and Health, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 2
Course coordinator: Dr. J.J. Hottenga
Brief description: The Genome-Wide Association Study (GWAS) design is the most successful study design to date with respect to identifying genetic variants that influence heritable and complex human traits. Students will learn the theoretical background, statistical methods, and the basic computational skills needed to conduct such gene-finding studies using the latest techniques on directly measured and imputed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data. They will gain hands-on experience cleaning and analyzing genetic data in order to find causal genes for complex traits related to cognition (e.g., intelligence), personality (e.g., neuroticism), behaviour (e.g., smoking, sport participation) and health (e.g., depression, diabetes). Also they will learn how to evaluate the importance of their genetic findings in post-analyses which include meta-analysis, gene annotation, gene – and gene network based statistics, SNP heritability and genetic overlap between traits.
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/neurosciences-research/P_MGENFIND
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Epigenomics and Sequencing in Behaviour and Health
Master Program: Genes in Behaviour and Health, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 3
Course coordinator: Dr. J. van Dongen
Brief description: Though our genetic material (DNA sequence) may be relatively fixed, the epigenetic mechanisms that regulate the expression of our genes vary across cell types and are subject to changes during development and in response to external influences. Epigenomics is concerned with the study of epigenetic mechanisms on a genome-wide scale. Sequencing is a technique that is applied for typing DNA, RNA, or DNA methylation on a genome-wide scale at the maximum resolution. This course aims to provide students with the theoretical background and with the analytical skills required to analyse and interpret genome-wide epigenomic data in the context of human epigenetic epidemiology research. Students will understand how life circumstances may alter gene expression and lead to individual differences in behaviour and health.
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/genes-in-behaviour-and-health/P_MEPISEQ
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Imaging and Cardiovascular Genetics
Master Program: Genes in Behaviour and Health, Year 1
Credits: 6
Period: 4
Course coordinator: Dr. D. van ‘t Ent
Brief description: In this course we will focus on biomarkers from the central nervous system (brain), obtained by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and biomarkers from the autonomic nervous system, obtained by the electrocardiogram (ECG) and the impedance cardiogram (ICG). Students are introduced to the basic methodology required to obtain the raw data for both modalities, as well as the subsequent analysis steps needed to arrive at final quantitative measures. For MRI this includes learning how to obtain measures of global and local brain structure from T1 weighted images, and parameters indicating brain connectivity from Diffusion Tensor Images (DTI), and measures of brain function and indicators of functional networks from Echo Planar Images (EPI). For ECG, students will learn the practical skills to record psychophysiological signals and analyzing and scoring these signals to obtain measures of heart rate variability and cardiac impedance parameters such as the preejection period (PEP) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) related to cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic drive, respectively. Based on published work from the scientific literature it will then be demonstrated how this brain and cardiovascular imaging information can be combined with basic molecular information on the individual’s genomes in the context of Genome Wide Association or candidate gene designs, to pinpoint relevant genetic variation and understand the functional consequences of specific genes on brain and cardiac system level. Important findings and their implications in the field of brain imaging and cardiovascular genetics will be highlighted and discussed.
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/genes-in-behaviour-and-health/P_MIMCVG
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Internship I, Research Master Genes in Behaviour and Health
Master Program: Genes in Behaviour and Health, Year 1
Credits: 24
Period: Ac. Year (febr)
Course coordinator: Dr. E. van Bergen
Brief description: The first internship involves all aspects of research, including the theoretical preparation and literature survey, data collection and/or data preparation (including ethical considerations), data analyses, a report in the form of a scientific paper, and a (poster) presentation. The internship should be related to genes, behaviour and health. Internship I normally takes place at the department of Biological Psychology (BioPsy). The internship has to be of sufficient academic quality with adequate on-site supervision guaranteed.
More information: https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/Master/2022-2023/genes-in-behaviour-and-health/P_MINTERN_1
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