Integrated Biomedical Sciences
Inhoud
Integrated Biomedical Sciences ..................................................................................... 1
Week 1 ..................................................................................................................... 2
Lecture Introduction + interdisciplinarity ................................................................. 2
Lecture Core concepts and processes in immunology ............................................ 10
Week 2 ................................................................................................................... 34
Lecture core concepts and processes in neurobiology ........................................... 34
Lecture research techniques in neurobiology ......................................................... 57
Week 3 ................................................................................................................... 69
Lecture core concepts in infectious disease .......................................................... 69
Lecture determining adaptive immune responses .................................................. 85
Week 4 ................................................................................................................... 93
Lecture Research techniques infectious diseases .................................................. 93
Lecture Measles ................................................................................................ 104
Week 5 ................................................................................................................. 117
Lecture outbreak policies and interventions ......................................................... 117
Lecture applied biostatistics I & II ........................................................................ 126
Week 6 ................................................................................................................. 146
Lecture innovation and valorisation in life sciences .............................................. 146
Lecture ethics in (bio)medical research + science communication ........................ 154
Summary biostatistics knowledge clips .................................................................. 164
,Week 1
Lecture Introduction + interdisciplinarity
Take home message of this lecture
o Explore field and become an interdisciplinary expert
o What is interdisciplinary
▪ Interdisciplinary research combines insights from multiple fields to
tackle complex problems that one discipline alone can’t solve. It
encourages innovation, broader perspectives, and solutions that are
more aligned with real-world needs.
o Reductionism
▪ Reductionism breaks complex systems into simpler parts to understand
them. While useful in fields like biology or chemistry, it can miss the
bigger picture — especially in social or ecological contexts.
• E.g. looking at the human body not as a whole, but only seeing the
parts/different systems
o Objectivism / constructivism
▪ Objectivism assumes a single, observable reality that can be measured
and explained through universal laws. Constructivism sees reality as
shaped by human experience, meaning there are multiple truths
depending on context and interpretation.
o (some historical facts)
Integration of different biomedical disciplines
o Interdisciplinarity and biomed
o Different levels:
• Molecule
• Cell
• Tissue
• Organ
• Organism
• Population
• Society
,Learning goals course
o Understand the interdisciplinary nature of biomedical sciences
o To apply interdisciplinary biomedical knowledge to address health issues in
society
Non-biological explanations
o Divine (human sin) → penance persecution (jews)
o Conjunction Jupiter, mars, Saturn → Superstition, precautious
o Bad air (mal-aria), rotting → clearing the air with herbs, quarantine
o Balance of the body → exercise, diets, “cures”
History
Back in time there was someone who knows quite a bit about everything, nowadays you
have many people who know a lot about something. It is now impossible to know a bit
about everything because so much is known nowadays.
17th century scientific revolution
Body is a machine
o Boerhaave (hydraulic system – fluids)
o Harvey (heart is a pump)
Laboratory revolution
Pasteur – pasteurization
Koch – Tuberculosis, cholera and Koch postulates
Kochs postulates
1. The microbe must be found in all cases of the disease.
2. It must be isolated and grown in pure culture.
3. The cultured microbe must cause the disease when introduced into a healthy host.
4. It must be re-isolated from the newly diseased host.
Flemming – Penicillin
The normal vs the pathological
o ‘Orthodox medicine’ (opposed to ‘alternative medicine’)
, o ‘Scientific medicine’ (opposed to ‘clinical’ or ‘traditional medicine’)
o ‘Western medicine’ (opposed to ‘non-Western’ or ‘indigenous medicine’)
The distinction between “normal” and “pathological” often reflects dominant medical
frameworks. Orthodox, scientific and western medicine define health through
standardized, evidence-bases approaches, contrasting with alternative, traditional, or
indigenous systems.
Reductionism
• An ontological claim that a whole organism is ‘nothing more’ than the sum of its
parts
• Epistemological claim that the organism is best explained by reference to its
parts; e.g. explain depression through neurotransmitter level
• A methodological claim that the organism is best investigated by its parts;
studying parts like genes, proteins or cells to understand the whole system
• Complex biological systems can be fully understood by breaking them down
into simpler components
o Evidence based medicine, this relies on measurable, testable data rather than
subjective symptoms or holistic interpretations
Biomedicine increasingly came to signify modern medicine, biomedical paradigm /
biomedicalization
Basic and clinical research are linked: the production of knowledge about therapeutics
always requires a clinical phase
Biomedicine is scientific, evidence-based approaches
Biomedicine as practice
o Diagnosis, etiology, interventions
• Increasingly focused on metrics (cholesterol, genes etc.) rather than
symptoms
o Lab experiment protocols, clinical trials / meta-analysis
• The single most important event in integrating hospitals and patients into the
biomedical enterprise was the development of randomized clinical trial
(RCT)
Inhoud
Integrated Biomedical Sciences ..................................................................................... 1
Week 1 ..................................................................................................................... 2
Lecture Introduction + interdisciplinarity ................................................................. 2
Lecture Core concepts and processes in immunology ............................................ 10
Week 2 ................................................................................................................... 34
Lecture core concepts and processes in neurobiology ........................................... 34
Lecture research techniques in neurobiology ......................................................... 57
Week 3 ................................................................................................................... 69
Lecture core concepts in infectious disease .......................................................... 69
Lecture determining adaptive immune responses .................................................. 85
Week 4 ................................................................................................................... 93
Lecture Research techniques infectious diseases .................................................. 93
Lecture Measles ................................................................................................ 104
Week 5 ................................................................................................................. 117
Lecture outbreak policies and interventions ......................................................... 117
Lecture applied biostatistics I & II ........................................................................ 126
Week 6 ................................................................................................................. 146
Lecture innovation and valorisation in life sciences .............................................. 146
Lecture ethics in (bio)medical research + science communication ........................ 154
Summary biostatistics knowledge clips .................................................................. 164
,Week 1
Lecture Introduction + interdisciplinarity
Take home message of this lecture
o Explore field and become an interdisciplinary expert
o What is interdisciplinary
▪ Interdisciplinary research combines insights from multiple fields to
tackle complex problems that one discipline alone can’t solve. It
encourages innovation, broader perspectives, and solutions that are
more aligned with real-world needs.
o Reductionism
▪ Reductionism breaks complex systems into simpler parts to understand
them. While useful in fields like biology or chemistry, it can miss the
bigger picture — especially in social or ecological contexts.
• E.g. looking at the human body not as a whole, but only seeing the
parts/different systems
o Objectivism / constructivism
▪ Objectivism assumes a single, observable reality that can be measured
and explained through universal laws. Constructivism sees reality as
shaped by human experience, meaning there are multiple truths
depending on context and interpretation.
o (some historical facts)
Integration of different biomedical disciplines
o Interdisciplinarity and biomed
o Different levels:
• Molecule
• Cell
• Tissue
• Organ
• Organism
• Population
• Society
,Learning goals course
o Understand the interdisciplinary nature of biomedical sciences
o To apply interdisciplinary biomedical knowledge to address health issues in
society
Non-biological explanations
o Divine (human sin) → penance persecution (jews)
o Conjunction Jupiter, mars, Saturn → Superstition, precautious
o Bad air (mal-aria), rotting → clearing the air with herbs, quarantine
o Balance of the body → exercise, diets, “cures”
History
Back in time there was someone who knows quite a bit about everything, nowadays you
have many people who know a lot about something. It is now impossible to know a bit
about everything because so much is known nowadays.
17th century scientific revolution
Body is a machine
o Boerhaave (hydraulic system – fluids)
o Harvey (heart is a pump)
Laboratory revolution
Pasteur – pasteurization
Koch – Tuberculosis, cholera and Koch postulates
Kochs postulates
1. The microbe must be found in all cases of the disease.
2. It must be isolated and grown in pure culture.
3. The cultured microbe must cause the disease when introduced into a healthy host.
4. It must be re-isolated from the newly diseased host.
Flemming – Penicillin
The normal vs the pathological
o ‘Orthodox medicine’ (opposed to ‘alternative medicine’)
, o ‘Scientific medicine’ (opposed to ‘clinical’ or ‘traditional medicine’)
o ‘Western medicine’ (opposed to ‘non-Western’ or ‘indigenous medicine’)
The distinction between “normal” and “pathological” often reflects dominant medical
frameworks. Orthodox, scientific and western medicine define health through
standardized, evidence-bases approaches, contrasting with alternative, traditional, or
indigenous systems.
Reductionism
• An ontological claim that a whole organism is ‘nothing more’ than the sum of its
parts
• Epistemological claim that the organism is best explained by reference to its
parts; e.g. explain depression through neurotransmitter level
• A methodological claim that the organism is best investigated by its parts;
studying parts like genes, proteins or cells to understand the whole system
• Complex biological systems can be fully understood by breaking them down
into simpler components
o Evidence based medicine, this relies on measurable, testable data rather than
subjective symptoms or holistic interpretations
Biomedicine increasingly came to signify modern medicine, biomedical paradigm /
biomedicalization
Basic and clinical research are linked: the production of knowledge about therapeutics
always requires a clinical phase
Biomedicine is scientific, evidence-based approaches
Biomedicine as practice
o Diagnosis, etiology, interventions
• Increasingly focused on metrics (cholesterol, genes etc.) rather than
symptoms
o Lab experiment protocols, clinical trials / meta-analysis
• The single most important event in integrating hospitals and patients into the
biomedical enterprise was the development of randomized clinical trial
(RCT)
