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Duration
LevelMorphological Techniques (B-KUL-E00D0A)
Cannot be taken as part of an examination contractAims
This course links up with the course 'Cellular Biology II' in the first bachelor Biomedical Sciences, where, very concisely, the different morphological techniques and the required apparatus were discussed. This course aims to provide a more profound knowledge of and insight into the techniques and, especially, the fields of application of the various morphological methods. The theoretical explanations by experts in the field will be alternated with a number of practical sessions in which the students learn to glue and colour paraffine coupes, and, in addition to this, to perform some common immunohistochemical colourings.
Previous knowledge
The students has:
- a thorough knowledge of the elementary concepts of physics, chemistry and cellular biology (level of first bachelor);
- a thorough knowledge of the normal macro- and microscopical structures of the organs (level of first bachelor).
Course material
Articles and literature
Syllabus
Order of Enrolment
Mixed prerequisite:
You may only take this course if you comply with the prerequisites. Prerequisites can be strict or flexible, or can imply simultaneity. A degree level can be also be a prerequisite.
Explanation:
STRICT: You may only take this course if you have passed or applied tolerance for the courses for which this condition is set.
FLEXIBEL: You may only take this course if you have previously taken the courses for which this condition is set.
SIMULTANEOUS: You may only take this course if you also take the courses for which this condition is set (or have taken them previously).
DEGREE: You may only take this course if you have obtained this degree level.
FLEXIBLE(E03C9B) AND FLEXIBLE(E04C4B)
The codes of the course units mentioned above correspond to the following course descriptions:
E03C9B : Human Anatomy and Histology
E04C4B : Cell Biology
Activities
5.0 ects. Morphological Techniques (B-KUL-E00D0a)
Content
A. Tissue and cell preservation for the purpose of morphological research (fixation-methods, freezing techniques, embedding techniques, etc.)
B. Survey of the classical morphological methods, their apparatus, specific tissuepreparations and fields of application within biomedical research.
- light microscopy,
- confocal laser microscopy,
- transmission of electron microscopy.
C. Survey of the most frequent histochemical colouring techniques, including their fields of application.
D. Enzyme-histochemistry (tissuepreparation, technical aspects, fields of application).
E. Immunohistochemistry and immunocytochemistry.
- immunohistochemical techniques (fields of application, backgrounds of the different variants, tissuepreparation, 'antigen-retrieval' methods, monoclonal vs. polyclonal anti-bodies, labelling of anti-bodies, double colouring techniques, false positive/negative results, etc.),
- immunofluorescense techniques, including confocal laser microscopy,
- immuno-electron microscopy,
- tracertechniques, in particular in neuroanatomy.
F. Molecular-biological and -genetical techniques in morphology: their application to tissuecoupes, selected cells and cell groups.
- in-situ hybridisation, FISH,
- microdissection of cells and cell groups for the purpose of molecular-biological research,
- DOP-PCR.
Description of learning activities
Explanations about various morphological techniques from experts in the field; practical exercises in immunohistochemistry; reading assignments (study in depth of a specific problem in a morphological technique).
Course material
The study material consists of prints of recent short survey articles.
