Program goals

The Graduate Program “The Molecular Basis of Human Diseases” started its operation in the Faculty of Medicine in 2014 and it has evolved from restructuring the Graduate Program “Cellular and Genetic Etiology, Diagnosis and Therapy of Human Diseases”. It is currently in its 14th year of operation and provides training opportunities to graduates of Departments of Health and Biological Sciences.

The objective of the Program is to promote the translational research by bridging the gap between basic scientists and clinical doctors. The emphasis of the curriculum is on the molecular basis of human diseases, the diagnostics and therapies.

The program has been organized in accordance with international standards for graduate education and capitalizes on the knowledge that has been acquired from the human sequencing project and on the progress that has been made in biomedical sciences both at the basic and the clinical level.

The major strength of the Program is its human potential (medical students and faculty of the University of Crete Medical School and collaborating institutions).

 

Program degree

The program awards Master’s degree in “The Molecular Basis of Human Disease”

 

Skills

The graduate students of the program are expected to acquire the following skills:

- skills in understanding the basic concepts of molecular medicine

-skills in understanding the basic principles of basic and clinical research methodologies and of biostatistics

- skills in using biomedical data bases

- skills in reviewing the literature and writing review articles on specific subjects

- skill in lab safety and good laboratory practice

- skills in presenting original and review articles to an audience

- skills in following lectures and taking exams in the English language

- skills in writing a research proposal

- skills in conducting original research

 

Infrastructure

The infrastructure that will be used by the program is the following:

- the auditoriums, the conferences rooms and the laboratories of the faculty of Medicine of the University of Crete

- the laboratories of collaborating investigators

- the facilities of the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of Crete

- the facilities and the clinics of the University Hospital of Heraklion (total capacity: 700 beds)

 

Duration of studies

The students are expected to complete all the requirements for the Master’s degree within a period of 4 semesters (24 months). An extension of a maximum of two additional semesters can be granted based on a justified request by the student and the approval of the Management Committee of the program

All students that will be selected for the program are anticipated to study on a full time basis.