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Continuing Professional Development - MSc Programme Modules (London-based)

GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY (2448)

ORGANISER:  Dr Frank Dudbridge

DATES: 22 February 2012 to 23 March 2012 (2.00pm Wednesday to 5pm Friday)


AIM
To introduce the ways in which genetic analysis may be used with epidemiological studies to provide a powerful means of exploring the aetiology of disease.


OBJECTIVES
By the end of this module students should be able to:

  1. demonstrate understanding of fundamental concepts of genetics;
  2. apply basic epidemiological and statistical principles to the critical interpretation of genetic epidemiological studies;
  3. understand papers which describe genetic epidemiological findings; and
  4. compare and contrast different study designs and methods of statistical analysis to evaluate the role of genetic inheritance in the occurrence of human disease and/or determine the location of the gene(s) responsible and/or the allele responsible for a disease.


CONSTITUENCY
This module is open to all MSc students.  Students should be comfortable with statistical analyses up to SME level. Background reading will be provided where necessary on the essentials of molecular biology (for epidemiologists) and on epidemiology and statistics (for laboratory scientists).


CONCEPTUAL OUTLINE

  1. Introduction to Genetics: genes and chromosomes, alleles and polymorphisms, Mendelian Inheritance, linkage, penetrance, quantitative genetics, computational analysis.
  2. Studies to determine the extent of genetic contribution to the aetiology of a disease, and its mode of transmission: family studies, twin studies, segregation analysis.
  3. Studies to determine the location of the gene, and the allele responsible for a disease: linkage studies, affected sib studies, association studies, family-based association studies, genome-wide association studies.
  4. Future research and current developments in genetics.


TEACHING STRATEGY
Teaching will be a mixture of lectures, practicals and group discussion of published papers.  There will also be seminars on current research.


LEARNING TIME
The module is made up of 150 Notional Learning Hours – 51 hours contact time, 10 hours directed self-study, 40 hours self-directed learning, and 49 hours assessment, review and revision.


ASSESSMENT
Paper critique.

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