1. Bachelor’s degree (180 credits) or equivalent with a major in chemistry, biochemistry, biomedical technology, biomedical methods and technology, biomedical laboratory science, or in other areas of natural, medical, engineering sciences or technology of relevance to the programme with a minimum of 15 credits in chemistry and/or biochemistry.

2. The equivalent of English B, or English 6, in Swedish secondary school.

The course is given in the first semester of the Master’s Program in Biomedical Surface Science. The course is within the main field of the study and a mandatory course in the Master’s Program Biomedical Surface Science.

The aim of the course is for the student to acquire knowledge in cell biology and the membranes in a cell and the integration within biomedical surface science.

The course will provide both theoretical and practical knowledge regarding biological interfaces. The course describes the structure and function of eukaryotic cell membranes such as the cell membrane, nuclear membrane and organelles membranes. The structure and function of the various membranes and other biological interfaces are described and discussed, as well as transport phenomena, receptors in the cell membrane, cell signaling and the formation of micro-domains. Furthermore are the most common signaling pathways, cell adhesion, cell-cell contact, cell junctions and its constituent molecules and the different mechanisms of endocytosis and exocytosis covered.

Different cell biological methods and techniques for studying protein will be presented including methods to isolate protein from the different cellular compartments and the localization and characterization of these.

Upon completion of the course the student should be able to

1. describe the constitution of different membranes of the eukaryotic cell,
2. explain how molecules can be transported across different membranes in the cell and also how micro domains arise in the cell membrane and which functions they have,
3. account for how signals from the environment outside the cell will be transported into the cell and how it influences the intracellular consequences, and
4. apply methods to study cell membrane and membrane fractions of a cell, methods to study interactions between proteins and localization of a protein in a cell.

To achieve the learning outcomes 1-3 lectures, oral group discussions, seminars and journal club are used. Lectures, independent lab work, oral and written reports together with laboratory experiments will be used to stimulate students' active participation and reflection to achieve the learning outcome 4.

The learning outcomes 1-3 are assessed through group discussions and individual written home-exam. Results from the laboratory work along with oral presentations, written reports and a written individual home-exam will constitute the basis for the examination of learning outcome 4. Detailed assessment criteria can be found in the study instructions.

Right to Re-Take
Student who fail the exam are given the opportunity for two re-takes with the same course content and with the same requirements. The student also has the right to take the examination in the same course in the subsequent courses according to the same rule. Examination and re-takes are carried out at the times specified in the schedule.

Cooper GM, Hausman RE, (2013) The Cell: A Molecular Approach, 6th edition. Sunderland: Sinauer Associates, Inc., pp. 745.

Scientific articles will be added.

Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).

If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.

If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.