Medical Virology

Program Description:

This Ph.D. program has been specifically designed for graduates who wish to develop their skills as virologists. The program aims to result in a significant level of theoretical and practical understanding, which will be important for those wishing to follow a career in clinical sciences or academic research and teaching. The current issues and concepts in medical virology will be explored and students will acquire the academic and practical skills necessary to make independent, informed judgments in relation to these issues.

Objectives:

The general goal of the program is to train independent researchers in this discipline. Students must conduct an original research project, learn to present their research findings at scientific conferences and publish them in peer-reviewed journals, be able to develop an original research hypothesis, and explain the methods used to experimentally validate the hypothesis. Students must have the required technical skills for a career as a researcher and must develop excellent critical thinking skills to interpret their results. At the end of the program and their subsequent postdoctoral training, students should be able to compete for research grants in the field of virology.

To improve our understanding of viral strategies and their interactions with host; to provide theoretical knowledge of infectious viral agents, including analyses of emerging infections, through an in depth study of selected viruses.

By the end of this module, students should be able to understand basic viral strategies in context of virus-host interaction, search literature and databases on relevant topics, evaluate experimental design, and critically assess data and findings of current publications on virus research