Study plan for the academic year 2022/2023


List of courses / activities for the first year

titolocrediti
Inglese Scientifico 3
Banche dati bibliografiche – cataloghi biblioteche – Open access 1
Sperimentazione Animale 1
Sicurezza in laboratorio 1
Fundamentals of Enzyme Kinetics 1
Basi di immunologia 1
Microscopy Techniques for the Life Sciences 2
Seminari organizzati dal corso di dottorato (marzo-giugno) 2
Seminari organizzati CIVIS Network 2

More information

The training activity is organized into three types: COURSES, SEMINARS and JOURNAL CLUBS.
The courses and seminars are organized directly by the Doctorate in Life Sciences or in collaboration with other Doctorates of the BEMM school to which the Doctorate belongs.
The doctorate also actively participates in the organization by the "B.E.M.M." Doctoral School. which sponsors, among other activities, every year a meeting (organized by final year students) among the students of all related doctorates. Students participate by presenting a poster. Some of them are selected for an oral contribution.
Student participation in these activities is verified by collecting signatures from participants. Doctoral students are also encouraged to participate in national and international conferences and congresses for which expenses are covered.

SEMINARS (the detailed list and how to participate are shown in the dedicated section of the website).
Every year the school invites a number of Italian and foreign researchers to keep on activities and topics related to the interests of the course. These seminars usually take place in the March-June period every Friday at 12.00, online or mixed. Furthermore, thanks to the agreement with Istituto Pasteur Italia, doctoral students are also invited to participate in the Cycle of Seminars organized by Pasteur in Rome.
We point out the important opportunity to follow seminars organized for doctoral students by the CIVIS Network of which Sapienza is a part, which are also recorded and made available to students.
JOURNAL CLUBS (the detailed list and how to participate are shown in the dedicated section of the website).
Every two weeks, students take turns presenting a critical view of a recent scientific article. Every month, with the exception of July and August, 4/5 recently published scientific articles are discussed, organized into topics of general interest and of great impact. Each doctoral student, according to an established calendar, presents an article to all the other participants in the course in the presence of at least 4 teachers. Furthermore, during these presentations, other doctoral students are entrusted with the roles of chair and interlocutors, in order to stimulate the widest participation of doctoral students and prepare them for critical interlocution on scientific topics.
For 2023, the Journal Clubs scheduled are as follows:

1. date: 27 february: The safety and side effects of monoclonal antibody
2. date: 13 march: The potential effects of microplastics on the environment and disease
3. date: 27 march: Epigenetics disease: from mechanism to therapy.
4. date: April 3: RNA Drugs and RNA Targets for Small Molecules: Principles, Progress, and Challenges.
5. date: 17 april: Computational prediction of protein functional sites-applications in biotechnology and biomedicine
6. date: 8 may: Targets and strategies for vaccine development
7. date: 22 may: Prospects and challenges of drug delivery system
8. date: 5 June: The growing role of precision and personalized medicine
9. date: 19 June: Strategies and Challenges in metabolic analysis with focus on metabolomics


COURSES (how to participate are shown in the dedicated section of the website).
The scientific English course is taught by a native speaker teacher.
In the first year, the courses indicated are aimed at basic training and introduction to experimental research work in fields of interest to the Doctorate.


Method of choosing the subject of the thesis

The scientific field of the thesis is chosen by the student following interviews with the members of the teaching staff who illustrate their research activities and describe the training path and the knowledge that they are expected to acquire during the three-year period. The definitive topic of the thesis is definitively chosen during the second year.

Admission to the second year

At the end of each year, each doctoral student must prepare a written report (short abstract in English, following the format indicated in the DOCUMENTS section). Admission to the following year is approved by the teaching staff on the basis of the report and following a public presentation by the student of the state of the project (all the other doctoral students of the course present) of the scientific context in which one places one's thesis project, the aims, the experimental hypotheses, the results obtained during the year and any difficulties encountered along the way.
The teachers of the school, in addition to evaluating the progress of the project, comment on the presentation both in terms of content and form and, together with the doctoral students of the school, offer suggestions to the student. The report of the first year PhD students usually takes place in October.



List of courses / activities for the second year

titolocrediti
Bioinformatics: Theory and Applications from Genomes to Drugs 3
Misconducting Research Integrity 1
Biostatistica 2
Fundamentals of Enzyme Kinetics 1
Drug Discovery & Delivery 2
Single-cell transcriptomics (theory and bioinformatic pipeline) 2
Preparing artwork for scientific papers getting started in scientific illustration 1
Microscopy Techniques for the Life Sciences 2
Seminari organizzati dal corso di dottorato (marzo-giugno) 2
Seminari organizzati da CIVIS Network 2

More information

The training activity is organized into three types: COURSES, SEMINARS and JOURNAL CLUBS.
The courses and seminars are organized directly by the Doctorate in Life Sciences or in collaboration with other Doctorates of the BEMM school to which the Doctorate belongs.
The doctorate also actively participates in the organization by the "B.E.M.M." Doctoral School. which sponsors, among other activities, every year a meeting (organized by final year students) among the students of all related doctorates. Students participate by presenting a poster. Some of them are selected for an oral contribution.
Student participation in these activities is verified by collecting signatures from participants. Doctoral students are also encouraged to participate in national and international conferences and congresses for which expenses are covered.

SEMINARS (the detailed list and how to participate are shown in the dedicated section of the website).
Every year the school invites a number of Italian and foreign researchers to keep on activities and topics related to the interests of the course. These seminars usually take place in the March-June period every Friday at 12.00, online or mixed. Furthermore, thanks to the agreement with Istituto Pasteur Italia, doctoral students are also invited to participate in the Cycle of Seminars organized by Pasteur in Rome.
We point out the important opportunity to follow seminars organized for doctoral students by the CIVIS Network of which Sapienza is a part, which are also recorded and made available to students.
JOURNAL CLUBS (the detailed list and how to participate are shown in the dedicated section of the website).
Every two weeks, students take turns presenting a critical view of a recent scientific article. Every month, with the exception of July and August, 4/5 recently published scientific articles are discussed, organized into topics of general interest and of great impact. Each doctoral student, according to an established calendar, presents an article to all the other participants in the course in the presence of at least 4 teachers. Furthermore, during these presentations, other doctoral students are entrusted with the roles of chair and interlocutors, in order to stimulate the widest participation of doctoral students and prepare them for critical interlocution on scientific topics.
For 2023, the Journal Clubs scheduled are as follows:

1. date: 27 february: The safety and side effects of monoclonal antibody
2. date: 13 march: The potential effects of microplastics on the environment and disease
3. date: 27 march: Epigenetics disease: from mechanism to therapy.
4. date: April 3: RNA Drugs and RNA Targets for Small Molecules: Principles, Progress, and Challenges.
5. date: 17 april: Computational prediction of protein functional sites-applications in biotechnology and biomedicine
6. date: 8 may: Targets and strategies for vaccine development
7. date: 22 may: Prospects and challenges of drug delivery system
8. date: 5 June: The growing role of precision and personalized medicine
9. date: 19 June: Strategies and Challenges in metabolic analysis with focus on metabolomics


COURSES (how to participate are shown in the dedicated section of the website).
In the second year, the courses indicated are aimed at more specialized training in fields of interest to the Doctorate.


Method of preparation of the thesis

The second year of the doctoral course is considered crucial for the preparation of the thesis which is mandatory
experimental. The thesis topic in this year must find a definitive formulation, with the overcoming of any difficulties of
experimental design planning. These aspects are discussed in the presence of all members of the teaching staff e
of the students on several occasions and also on the occasion of the annual presentation, which usually takes place in October.


Admission to the third year

At the end of each year, each PhD student must prepare a written report (short abstract in English - format available in the DOCUMENTS section of the website). Admission year
subsequent is approved by the teaching staff on the basis of the report and following a public presentation by the student
of the student the status of the project (also present all the other doctoral students of the course) of the scientific context in which
place your thesis project, the aims, the experimental hypotheses, the results obtained during the year and any difficulties
encountered along the way. In the second year, particular attention is paid to any critical issues.
The teachers of the school, in addition to evaluating the progress of the project, comment on the presentation both in terms of content and
in the form and, together with the doctoral students of the school, offer suggestions to the student.
Traditionally, the report of second year PhD students takes place in October.



List of courses / activities for the third year

titolocrediti
Biotecnologie e brevetti 1
Scientific writing e Comunicazione Scientifica – 2 moduli 1
BEMM symposium 1
Spin off – Start up 1
Practical approaches of human genomics / metagenomics of human microbiota 1
MSCA Actions 1
Seminari organizzati dal corso di dottorato (marzo-giugno) 2
Seminari organizzati da CIVIS Network 2

More information

The training activity is organized into three types of activity: COURSES, SEMINARS and JOURNAL CLUBS.
The courses and seminars are organized directly by the Doctorate in Life Sciences or in collaboration with other Doctorates of the BEMM school to which the Doctorate belongs.
The doctorate also actively participates in the organization by the "B.E.M.M." Doctoral School. which sponsors, among other activities, every year a meeting (organized by final year students) among the students of all related doctorates. Students participate by presenting a poster. Some of them are selected for an oral contribution.
Student participation in these activities is verified by collecting signatures from participants. Doctoral students are also encouraged to participate in national and international conferences and congresses for which expenses are covered.

SEMINARS (the detailed list and how to participate are shown in the SEMINARS section of the website).
Every year the school invites a number of Italian and foreign researchers to keep on activities and topics related to the interests of the course. These seminars usually take place in the March-June period every Friday at 12.00, online or mixed. Furthermore, thanks to the agreement with Istituto Pasteur Italia, doctoral students are also invited to participate in the Cycle of Seminars organized by Pasteur in Rome.
We point out the important opportunity to follow seminars organized for doctoral students by the CIVIS Network of which Sapienza is a part, which are also recorded and made available to students.

Please also note the JOB PLACEMENT section of the doctoral website where post-doctoral opportunities are displayed for students completing their doctoral course.

In the third year, the courses indicated are aimed at advanced applications of experimental research work in fields of interest to the Doctorate.
In addition, special attention is paid to courses for postdoctoral career advancement, as highlighted below.
The "BEMM Course: Public Speaking and Scientific Communication" is aimed at both writing the thesis and acquiring the skills necessary for a career.
future. The BEMM course on biotechnologies and patents as well as the one on Spin off-startups is aimed at acquiring entrepreneurial skills useful for future career development.


Method of admission to the final examination

Students present a final report on the studies and research carried out during the year.
The thesis is also sent to two external reviewers who fill in an evaluation form which is sent to the Final Evaluation Commission. To be admitted to the final exam, third-year students must present the experimental work of the three years to the Academic Board in the form of a seminar. The Collegio will have to approve the work carried out, having also heard the opinion of the tutor originally appointed by the Collegio.
Admission to the final exam is approved by the teaching staff following the evaluation of the external auditors, the presentation by the student of the project results, the final report and the evaluation of attendance at educational initiatives and seminars proposed by the PhD.


Final examination

The final exam will consist in the public presentation of the results of the doctoral thesis work in front of an external national commission appointed by the Department on the proposal of the Academic Board, according to the established procedures. The commission will have received a copy of the thesis at least one month before the presentation and will ascertain the quality of the work, the relevance of the results and the effectiveness of the presentation.
The national commission will be made up of university professors and national experts in sectors related to the theses presented by the candidates. Should one or more candidates present the required requisites and submit a specific application to the Collegio, a process is envisaged to obtain the Doctor Europaeus mention, which also requires the presence of a qualified member operating in a European Union country.

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