Basic Cell Biology

*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

Physical mobility

The face-to-face part will take place at  from 30th June to 4th July 2025.

The physical mobility consists in a week of practical lab work in which students carry out a small project. Students will explore relevant technics in the field in an integrative manner, closer to real science than the usual procedural practical teaching. For practical and didactic reasons, the physical mobility will take place from June 30th to July 4th 2025 at Aix-Marseille Université.

Virtual part

The activities and timetable proposed for the training are as follows but may be modified according to the project program and timetable:

Preliminary program 

Week 1

11 February

• Introduction to the topic
• Introduction to Basic Cell Biology

13 February

• Prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cells (Asynchronous practical activities)
• Cytoplasm & Cytosol (Asynchronous practical activities)

Week 2

25 February

• Plasma Membrane
• Extracellular Matrix

27 February

• Membrane & Matrix
• Cytoskeleton 1

Week 3

4 March

• Cytoskeleton 2

6 March

• Mitochondria

Week 4

11 March

• Chloroplasts
• Mitochondria vs chloroplasts

13 March

• Introduction to membranous systems (Asynchronous practical activities & theory)

Week 5

18 March

• Endoplasmic reticulum 1 & 2

20 March

• Endoplasmic reticulum 3 & 4

21 March

• Golgi Apparatus (Asynchronous theory)
• Endocytosis (Asynchronous practical activities)

Week 6

25 March

• Golgi apparatus 
• Endocytosis

27 March

• Membranes & Vesicles Traffic – Integration

28 March

• Interphasic nucleus & chromosomes 1 & 2 (Asynchronous theory and practical activities)

Week 7

1 April

• Cell Cycle phases

3 April

• Mitosis/Meiosis 1 & 2

Week 8

15 April

• Mitosis/Meiosis 3 & 4

17 April 

• Cell cycle signals & control 1
• Aging and cell death 1

Week 9

22 April

• Cell cycle signals & control 2 & 3

24 April

• Aging and cell death 2 & 3

Requirements

This course is open to Bachelor's students at CIVIS member universities with a high interest in Cell Biology.

- Basic Cell Biology is a mandatory topic in first courses in most life-sciences and medicine related degrees. Hence, no previous studies pre-requisites are needed besides being enrolled in the first year on one of such degrees in any of the participant CIVIS partners. The course will be open to any CIVIS student willing to enroll, given an agreement can be achieved with its hosting institution. Nevertheless, for selection purposes, previous demonstrable cell biology knowledge, beyond high school level, will be considered.

- The course will be fully taught in English, hence proficiency in English will be mandatory for students applying for the course.

- Participants should also have a good level of written and spoken English (Β2 level). 

- For team making, selected students will be asked to fill in a learning style and custom-made survey. Answers to both will be used to ensure heterogeneity within the teams and enhance student interaction.

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.

Students from the CIVIS’ strategic partner universities in Africa cannot apply for participation in this course.

Application process

Send your application by filling in the online application form by 31 October 2024.

All applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• CV (Curriculum Vitae)
• Motivation Letter
• Level of English (According to CEFR)
• An interview may be required

Apply now

Assessment

Virtual and physical mobility modules are separated in time and therefore will be assessed independently.

Virtual module. Assessment is intended to be mostly formative, hence it will have a strong continuous component (70%) although it will include a final exam, 30%. Continuous assessment: in every knowledge block several activities will be designed for assessment. They will be in class discussed, marked and personalized feedback will be given. Depending on the feedback, teachers might allow students to re-submit an activity. Final exam: it will be mostly problem based. It will be corrected in class and peer marked. Students will have to mark their peers and provide feedback accordingly. Marking and feedback will be teacher reviewed before handing it to the students. 

Physical mobility module. Assessment will have two parts and, since the module is fully teamwork based, developed and marked in teams. First, through the module they will have to collect their results and prepare a small presentation to discuss them with their peers. Students and teachers will give feedback. Second, in the last day, they will be given a set of results related to the ones they obtained. They will have to interpret them and use them to answer a single scientific question. At the end of the session, answers will be discussed in class and the teachers will give personalized feedback to each team. Presentation/discussion and problem solving will be teacher marked.

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

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