Assignments (and rubrics) Molecular Neurobiology

During the course students are assessed on different skills and assignments

Practical skills:
Students work together as a labgroup in the lab to perform the experiments in order to answer their research questions. They are assessed on their individual practical skills but also on their teamwork in the lab. See the rubric Practical Skills_Molecular Neurobiology for the complete assessment model.

Academic Attitude:
Students are individually assessed on their Academic Attitude (e.g. Participation, Critical Reflection, Feedback) during the entire course. See the rubric Academic Attitude_Molecular Neurobiology for the complete assessment model.

Short report:
Students will write a short report (scientific article format) in English about their research, together with their lab partner. In this report they discuss the results of their research group and try to answer the research question. The report typically contains an abstract (~250 words), introduction (~500 words), materials and methods (~500 words), results including figures (~1000 words), and discussion (~500 words). References are in Harvard style and are not taken into account for the total word-count, which also holds true for the figure legends. See the rubric Report_Molecular Neurobiology for the complete assessment model.

Exam:
Everything can be tested on the exam. The exam is mainly focused on techniques and corresponding experimental strategies (e.g. explain how you would research the following research question, using technique X). The exam material entails all information treated during this course (lectures, lab meetings, practicals, and assignments). During the exam students can make use of Alberts (The Cell) the information in Labbuddy and ExperD, and their labjournal. The exam is in Dutch. See Practice exam and answering model_Molecular Biology for example questions and an answering model

Presentation:
During the course the students give several presentations in English (Journal Club, Lab meeting, and Final presentation). The presentations are assessed as a whole and as a group. However, a student could receive a different grade than the rest of the group by standing out positively or negatively during the presentations. See the rubric Presentation_Molecular Neurobiology for the complete assessment model.
Journal Club:
During the journal club two papers are discussed, a paper about ALS research and a paper about PD research, by means of a presentation by an ALS-group and a PD-group respectively. Everyone is expected to critically read and analyse both papers. They can make use of PerUsAll to analyse the paper as a group (see PerUsAll link below) Students need to think about whether they agree with the conclusions drawn by the authors, the chosen methods, the analysis of the results, and whether they would do anything differently. The presentation should at least contain; the research question/hypothesis of the paper, the main results (discuss the key figures of the article), the drawn conclusions, and the future research that is suggested. The presentation takes 30 minutes with 10 minutes discussion. The papers can be found under Papers Journal Club Molecular Neurobiology.
Lab meetings:
During the lab meetings the PD- and ALS-groups discuss their results and research strategy. Students present their research question, hypothesis, experimental design, and expectations backed-up by current literature. They also present and evaluate the results of the previous week and discuss their research strategy of the coming week. The other people present during the lab meeting can give feedback on the analyses and research strategy in order to improve the quality of the research. Lab meetings are held in English and take about one hour per group.
Final Presentation:
During the final presentation students present their research of the last weeks and the main conclusions in a scientific presentation. The presentation contains a short introduction of the subject, the experimental strategy and most important materials and methods, results, conclusion and a critical evaluation of the results in light of the current literature. The final presentation is 30 minutes with 10-15 minutes room for discussion.