COIL: Omics in Oncology and Personalized Medicine
Overview
| Funding line | global_innovation |
|---|---|
| Year | 2023 |
| Faculty/Chair | Functional Genomics Center Zurich |
| Project leaders | Jonas Grossmann, Serena Di Palma, Bernd Roschitzki |
Project Description
Innovative project idea
This COIL course embodies several innovative principles in higher education. It aspires to create an ideal learning environment where students from diverse universities, different bachelor (and master) programs, diverse but complementary backgrounds, engage in a unique and dynamic educational experience. This innovative course aims to cultivate a deeper understanding of the impact of biotechnologies in personalized patient treatments, enabling students to explore international issues and challenges, thereby nurturing a global perspective essential in our multicultural society.
Moreover, a COIL course is inherently inclusive, as it offers an opportunity for students from various backgrounds and settings to participate, with low individual financial barriers. Consequently, we view such a COIL course as a potent asset within our curriculum. It transcends geographical and cultural boundaries, providing students with a distinctive and, hopefully, lifelong educational journey. This innovative approach to education not only enriches the learning experience but also equips students with invaluable skills and insights for their future endeavors in an increasingly interconnected world.
Added value for students and teaching
We think, that such a COIL course is currently unique to the curriculum of Bachelor or Master of Biology at the UZH. Although there is some flexibility required from participants (due to the fact that the lectures have to be synchronized between two universities and the academic years do not fully overlap), we think the added value of such an experience will be memorized by the participants for the rest of their life and potentially some long-term friendships/partnerships will be established that will be beneficial in the future among the students but also among the teaching staff. Moreover, our COIL course might be inspiring to people that think about doing a part of their studies abroad. The gathered experiences in such a course can be the trigger to join an exchange program abroad at another university. For the time being (because of the planned intensive supervision) the plan is to enroll up to 12 students for the course (6 students from each university) in the very first instance and then eventually extend it for the next years. The course will be held once per year.