FRM9550 – Photobiology
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
The course aims to give the participants an overview of the interaction of light with living organisms and medical use of light. Light has been used for medical purposes for several thousands of years. However, only for the last 50 years has light had an important role in medicine for use in diagnosis, phototherapy alone or in combination with photosensitizing drugs. In recent years it has also been shown that several medicines are photodegraded by light.
Light has many important biological functions as in photosynthesis and vitamin D synthesis. On the other hand, ultraviolet light (UV) may be harmful, e.g. by inducing DNA damage that may result in sundamaged skin and cancer. A reduced ozon layer in the atmosphere will increase the exposure of most living organisms to UV and thereby increase the cancer incidence and will have a major environmental impact.
Learning outcome
The main goal is to give the students a broad overview of the most important scientific fields of photobiology and photomedicine with a focus on photophysics and photochemistry, penetration of light in tissue, photomedicine including photodynamic therapy, photodiagnosis, UV effects on tissue (DNA damage, photocarcinogenesis, photoimmunology, UV cell signaling and vitamin D synthesis), photosynthesis, environmental photobiology and photosensory biology. The lectures will be devided into a genereal part that needs to be followed by all students and a more in-depth part where the students select 3 out of 9 lecture alternatives. The course will provide a good basis for further studies in photobiology and photomedicine.
Admission to the course
PhD candidates from the University of Oslo should apply for classes and register for examinations by?contacting the Study Administration at the Department of Pharmacy, studieinfo@farmasi.uio.no.
If a course has limited intake capacity, priority will be given to PhD candidates who follow an individual education plan where this particular course is included. Some national researchers’ schools may have specific rules for ranking applicants for courses with limited intake capacity.
PhD candidates who have been admitted to another higher education institution must apply for a position as a visiting student within a given deadline.
Formal prerequisite knowledge
The course is only available to students who have passed the MSc in pharmacy or other natural sciences or medicine.
Teaching
This subject is primarily a self study.
If you choose to sit for the exam in Italy, the lectures are manditory. These will take place in in Brixen/Bressanone, South-Tyrol, Italy at the ESP - Photobiology School, approx one week in late June.
If you choose to sit for the exam i Norway, there are no lectures, only self study.
Candidates who are registered for a PhD programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Oslo or have a status as visiting PhD candidate, and are registered for the course.
Examination
Written exam (2 hours) in English for those attending the lectures/summaries in Italy, or an oral exam at the Department?of Pharmacy, University of Oslo (in Norwegian).
Examination support material
Casio FX-991EX calculators are handed out to all exam candidates at the beginning of the exam.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a pass/fail scale. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
This course offers both postponed and resit of examination. Read more:
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.