School of Medicine

Contacts

Programme Manager:
Dr Karen E Lee
Clinical Sciences Building
St James's University Hospital
Email: k.e.lee@leeds.ac.uk

Research Projects 2012-13

Objectives

Students who take Clinical Sciences in the intercalated year form a group in which learning focuses on the application of scientific methods to clinical problems and on understanding the mechanisms of common diseases.

Students develop skills which are of direct relevance to their medical careers: analysing research papers and understanding the mechanisms of diseases

By the end of this programme students should be able to

• understand the evidence-base of clinical research and apply critical analysis to published medical research;
• discuss the pathophysiological bases of selected diseases and describe the consequences of these for the patient;
• undertake a laboratory or clinical experimental project;
• prepare a report of the project in a format suitable for publication in a scientific journal

Admissions

Clinical Sciences (Molecular Medicine) students can intercalate between Years 2 and 3 or Years 3 and 4 or Years 4 and 5 of an MBChB programme. We welcome applications from students currently in Year 2. Applications will be considered from students who have passed all University examinations at the first attempt.

External students should apply to Karen Lee before Friday 4 May 2012 by sending

• a completed University Direct Entry form
• two references
• a transcript of academic grades from their current Medical School
• a statement from the current Medical School giving permission to them to intercalate elsewhere

Leeds students should submit applications to intercalate@leeds.ac.uk before Friday 17 February 2012. If you nominate Clinical Sciences (Molecular Medicine) as your first choice the following are required

• a completed University of Leeds intercalated application form
• a pink project preference form

Structure of the Programme

Students spend about half their time undertaking a research project which is usually laboratory-based but may involve gathering information from patients. The other half of the programme is directed to the study of selected diseases in depth. Each module is assessed differently.

There are no undergraduate science students on the Clinical Sciences (Molecular Medicine) programme. Some of the teaching is shared with medical students studying the other programmes in the Clinical Sciences suite and postgraduate students undertaking the Master of Research in Medicine.

Programme Content (120, level 3 credits)

All students attend the following modules.

Compulsory Modules	Semester	Credits
Research Project	1 & 2	60
Paper Criticism	1 & 2	20
Research Methods for Clinical Sciences	1	10
Gastrointestinal Disease	1	10
Molecular Pharmacology	2	10
Molecular Oncology	2	10

Research Project

Students undertake a research project of six months' duration, which is usually laboratory-based. A wide range of research topics are available including oncology and pathology.

You can self-design a research project. The project must be supervised by a University member of staff based in LIMM.

Before students are allocated to a project, they are encouraged to meet potential supervisors and to discuss the research work. Students who wish to intercalate in Clinical Sciences are invited to express a preference for three projects and allocation to projects takes place with reference to student preference. The programme manager allocates projects to students who have been allocated to Clinical Sciences by the School of Medicine.

Assessment

Modules are assessed by a combination of course work (reports, essays, workbooks and posters) and written examinations.

Student Success

"It was a really brilliant experience in general, it was nice to be taught some select areas of science and medicine in a lot more detail by people who were really passionate about the subject. It was also particularly useful to have the opportunity to get involved in research."

These are the words of Amy Izon who achieved a first class degree in Clinical Sciences in June 2010. Her research focused on the morphometry of the oesophagus. Amy won a bursary from the Association of Clinical Pathologists to help finance her intercalated year, she is currently in Year 4 MBChB.

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