BMS Life science Talent program

Along with American pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Faculty of Health and Medicinal sciences, UCPH and Fonden for Fonden for Entreprenørskab, BRIC has launched a special life science talent program at two Danish High Schools in Nærum and Herlufsholm.

The aim of the talent program is to foster the Danish life science entrepreneurs of tomorrow, by providing education at an elite level within the areas of life science and natural science. The program is organized in two tailored lines of education, and the enrolled students will receive education from the University of Copenhagen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Fonden for Entreprenørskab and leading bioentrepreneurs. Furthermore, they will have the chance to on international study tours and to win a Life Science Award of DKK 25.000.  The program at both schools lasts three years – from first to senior year and runs during the academic years of 2018/2019, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

As project partner BRIC will support the teachers from the two schools in developing teaching material, supply data and case material that can support and strengthen the teaching, and contribute to the annual “life science event day”.
All teaching materials are to be published and become available to other Danish High Schools. 

Data analysis as the basis for cancer research and the development of precision medicine – an interdisciplinary teaching material for Biotechnology and Mathematics

From 2019, BRIC is leading a large outreach project with the aim of developing a set of teaching materials for an interdisciplinary course concerning data analysis as the basis for cancer research and the development of precision medicine for the subjects of Biotechnology A and Mathematics A at upper-secondary schools (STX & HTX), and to offer biotechnology and mathematics teachers practical training in the use of the materials.

The project combines the expertise of two university research units, the hospital world, upper secondary schools and research dissemination, and thus represents both the latest knowledge and its application in the research and treatment area.

The teaching materials will be based on the open-source database cBioPortal (http://www.cbioportal.org/) with genomic data, and the aim is to enable teachers and students to use data as an approach to working with cancer biology, bioinformatics and precision medicine. Since the materials require the use of statistical methods, the material will be developed as an integrated teaching course for Biotechnology and Mathematics.

The aim of the project is to give students insights into how genomic data is analysed and used in conjunction with cancer research and the development of precision treatment from basic research to the clinic. By giving students the opportunity to work with authentic patient data, we will make the teaching of cancer biology, bioinformatics and statistics more relevant and interesting. By stimulating the students’ interest in these topics, we hope to contribute to the future generation of talented and ambitious molecular biologists, bioinformaticians, statisticians and clinicians.

The teaching materials will consist of background articles, course plans, exercises, teacher guides and video tutorials, as well as a proposal for perspectives and student production. There will also be practical workshops in Eastern and Western Denmark, where teachers will be trained in using the teaching materials.

The teaching material will be published in January 2020 and the first teacher workshops will be held in the spring 2020.

 The project is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.

Project partners: BRIC (project leader), Department of public health, section of biostatistics, Roskilde University, Herlev Hospital, department of pathology

Project period: 2019-2022