| Module | Description | ECTS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures | The main topics of the lectures are molecular medicine, oncology, cardiovascular research, immunology, neuroscience and imaging technologies. |
4 | ||
| Laboratory courses | These courses comprise both theoretical and practical work and usually last 5 days. Typical examples of basic laboratory courses are Basic Proteomics, Basic Techniques of Molecular and Cell Biology, Pathology and Statistics. More advanced laboratory courses include topics like applied virology, preclinical imaging and experimental cancer therapy. |
8 | ||
| Scientific seminars | Participation in scientific seminars of invited speakers promotes exposure to top-level science and active discussion on relevant research topics. Weekly lab meetings (progress reports or journal clubs) are also recognized as scientific seminars. |
9 | ||
| Keynote lectures | Every semester around 5-10 lectures are announced. Each talk is held by a high-impact scientist and lasts about 1-2 hours. | 1 | ||
| Presentation | The PhD students have the opportunity to present their data during special events organized by the Medical Graduate Center. | 1 | ||
| Transferable skills courses | In addition to their scientific training, students are also encouraged to develop and improve their transferable skills. At least two 2-day courses are required. A few examples of transferable skills seminars offered by TUM Graduate School are “Successfully Master your Doctoral Project”, “Presenting Papers and Posters at International Conferences”, “Career Paths in Academia”. More on transferable skills and optional elements of the program can be found in the respective section. |
3 | ||
| Thesis committee meetings | Every PhD student is supported by a thesis committee. This is a valuable resource for the doctoral students, as the committee does not only provide constructive feedback on their research, but also support them in difficult situations. The thesis committee comprises the direct supervisor of the student and two mentors. At least one of the mentors must be affiliated with a different clinic, department, institute or university than the supervisor. During the first meeting, the structure and the timeline of the project are documented in a Supervision Agreement. Further meetings must take place yearly, in order to monitor the students’ scientific and educational progress. One last meeting takes place after completion of the experimental project. After each meeting, a written progress report is to be issued and signed by the PhD student and the members of the committee. Three thesis committee meetings, for a total of 6 ECTS, are required for the submission of the dissertation. |
6 |
Curriculum
Every semester several lectures, seminars and courses are offered within each of the modules described below. In order to achieve a total of 32 ECTS points, students must successfully complete one or more activities for each module, over a period of six semesters.