EPN-V2

BIOB2200 Medical Microbiology and Immunology Course description

Course name in Norwegian
Medisinsk mikrobiologi og infeksjonsimmunologi
Study programme
Biomedical Laboratory Sciences Programme
Weight
10.0 ECTS
Year of study
2025/2026
Course history

Introduction

No aids are permitted.

Required preliminary courses

Pass/fail.

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student

  • can describe the important properties of some of the most prevalent forms of human pathogenic microorganisms
  • can give examples of how microorganisms can cause disease
  • can describe the main principles of antibiotics’ mechanisms of action
  • can describe some of the resistance mechanisms of bacteria and explain how bacteria can develop resistance to an antibiotic
  • can explain how microorganisms can be determined with the help of microscopy, cultivation, bio-chemical, immunological and gene technology methods and mass spectrometry, and describe the methods’ areas of use, possibilities and limitations
  • can assess the importance that findings of different microorganisms can have in different types of sample material
  • can explain the principles behind different immunological methods for detection of antibodies against microorganisms and describe the methods’ areas of use, possibilities and limitations
  • can explain quality assurance for relevant methods and analyses
  • has knowledge of sample collection and the correct treatment of different types of sample material for microbiological investigations, and how analytical, pre- and postanalytical conditions influence analysis results
  • can explain principles for sterilisation and disinfection
  • is familiar with how social conditions affect the extent of various infectious diseases and the development of resistance at a national and global scale

Skills

The student

  • can detect, isolate and identify important human pathogenic microorganisms and carry out resistance testing on antibiotics, quality assuring methods used and assess sources of error
  • can carry out and quality assure different methods for detecting antibodies in patients in connection with infection or vaccination and assess possible sources of error related to these
  • can perform work in a responsible manner that safeguards infection control
  • can follow procedures for responsible waste management both with regards to the danger of infection and the environment

General competence

The student

  • is familiar with the laws and regulations relating to infection control in society and the health services
  • can reflect on his/her own practice, keeping up with the latest academic research, seeking and receiving supervision
  • can interpret an order containing clinical information and provide the correct test result

Content

The course consists of the following subject areas, specified below as the number of credits:

  • Microbiology, 7 credits
  • Infection immunology, 3 credits

Teaching and learning methods

Oral exam is assessed by one internal and one external examiner.

Course requirements

Stine Harstad

Assessment

Individual practical exam, 3 hours.

Permitted exam materials and equipment

No aids are permitted.

Grading scale

A-F.

Examiners

All answers are assessed by two examiners. An external examiner is used regularly, at a minimum of every third completion of the course. When selecting answers for external evaluation, a minimum of 10 percent of the answers shall be included, with no fewer than 5 answers. The external examiner’s assessment of the selected answers shall benefit all students.

Overlapping courses

7 credits overlap with the course BIO2200 Medical Microbiology and Immunological Diagnostics