Master courses in Molecular and Cell Biology

The objective of the Master's programme in Molecular and Cellular Biology is to provide students with a very high level of training in molecular and cellular biology in the broadest sense of the term and then to specialise in these fields or in other fields such as biochemistry, developmental biology, genetics, immunology, microbiology, bioinformatics or biophysics.

Master courses in Molecular and Cell Biology

Any postgraduate level - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

Based on a « hands on » approach, the IBPC Course proposes a total immersion of the students in a research laboratory for a period of two weeks. The Course is different from classical practical trainings at the university, as it emphasizes the realization of a « mini research project », in conditions that are representative of how science is conducted in a modern research laboratory. A few oral presentations help the students to grasp the essential theoretical background to tackle the experiment-heavy practical part of the course.


Prerequisites

Research topics of the laboratory include the study of chloroplast and nuclear genetics and genomics, the assembly, functioning and regulation of the photosynthetic apparatus, the circadian clock, as well as evolutionary and environmental questions pertaining to photsynthetic microorganisms.


Contact

Stephan Eberhard (stephan.eberhard@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master courses (M1) taught in English

These courses are accessible to 4th year undergraduate exchange students provided they have the necessary prerequisites.

Semester 1

1st year Master - 1st Semester - English Level: B1 (no test required)


Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of biochemistry, cell biology and genetics.


Contact

Anthi Karaiskou (anthi.karaiskou@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Laure Bidou (laure.bidou@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This course enables the student to understand the fundamental concepts of biostatistics and data analysis, teaches them to do it by themslves and encourages learning.


Prerequisites

Understand basic mathematical operations.


Contact

Nicolas Tchitchek (nicolas.tchitchek@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Semester 2

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This course is a specialization in immunology intended for scientific students and doctors, pharmacists, veterinarians, dentists and engineers with a degree in biological sciences. The objective of this training is to teach the fundamental bases of immunology and to prepare for specializations in immunology or other fields of biology requiring a good knowledge of immunology (microbiology, parasitology, biotechnological therapeutics, blood cell biology, human genetics, biochemistry, oncology, etc.).


Contact

Isabelle Crémer (isabelle.cremer@inserm.fr)

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

Some examples of frequently discussed topics are: replication, response to DNA damage, regulation of transcription, non-coding RNAs, regulation of gene expression, translational and post-translational regulations such as ubiquitination and sumoylation, players in the cell cycle and cell division, oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes, kinesinsins, membrane-free organelles, cellular senescence and, recently, an introduction to post-transcriptional modifications of RNAs (epitranscriptomics).


Prerequisites

Knowledge of molecular biology, biochemistry and signalling.


Contact

Clément Carré (clement.carre@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Gilles Mirambeau (gilles.mirambeau@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The objective of the teaching unit is the presentation of the various epigenetic mechanisms and processes identified to date. The most relevant animal or plant models are studied especially for development analisis.
The objective is, on the one hand, to present to students an overview of the data acquired in this field and, on the other hand, to present to them the emerging areas of research via several conferences given by guest researchers.
Finally, the close intertwining between theoretical and practical sequences throughout the teaching unit allows students to have a good overview of life in a research laboratory.


Prerequisites

Good knowledge of genetic and molecular mechanisms. Basic biological knowledge of some model organisms.


Contact

Severine Planchais (severine.planchais@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Evelyne Teoule (evelyne.teoule@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B1 (no test required)


Brief Description

This course aims to teach fundamental developmental concepts to understand the pathological processes in humans, from birth defects to cancer processes. The most recent genetic and cell biology methods to understand normal and pathological development will be studied. Several animal models will be presented: Drosophila, C. elegans, zebrafish, xenopus, bird and mouse. The use of these models will be illustrated by scientific conferences showing how experimentation on animal models can allow to understand the development of certain human pathologies, and sometimes to propose therapies.


Prerequisites

Knowledge of developmental biology, genetics and cell biology.


Contact

Emmanuèle Mouchel (emmanuele.mouchel@sorbonne-universite.fr)
Clémence Carron (clemence.carron@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The aim of this course is to provide students with a solid conceptual and technical basis for understanding the biology of stem cells and their use in clinical research. It addresses the emergence of pluripotency in the mammalian embryo, the different types of adult stem cells, their potentialities and the mechanisms of their regulation. Clinical and ethical aspects related to the use of stem cells are discussed during a debate in the end of the course.


Contact

Aline Stedman (aline.stedman@sorbonne-universite.fr)

1st year Master - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The wide diversity of organisms presented in this course spans the eukaryotic tree (and even beyond). The evolution of mechanisms, processes, and structures is also covered and the research topics include regeneration and stem cells, life cycle complexity, neurobiology, fertilization and cell-cycle regulation, control of cell shape involving physical cues, and modelling of organism growth. The mission of the different researchers and contributors involved in this course is also to present the various tools for functional approaches that are currently applied to their favorite organisms as well as the latest genomic data.


Contact

Agnès Boutet (agnes.boutet@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd year Master courses (M2) taught in English

Semester 1

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The course's objective is to illustrate the variety and conservation of developmental fundamental mechanisms by studying embryos (or adults) from marine organisms belonging to different phyla: sea urchin (Paracentrotus lividus), ascidian (Ciona intestinalis,Phallusia mammillata) and colonial ascidian (Botryllus schlosseri), sea anemone (Anemonia viridis), jellyfish (Clytia hemisphaerica).    


Prerequisites

  • Basic background in Developmental Biology.
  • Basic background in comparative biology and animal evolution.

Contact

Carine Barreau (carine.barreau@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

Fluorescence microscopy (confocal, multiphoton and full field) associated with fluorescent probes is widely used by scientists for the study of cells. The objective of this course is to provide students with theoretical and practical training on the basic principles of fluorescence optical microscopy and its applications in biological imaging. This training, based on the experience of the teaching team in running summer courses at Cold Spring Harbor, includes a series of lectures on traditional high-resolution imaging methods as well as on the latest super-resolution methods. This theoretical instruction will be complemented by hands-on practice on state-of-the-art imaging equipment provided by microscope manufacturers.


Prerequisites

Knowledge of cellular and molecular biology.

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 12 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This international workshop, entitled « From stem cells to morphogenesis » aims to address the different aspects of embryonic development in relation with stem cells, particularly focusing on the diversity of possible approaches brought by these two research domains. The course duration is 4.5 weeks, with 3 weeks of practical workshop organized by Sorbonne Université, and 10 days of seminars organized by the Institut Curie. 


Prerequisites

Basic background in Developmental Biology


Contact

Clémence Carron (clemence.carron@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

All the theoretical and practical lessons will give the student an integrated vision of the mechanisms controlling protein synthesis and the relationships with the cell cycle in eukaryotes. Practicals will be performed with marine organism experimental models, such as sea urchins.


Contact

Patrick Cormier (patrick.cormier@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This international workshop, entitled « From stem cells to morphogenesis » aims to address the different aspects of embryonic development in relation with stem cells, particularly focusing on the diversity of possible approaches brought by these two  research  domains.    The  seminars  bring  together  the  best  international specialists in the field. The objective is to expose the students to the recent concepts developed in Developmental biology by highlighting their important contribution to the stem cell field and clinical sciences.


Prerequisites

Basic background in Developmental Biology. 


Contact

Clémence Carron (clemence.carron@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This course introduces high-throughput genomic techniques and possible applications in transcriptomics. It focuses on gene expression analysis and covers the most important concepts in bioinformatics and statistics to define differentially expressed genes. 


Prerequisites

Computer knowledge: bases in computer programming, practice of Linux command lines and knowledge of R language.


Contact

Stéphane Le Crom (stephane.le_crom@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The general aim of this course is the biological interpretation of sequence data. How, from a large panel of genetic sequences could we propose a biological history? Several examples in different specis will be developed.


Contact

Sophie Garnier (sophie.garnier@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - Scientific English: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This two-week presents theoretical lectures, research examples and hands-on computer training on concepts and tools used in population genomics and genetic epidemiology.


Contact

Sophie Garnier (sophie.garnier@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The objective of this course is to present examples of the application of systems biology approaches in the fundamental field on the one hand and the medical field on the other. Depending on the courses taken, we will present several examples of the application of integrative approaches and the modelling of complex systems for the understanding of complex cellular phenomena associated with human health, such as carcinogenesis, obesity, acquired immunity and experimental evolution.


Prerequisites

No specific pre-requisites but a good level of general knowledge in molecular and cell biology is required to benefit from the lectures.


Contact

Frederic Devaux (frederic.devaux@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 12 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

Train students as researcher in fundamental or translational immunology and personalized medicine. For this an interdisciplinary theoretical and practical training focused on systems biology approaches applied to Immunology is offered. Students will  gain  theoretical  and  practical  training  in  high‐speed  data  production technologies  (omics),  modeling  (statistical,  mathematical  and  computer) approaches used in systems biology in the field of fundamental and translational immunology.


Prerequisites

In‐depth training in molecular and cellular immunology (equivalent to 12 ECTS in M1).  Theoretical and/or practical knowledge of basic techniques in cellular and molecular  immunology  (acquired  through  theoretical,  practical  or internship teachings).


Contact

Encarnita Mariotti (encarnita.mariotti@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

  • Mastery of flow and mass cytometry technologies 
  • Processing of large-scale cytometric data 
  • Interpretation of large-scale cytometric data 
  • Development, management and presentation of a scientific project

Prerequisites

  • Basic knowledge of immunology and cell biology required 
  • Basic knowledge of cytometry desirable 
  • Basic knowledge of R and/or Python desirable 
  • Know how to organise your work and work in a team

Contact

Nicolas Tchitchek (nicolas.tchitchek@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

  • Acquire knowledge in immunology on the different stages of the establishment and maintenance of the immune response and on the experimental approaches to be implemented to follow these different stages 
  • Understand and compare the principle of different immunomonitoring techniques and technologies commonly used in research and diagnosis.

Prerequisites

  • Extensive knowledge of immunology 
  • Know how to organise your work and work in a team

Contact

Nicolas Tchitchek (nicolas.tchitchek@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

  • Train students in the use of programming software, such as R, for the analysis of complex (-omics) data in immunology 
  • Offer students a workshop on different approaches to analysing these data 
  • Extract key information from a complex data set 
  • Learn to integrate these different approaches in the form of a coherent synthesis answering a given immunological question

Prerequisites

  • Extensive knowledge of immunology 
  • Knowledge of basic cellular and molecular immunology techniques 
  • Basic knowledge of R and/or Python desirable 
  • Know how to organise your work and work in a team

Contact

Nicolas Tchitchek (nicolas.tchitchek@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

Monoclonal antibodies are now an essential tool in research (cell biology, biochemistry, immunology, etc.), in human therapeutics and in diagnosis. The aim of this teaching unit is to present the different methods for producing monoclonal antibodies directed against a particular target, to understand their different mechanisms of action and to discuss the factors that have an impact on their activity, and to gain a better understanding of their many applications and their use in research and human therapeutics.


Prerequisites

Solid training in cell biology, immunology or microbiology (M1)


Contact

Sophie Siberil (sophie.siberil@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This teaching unit offers students of scientific disciplines a broad overview of the vaccine strategies developed today and how they respond to the current challenges of vaccination. This course is organised around lectures by French or international, academic or industrial experts in the field of vaccination, whose expertise will cover the main areas of vaccine development and the main targets (COVID-19, HIV, HCV, tumours, etc.). This course is not intended to provide knowledge of the "classic" vaccines currently used in humans or the associated vaccination schedule.


Prerequisites

  • Students should have a good knowledge of immunology. 
  • Have a thorough knowledge of cell and molecular biology in general. 
  • Ability to manage bibliographic resources, demonstrate an ability to analyse and synthesise scientific articles.

Contact

Bertrand Bellier (bertrand.bellier@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This teaching unit offers students additional training in biotherapies and more specifically in molecular, cellular and gene immunotherapies. This teaching will give a global vision of the new therapeutic strategies developed today within the framework of Immuno-pathologies.


Prerequisites

  • Have a good knowledge of immunology. 
  • Have a thorough knowledge of cell and molecular biology in general. 
  • Know how to manage bibliographic resources, demonstrate an ability to analyse and synthesise scientific articles. 
  • Know how to construct a reasoning and a critical analysis of results.

Contact

Veronique Mateo (veronique.mateo@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 12 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This intensive lecture and practical course is organised as two two-week blocks to be chosen from three teaching units: Proliferation and Cell Death (MU5BM285), Solving a Scientific Puzzle in a Laboratory (MU5BM206) and Regulation of gene expression: translation and cell cycle (MU5BM232) in collaboration with the Science and Engineering and Medicine Faculties of Sorbonne University, the Roscoff Biological Station and the Institute of Physical and Chemical Biology of Paris. It is devoted to the presentation of current concepts and new experimental techniques in the study of cellular functions through various biological models. The aim is to train students in the intellectual approach and modern experimental methods of cell biology.


Prerequisites

Very strong knowledge of biochemistry, cell biology and signalling.


Contact

Joelle Sobczak Thepot (joelle.sobczak_thepot@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

Affiliated to the "Advanced Courses in Cell Biology" course.


Prerequisites

Very strong knowledge of biochemistry, cell biology and signalling.


Contact

Joelle Sobczak Thepot (joelle.sobczak_thepot@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The overall objective of this course is to understand the role of the cytoskeleton in cell migration, both at the molecular and structural level, in reconstituted systems and in the cell and organism.


Prerequisites

A very solid knowledge of cell biology, more specifically in the field of the cytoskeleton.


Contact

Joelle Sobczak Thepot (joelle.sobczak_thepot@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 3 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

The general objective of this course is to present the main themes of Cell Biology based on historical experimental approaches and new technologies used in research laboratories and their applications. The main focus of the course is on the dynamics of membranes and the cell cytoskeleton, both in interphase and in mitosis.


Contact

Joelle Sobczak Thepot (joelle.sobczak_thepot@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 1st Semester - 12 ECTS - English Level: B2 (no test required)


Brief Description

This intensive four-week course of lectures and practical work is organised in collaboration with the Institut Pasteur and the Institut Curie and is devoted to the presentation of current concepts and new experimental techniques in the study of cell functions. The aim is to train students in the intellectual approach and modern experimental methods of cell biology. The teaching is provided by internationally renowned French and foreign researchers.


Prerequisites

Very strong knowledge of cell biology, biochemistry and signalling. Candidates should have a good knowledge of basic laboratory techniques.


Contact

Joelle Sobczak Thepot (joelle.sobczak_thepot@sorbonne-universite.fr)

Semester 2

2nd Year - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

This course explores the versatility of non-genic DNA elements and non-coding RNAs across a spectrum of cellular processes, in humans and model organisms, and their implication in physiology and disease. Internationally recognized experts present their latest findings related to the identification and functional characterization of the noncoding genome and discuss novel concepts in genome regulation and evolution, with a strong emphasis on experimental and computational tools. Thematic sessions include long and small non-coding RNAs, transposable elements, structural DNA repeats and non-coding regulatory elements. This course offers to young students and research fellows the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and discuss their work with an international scientific community in a warm and stimulating environment at the Institut Curie in Paris. Grading is based on four evaluations: Elevator Pitch, Journal Club, poster and overall activity in discussions.


Contact

Marina Pinskaya (marina.pinskaya@sorbonne-universite.fr)

2nd Year - 2nd Semester - 6 ECTS - English Level: B2


Brief Description

The objectives of this course are to provide an overview of epigenetic mechanisms and their links to chromatin. The different functions of the nucleus involving the genome and its organisation will be discussed with emphasis on the technological limitations and new experimental approaches developed. The links between the destruction of nuclear functions and the development of human pathologies will be presented.


Prerequisites

Definition of epigenetics, difference between epigenetics and genetics, concept of epigenome.


Contact

Nathalie Dostatni (nathalie.dostatni@sorbonne-universite.fr)