This program may be of interest to any student who is majoring in health sciences, medicine, biology, veterinary science, nursing, or any other health-related field and/or who is planning to apply to medical school after graduation. In today's globalized world, more and more students seek to include international experience in their studies. This can be achieved by working alongside faculty and students from UPF's prestigious Health and Life Sciences School.

 

Key Areas

  • Anatomy and Embryology
  • Biochemistry
  • Cellular Biology
  • Comparative Healthcare Systems
  • Nutrition and Food SciencePhysiology
  • Pathology
  • Psychology
  • Public Health

 

(!) All the Health-related direct enrollment courses will take place at Ciutadella Campus Mar which is about a ten-minute walk from the Ciutadella Campus (where HESP and Spanish language courses take place). Please, be aware of this when configurating your class schedules.

 

 

Program Requirements

  • Applicants should have a minimum GPA of 3.0 at their school of origin.
  • The program is suitable for both students with a strong command of Spanish and intermediate speakers.
    • Students with a strong command of Spanish may participate in observation activities, as long as their language and other skills enable efficient communication with others in the experiential-learning setting.
    • Students with any level of Spanish may participate in the experiential-learning activities in laboratories.
  • Applicants should come from a university or study-abroad provider with a study-abroad agreement with UPF.

 

Academic Structure

The progam requires a full semester course load (normally 4-5 courses, equivalent to 24-30 ECTS credits). The course load is built from the following components:

1. A minimum of 2-3 courses from a selection of regular courses at the UPF School of Health and Life Sciences. The selected courses belong to various degree programs offered at UPF in the fields of biology, biotechnology, bioinformatics, health, and medical science. These are direct enrollment courses taught in English or Spanish and the list of selected elective courses can be found below. 

2. An optional undergraduate research abroad project directed by UPF Faculty (6 ECTS).

3. Spanish Language courses.

 

Deadline for applications

Fall: May 30 | Winter and Spring: October 30

 

Academic offerings

 

1) Elective courses

We are currently updating the course offering. The course list below is provisional.

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Fall 2022 (September to December)

UPF regular courses (all terms)
Course offering: bear in mind that some courses are taught both in Spanish and Catalan.

Biochemistry

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course covers fundamental concepts and subjects in biochemistry, from the basic molecules of life to molecular cell biology and genetics. The course covers the structure and function of DNA, RNA, proteins and cellular components, metabolism and its regulations, and on chemical reactions in the cell. 

 

Algebra 

 

Schedules Fall 2022

Study of vector spaces and linear maps (systems of linear equations, rank and determinant of matrices, eigenvalues and eigenvectors) and other fields related to bioinformatics: numerical linear algebra, matrix decompositions, Markov matrices and systems of differential equations. 

 

Programming and Algorithms I

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course covers the basics of algorithms and data structures, with emphasis on fundamental algorithms and basic control structures and applications. 

 

Biophysics

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course introduces students to the basic concepts of biophysics. Subjects include applied methodologies in this field and the structure and energetics of protein and nucleic acids, biomembranes, protein folding, molecular interactions and biological networks. The course also covers details of the biological energy repositories.

 

Programming and Algorithms II

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course covers the basics of algorithms and data structures, with emphasis on fundamental algorithms and basic control structures and applications. We will focus mainly on the imperative paradigm and introduce object-oriented design. The main programming language will be Python, although we will also use C++ to discuss implementation aspects and efficiency.

 

Public Databases in Health and Life Sciences

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This subject will introduce the different types of data available in the area of the health and life sciences, highlighting their specific characteristics, their heterogeneity and integration needs in order to solve scientific and clinical questions in the field. The main knowledge portals and databases to access and exploit this kind of data will be presented in hands-on sessions to provide students with the expertise to use these resources.

 

Discrete Mathematics and Optimisation

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course looks at the main optimization tools used in numerical mathematics, from the point of view of both continuous and discrete problems. This calls for a deep understanding of graphs and combinatorial problems.

 

 Statistical Models and Stochastic Processes

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course equips students with the concepts required to understand key bioinformatics methods such as the Hidden Markov Model (HMM) and the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) used in NGS data analysis. Previously introduced probability and statistical concepts are developed and extended. Main subjects include: probability distributions, convergence concepts and large sample results; stochastic processes, probability transition matrix and Markov chains; maximum likelihood and Bayesian estimation; hypothesis tests, likelihood ratio tests and multiple testing issues.

Computational Genomics

 

Schedules Fall 2022

In computational genomics, computational analysis is used to understand the biology of the genome sequences under study (DNA, RNA, microarray data, etc.). With an eminently genomic focus, the idea is to apply computational methods to understand the structure and function of sequences, with particular emphasis of the process of annotating functional elements at genomic level.

Data visualisation 

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course introduces concepts of visual design and data metaphors of essential data for the design and use of specific interactive bioinformatics software including: Colour spaces. Bit maps and vector graphs (PostScript, SVG). 2D & 3D rendering. Processing programming language. Graph grammar (R, ggplot). Visualising data in bioinformatics: annotation of genomes and browsers; structure of visualisers; tools for manipulating networks. Hive plots. Graphics libraries.

Distributed systems and web technologies 

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course covers the methodologies for software development. Needs and restrictions on design, software implementation and validation. Focus on object-oriented design. Applications and good practice in the field. 

Statistical learning 

 

Schedules Fall 2022

This course introduces techniques to model and analyse complex data, including big data sets, and stresses their application to the analysis of omics data. It comprises three major areas: i) statistical modelling, including linear models and generalised linear models widely used for selecting genes in transcriptomics; ii) supervised learning covering a wide range of techniques for classification and prediction; iii) unsupervised learning regarding techniques for data visualisation in reduced dimension (e.g. PCA) or clustering for finding patterns in data

Systems and network biology

 

Schedules Fall 2022

An introduction to network analysis and statistical methods used in contemporary systems biology, bioinformatics and systems pharmacology research.

Winter 2023(January to March)

51755-Biostatistics and data analysis

Schedule

 

 

Preliminaries on probability and biostatistics using real bioinformatics data. Starting from a bioinformatics research question, the course explores how to design a scientific study and how to get meaningful data. Basic probability concepts, and first principles on estimation and hypothesis testing are covered. R programming language is introduced to explore and visualize data and do basic statistical analysis.

51845-Algorithms for sequence analysis in Bioinformatics
Schedule

 

This course presents the main methods for sequence analysis in bioinformatics, including Viterbi, Baum–Welch, posterior decoding, SCFG applied to RNA folding, gene prediction algorithms, Infernal (Inference of RNA Alignment software), secondary structure prediction algorithms in proteins and algorithms, domain profiles and HMM algorithms and methods for gene prediction, among others.
Aspects of Physical and Organic Chemistry
Schedule
 
This course covers fundamental concepts in physics and organic chemistry, including chemical thermodynamics, acid-base chemistry and cheminformatics. Subjects include molecular structure and stereochemistry, reaction mechanisms and chemical equilibrium, as well as basic organic compounds.
Molecular Biology
Schedule
This course covers the main aspects of cell structure and function in eukaryotes and prokaryotes cells. The course also explores the molecular mechanisms of replications, transcription and translation, and its regulation and control.
51846-Clustering Methods and Algorithms in Genomics and Evolution
Schedule
This course covers dynamic programming, database search (Blast), compression-based string matching (DNA aligners), assembling algorithms, multiple-sequence alignments, RNA folding algorithms (Zuker, Nussinov), structural superposition algorithms. Assembly algorithms, De Bruijn graphs. Usearch, UPGMA, NJ, ML and parsimony trees, Bayesian tree reconstruction.

Principles of Bioinformatics
Schedule

The subject covers the current state of the art in areas of knowledge and challenges in the professional and productive field of bioinformatics. The
subject goes through basic and applied fields of research relevant to the context of bioinformatics and biomedicine.

Introduction to Python programming through bioinformatics examples 

Schedule

The course is an introduction to programming in the Python language through simple biological problems related to sequences and manipulation of biological data in general. It is a practical course: in each session new programming concepts will be briefly introduced and then applied to biological problems. 

Introduction to R programming through bioinformatics examples 

Schedule

The course is an introduction to programming in the R language through simple biological problems related to sequences and manipulation of biological data in general. It is a practical course: in each session new programming concepts will be briefly introduced and then applied to biological problems. 

UPF regular courses (all terms)

Course offering: bear in mind that some courses are taught both in Spanish and Catalan.

Spring 2023 (April to June)

51782-Genetics and Genomics
Schedule
This course examines the basic concepts of genetics and inheritance. It includes advanced subjects on the structure and function of genes, chromosomes and genomes, as well as basic methodologies and their main applications in life sciences.
UPF regular courses (all terms)
Course offering: bear in mind that some courses are taught both in Spanish and Catalan.

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2) Undergraduate Research Abroad Projects (6 ECTS)

(Available during 2nd and 3rd terms)

Besides meeting the general Global Health Program admission requirements, students intersted in the Research Labs must be students of Biomedical related majors.The Research Projects can last for a period of 6 months (January-June/July) or 10 months (September/June).

    Check the research groups which are available to consider your proposal.

 

 

3) Optional Electives from the Barcelona Program for Interdisciplinary Studies (including Spanish Language Courses) 

(Available during 1st and 2nd terms)

Students may round out their course registration with the BaPIS courses and  Spanish language courses, which are offered for all levels, from beginner to proficiency, including courses for native speakers.