Developmental origins of health and disease: Effects of environmental toxicants on reproduction (2 hp)
This course will be offered Dec 1-5, 2025 at EBC, Uppsala University.
A preliminary schedule will be linked here within shortly.
Contact: Maria Jönsson, maria.jonsson@ebc.uu.se
Target group. PhD and licentiate students at Uppsala University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences are prioritized. Acceptance of PhD students from other academies or researchers, postdoctoral fellows and master students finalizing their thesis work, is subject to availability. However, we make our best to include all applicants.
Suitable background. PhD and licentiate students in biology, medicine, veterinary medicine, food science, nutrition, nursing, or related areas, or in a specialist training program or equivalent within the same subjects are accepted.
Course aim. The aims of the course are to provide a broad knowledge of reproductive development and reproductive toxicity in vertebrates and to help build a base for collaboration among researchers in different fields of reproductive biology.
Content
- Barker hypothesis and the principle of developmental programming
- Sexual determination and differentiation in fish, birds and mammals
- Epigenetics of sexual differentiation
- Development of reproductive organs in males and females
- Sex hormones and their feedback loops of regulation
- Evolution of sexual dimorphism
- Environmental pollution
- Male and female reproductive toxicity
Course Description. This course deals with how early-life exposure to anthropogenic chemicals and other stressors can disrupt development of the reproductive system. Blood and tissue samples from humans and animals indicate that our bodies contain a large number of different pollutants and an urgent area of research focusses on how these pollutants affect our health. Developing individuals are generally more sensitive than adults to environmental stressors and increasing evidence point to that developmental exposure to chemicals increases the risk for disease later in life.
The course, which is given during five consecutive days on full time, consists of a series of lectures, presentations of students’ own research, a symposium, and a problem-based-learning group task, based on selected pollutants and considering developmental effects on the reproductive system and underlying mechanisms. The last course day, the students are examined by presenting the group work. The presentation should evaluate risks for reproductive toxicity and consider variation in sensitivity among different animal taxa.
Course organization. The course is organized by the Centre for Reproductive Biology in Uppsala (CRU) together with the department of Organismal Biology (IOB) at Uppsala University.
Course literature: A list of scientific papers associated with the lecturers and lecture notes.
Grading and examination. The course is graded on a Pass/Fail basis. To receive the grade “Pass” active participation and 80 % attendance is required. The participants should in advance prepare a 10-min presentation of their own project and present it during the course. The examination will be in the form of a presentation of a group task. About 15 lecture hours are scheduled for discussions and reflections to prepare for this.