Medical students are recruited annually for a 3-year training scheme that includes specifically tailored basic training courses in the first year.
Basic training courses for medical students during their qualification phase are provided annually by the participating researchers. Compulsory training is completed by the common course on good scientific practice, which is also offered annually.
- Basics of antiviral strategies are taught by lectures that are presented in the format of a 1-day workshop during the semester break to avoid conflicts with the schedule of the medical studies.
- Methods in Molecular Medicine are the subject of an introductory 5-day laboratory course at the Institute for Virology during the semester break. Students learn how to plan, perform, document, and interpret their experiments using three fundamental methods as examples.
- A laboratory internship with at least one participating research group (5 days) during the semester break provides further insight and hands-on training in laboratory work. Additional internships offer the opportunity for a more informed selection of the research project.
- Proposal writing is introduced as a tutorial during the first 7 weeks of a lecture period with weekly meetings (1 hour) and homework (2 hours). In this step-by-step course, the students learn to present the scientific background, to shape a working hypothesis, and to outline the experiments for their doctorate. At the end of the qualification phase, the proposal has to be submitted and defended.
