Module Subject

Module Subject

Module Subject

Module Subject

1. Geographical location of Hungary. Consequences of location: climate, vegetation, soils. Invasive plants.
2. Natural resources of Hungary: soils, forests, waters, mineral resources
3. Environmental changes in Hungary during the last 1000 years (climate, rivers, Lake Balaton, soils, vegetation, rate of human stress)
4. Environmental hazards in Hungary: earthquakes, landslides, soil degradation, floods, “inland waters”, droughts
5. Environmental status of Hungary: air-quality, quality of surface and subsurface waters, waste disposal
6. Hydro-conflicts: I. karst water problem;
1. Bős-Nagymaros Dam: conflict between humans and environment, Slovakia and Hungary;
2. Pollution of rivers: cyanide in the Tisza, pollutants from Austria
3. Decrease of groundwater in the Danube-Tisza Interfluve (aridification)
7. The Tisza: I. natural environment before the regulations (“uses” of the water)
1. regulation works and its consequences
2. Flood hazard and how to solve the problem

6. The Hungarian landscape: the result of human impact, climate and vegetation change. Landscape protection: national parks and protected areas

Project:

1. Compare two geographical regions, with special respect to the human activity.
2. Give a description of a National Park, focusing on the conflict between park and the neighbouring lands (land use, waste, disturbances etc.)

1. To point on the facts, that

• the river regulations altered the river regime differently on different rivers
• the rivers reached different equilibrium stages and they responded in different ways

2. To teach the students how to evaluate and present hydrological data

Module Subject

1. Development of the drainage network of the Great Plain since the Pleistocene, with special respect to Holocene changes
2. Review of regulation works (main ideas, facts, consequences)
3. Evaluation of hydrological parameters (stage, discharge, bed geometry, slope etc.)
4. Evaluation of morphological changes on the floodplain (horizontal and vertical river bed changes, island and bar formation, land slides on the banks, point bar formation)
5. Flood hazard estimation in a certain area

Module Subject

Urban ecology:

1. Effects of urban land-use on physical geographical parameters (soil, climate, ground water)
2. Urban land use and urban ecological mapping
3. Application of databases and digital images in urban ecological investigations

Landscape planning:

1. Urban planning
2. Green surface management
3. Protection against soil erosion caused by wind and running water
4. Geomorphology of agriculture
5. Environmental impact assessment of investments (motorways, land-use changes, irrigation etc.)

Applied geomorphology:

• Monitoring geomorphological change, geomorphological mapping
• Floodplains and flooding
• River regulations
• Geomorphological assessments of slope failure

Module Subject

Seminar

• The conceptial differences between Computer Aided Design and Geographic Information Systems
• AutoCAD basics - X-Y coordinate system, input methods, interface, terminology
• Autodesk FDO Data Access Technology
• The Mapinfo Concept

Practical

• AutoCAD basics
• inputting points, interface, drawing and modifying commands, snap
• selection set, layers and dimensioning, text
• direct distance entry, polar tracking, object snap tracking
• objects properties, blocks, attributes
• AutoCAD Map 3D
• Attaching and querying AutoCAD drawing file
• Clean up the drawings
• Adding GIS features to the map (FDO interface) and using styles
• CAD – GIS conversions
• GIS analysis: buffer, topology
• Mapinfo
• Displaying data, geocoding, thematic mapping
• Layout

Module Subject

1) Research methods in cell biology.
2) Evolution of the cell. General characteristics of pro- and eukaryotic cells. Compartmentarization.
3) Membrane dynamics. Structure of the cell membrane. Membrane models.
4) Structure and function of membrane proteins.
5) Membrane specializations (tight junction, gap junction, desmosome, etc.).
6) The extracellular matrix.
7) Structure and function of the cytoskeleton.
8) The cell nucleus/nucleolus. Chromatin structure. The chromosomes.
9) The cell cycle. Mitotic and meiotic cell division.
10) The endoplasmic reticular system. The signal hypothesis.
11) The Golgi complex. Secretory proteins.
12) Membrane trafficking. Transport vesicles.
13) Internalization of macromolecules and particles. Receptor-mediated endocytosis.
14) The lysosomes. Secretory and lysosomal proteins.
15) The mitochondria.

Module Subject

1) General characteristics of cell signalization.
2) Intracellular signalization pathways.
3) Characteristics of neuronal signal transduction.
4) Mechanisms of neuronal signal transduction .
5) The role of glial cells in neuronal signalization processes.
6) Regulation of gene expression.
7) Regulationof neuronal gene expression.
8) Regulation of neuronal gene expression.
9) Target cell adaptation. Fast and slow adaptations.
10) General characteristics of stem cells.
11) Cell differentiation and tissue maintenance.
12) Embryonic and adult stem cells.
13) Neuronal stem cells
14) Cell therapies.
15) Apoptotic and necrotic processes.

Module Subject

Theoretical background: cell and tissue culture techniques (4 x 4 hours, 4 hours / week / 4 weeks)
1). In vitro maintenance of embryonal and adult cells and tissues. Isolation of cells, maintaining subcultures, cell passaging. Manipulation and differentiation of cultured cells. Cell transfection, transduction. Cell viability. Utilization of in vitro systems in molecular medicine. Tissue engineering. Major cell lines.
2) Culturing media. Mitogens. Minimal/essential culturing media, supplements. Maintenance of sterile environment. Major equipments of the cell culturing lab (thermostat, laminar flow, microscopes, centrifuge, etc.).
3) Preparation and culture of adult bone marrow cells and its derivatives. Primary cortical and hippocampal cell cultures (chick and rat). Preparation and maintenance of mixed (neuronal and glial) cultures. Organotypic cell and tissue cultures. Preparation and in vitro maintenance of explant cultures.
4) In vitro phenotyping. Immunocytochemistry, Western blot analysis. Neuronal and glial markers.
Introductory practicals, practicing sterile work (2 x 4 hours, 4 hours / week, 2 weeks)
5) The sterile laborator environment. Maintaining aseptic working environment, working with culturing media, without cells.
6) Preparation of bone marrow cells from young adult rats. Removal of bone marrow, purification, centrifugation. Cell counting techniques. Preparation of cell smears. May-Grünwald/Giemsa staining.
Practicals with rat bone marrow cell cultures (2 x 4 hours, 4 hours / week, 2 weeks)
7) Preparation of bone marrow cells from young adult rats. Removal of bone marrow, purification, centrifugation, plating. Treatment with mitogens.
8) Collection of mitogen-treated bone marrow-derived cells (neurospheres, DIV7) for Western blot analysis. Determination of protein content.
Practicals with primary cultures from embryonal chicken forebrain (2 x 4 hours, 4 hours / week, 2 weeks)
9) Preparation of primary cultures from embryonal chicken forebrain (E16-E18). Tissue removal, purification, centrifugation. Cell counting. Plating to petri dishes.
10) AChE histochemistry on chicken forebrain cultures. Digital imaging in light microscopy, making of microphotographs. Trypsin treatment, passage of cultured cells for further culturing.
Practicals with primary cultures from embryonic rats (3 x 4 hours, 4 hours / week, 3 weeks)
11) Isolation of cerebral cortical tissue samples from E18 rat embryos. Tissue preparation, purification, centrifugation. Cell counting. Plating to petri dishes.
12-13) Fluorescent immunocytochemical detection of GFAP in astrocytes in primary cortical cultures (DIV7). Digital microphotography on GFAP positive astrocytes (2 days).
Examination: Written exam.

Module Subject

The module will comprise the following topics:
1/ General introduction into fluorescence, physical basics, spectra and how to record them
2/ The advantages of fluorescent dyes over alternative methods in cell biology
3/ General introduction into how to measure intracellular ion concentrations
4/ Ca-sensitive dyes
5/ How to measure intracellular pH
6/ How to measure resting membrane potential
7/ How to detect apoptosis
8/ How to measure cell viability
9/ How to use fluorescent dyes in genomics and proteomics
10/ How to study signal transduction with fluorescent probes
11/ Instruments that are used for fluorescence studies (with practical demonstration)

Module Subject

The module will comprise the following topics:
1/ General introduction into communication in biology
2/ Quorum sensing as the prototype of communication between bacteria
3/ Communication between Dictyostelium discoideum cells as a prototype of communication between unicellular eukaryotic cells
4/ Evolution of signaling networks: from the bacterial two-component system to G-proteins
5/ Cell communication in yeasts during mating
6/  Evolution of signaling nwetworks: from G proteins to MAP-kinase cascade
7/ General principles of cell communication in multicellular organism
8/ Cell communication between adjacent cells of the epithelium
9/ Special aspects of cell communication in tumours and lack of communication between normal and cancer cells
10/ A specific example of three-way communication: the signaling networks triggered by IL-3
11/ Signaling networks in cell communication (e.g. JAK/STAT, Notch, etc.)
12/ How to study the signaling pathways involved in cell communication