Update from the teaching unit at MBB
Time flies and we are already halfway through the spring term 2024. Courses run as usual, although there is a new, minor involvement for MBB in the three-week course Medical Scientific Theory and Methodology in term 6 of the medical programme (Björn Högberg).
We are delighted about how well the lab support at Scheele has been working this last year, by virtue of the work by Michaela Mårback and Annika Olsson. Unfortunately for us, Michaela will take leave of absence from May to try a new job, and Annika will go into semi-retirement by the end of June. Thank you both for a superb job! These shoes must be filled now, and we are happy to have found a replacement in Joseph Bruton, otherwise working at FyFa. Welcome Joseph! We are now looking for a second person at 40%, and hope to manage this via internal recruitment. Supporting course lab preparations is a variable job, which involves close dialogue with lab tutors and plenty of student contact. If you are interested, or know somebody who you believe would be, take the opportunity to interview Annika or Michaela while they are still around, and contact Håkan or Bernhard ASAP.
The Scheele building is an important study environment, so doors to the building are open during daytime. Sadly, several student computer thefts have been reported in recent time, and the other week an attempt to steal a computer in our preparatory lab was aborted by pure luck. As a consequence, we ask you to be vigilant when working over there and are now looking into different measures to adapt accessibility.
In our effort to improve teaching at MBB two FTAs (Frontier Teaching Awards) have been granted this year: Phillip Chivers, who will continue the revision of the General and Organic Chemistry, and Lucia Coppo, who will focus on how the processes surrounding undergraduate students in the research labs can be facilitated. In addition, they will both work to complete a preparatory web site for newly admitted students in the biomedicine bachelor programme. Lastly, we are busy formulating a strategy for MBB’s teaching, aiming to point out the directions for the next five-ten years. We will seek input from as many as possible and discuss this with you throughout fall, aiming to start implementing the common strategy by the beginning of 2025.
Håkan Andersson and Bernhard Lohkamp