MASTER'S COURSES

INTERNSHIP IN TEACHING I
This is a mandatory course for all postgraduate students granted with a CAPES scholarship. Teaching activities will include theoretical and practical classes, under the professor's supervision; participation in the elaboration of mid-term theoretical and practical exams and application of different teaching methods, such as guided studies, seminars, etc. The students enrolled in this course cannot, under any circumstances, be responsible for all the teaching activities of the graduation course in which they participate.

ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
This is a mandatory course for all of the students. Foreign language proficiency tests will be organized by the Offices of Foreign Culture of the Federal University of Ceará, according to their own yearly academic calendars.

SEMINARS IN MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY I

Introduction to the strusctural organization of the English language. Reading and discussion of scientific texts in the field of Human and Animal Microbiology. Presentation and discussion of projects and scientific texts in English.

EVALUATION OF THE IMMUNITY IN MICROBIAL INFECTIONS

Mechanisms of natural resistance; mediators involved with the infectious inflammatory process; mechanisms of specific humoral and cellular immunity; immune response in bacterial, viral and fungal infections; microbial escape mechanisms.

BACTERIOLOGY OF THE ANAEROBIC INFECTIONS
History and taxonomy of the anaerobic bacteria. Pathogenesis of the anaerobic infections. Conventional and automated methods used for the identification of anaerobic bacteria involved in human and animal infections.

HUMAN AND VETERINARY MEDICAL BACTERIOLOGY
Bacterial cytology and physiology. Bacterial genetics. Mechanisms of pathogenicity. Microbial control. Nosocomial infections.

BIOETHICS AND BIOSAFETY
This course aims at knowing the fundaments of Bioethics and the submission of projects to CONEP (National Commission of Ethics in Research), as well as the fundaments of biosafety and the execution of a Biosafety Committee.

BIOSTATISTICS
Descriptive statistics; estimation; significance and adherence tests; analysis of variance; correlation; linear regression. Random assays; probability space; events; conditional probability. Random variable; expectation; variance; moments; conjunctive distribution. Main probability distributions. Significance tests.

DIAGNOSIS IN MEDICAL MYCOLOGY
Practical internship in clinical, laboratory and histopathological diagnosis and therapeutics of infections caused by yeasts, filamentous and dimorphic fungi, with emphasis on those of greater prevalence in our region. Basic terminology in Mycology, emphasizing taxonomy (identification keys) and biology. Epidemiological aspects and molecular biology of mycoses.

IMMUNOLOGIC DIAGNOSIS OF MICROBIAL INFECTIONS
Principles, parameters and approaches for the performance of immunological assays. Laboratory assays for the diagnosis and follow-up of bacterial, viral and fungal.

DIDACTICS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Profile of the healthcare professional. Learning theories for the adults. Curricular guidelines, competences, educational strategies and evaluation systems. Problem-based learning as a model of a student centered teaching-learning methodology.

CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MICROBIAL DISEASES
Population researches on the occurrence and determinants of microbial diseases or health problems; clinical investigations on diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic methods in infectious diseases; planning and evaluation of health services. Prevalence, case-control, cohort and interventional studies. Health meta-analyses.

INTERNSHIP IN CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY
Conventional and automated methods used for the identification of bacteria, fungi, viruses involved in human and veterinary infections.

MUCOSAL IMMUNOLOGY
General aspects of the mucosal immune system. Anatomical and functional basis of mucosal immune system. Humoral innate and specific factors of mucosae. Oral tolerance. Lymphocyte recirculation directed to mucosae. Cytokines involved in the mucosal immune system. Role of T CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes. IgA primary immunodeficiency. Immunological components of colostrum and maternal milk. Mucosal vaccines. Mechanisms of interaction between microbiota and immune system. Microbial evasion mechanisms from mucosal immune system.

INFECTION AND DIAGNOSIS OF YEASTS
Clinics, laboratory and histopathological diagnostic methods and therapeutics of yeast infections, with emphasis on those of greater prevalence in our region. Basic terminology in Mycology, emphasizing taxonomy and biology. Epidemiological aspects and molecular biology of mycoses.

INFECTION AND DIAGNOSIS OF FILAMENTOUS AND DIMORPHIC FUNGI

Macromorphological and micromorphological aspects; phenotyping; epidemiological aspects; clinical manifestations; laboratory diagnosis and molecular biology of filamentous and dimorphic fungi.

HUMAN AND VETERINARY VIRAL INFECTIONS
Viral respiratory infections. Viral gastroenteritis. Viral hepatitis A, B, C, D, E and G. Viruses and hemorrhagic fever. Animal leucosis caused by viruses, Humana and animal rabies. Diagnosis of viral infections.

MECHANISMS OF ACTION OF ANTIMICROBIAL DRUGS
This course discusses the molecular mechanisms involved in the triggering of pharmacological responses by antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal agents. Thus the following themes will be approached: pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetic aspects of antimicrobial drugs; pharmacological principles of antibiotic therapy; antimicrobial resistance; penicillins, cephalosporins and other B-lactams; bacitracin; vancomycin; sulfonamides/trimethoprim; aminoglycosides; tetracyclines; chloramphenicol; macrolides; quinolones; polymyxins; antifungal drugs; antiviral agents.

ANTIMICROBIAL MECHANISMS OF BACTERIAL RESISTANCE
Mutation and mechanisms of genetic recombination, resistance in enterobacteria, resistance in mycobacteria, resistance in anaerobes. Basic methods for the performance of antimicrobial susceptibility assays.

MOLECULAR METHODS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF BACTERIAL INFECTIONS
Molecular methods in bacteriology. Training in polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Bacterial groups and molecular diagnosis: current situation.

VIRAL PATHOGENESIS
Host factors and viral determinants of viral pathogenesis. Types of viral infections. Immune response and viral pathogenesis. Effects of viral replication on infected cells.

PROJECTS IN MICROBIOLOGY
This course aims to introduce to the students the institutions of financial support for scientific research, their granting modalities and rules, as well as teach them how to write research projects to be submitted to these institutions.

TECHNIQUES IN MOLECULAR GENETICS
Basic fundaments and strategies for the study of nucleic acids. Development of techniques for the extraction, amplification and detection of DNA in specimens from human and animals for diagnostic purposes and taxonomic research.

VIROLOGY: STRUCTURAL, MOLECULAR AND DIAGNOSTIC ASPECTS
Differences between viruses and other living organisms. General characteristics of viruses. Function and generation of viral particles. Viral architecture. Cellular cultures for viral isolation. Methods for viral detection from clinical specimens. Molecular biology and viral diagnosis. Main viruses associated with gastroenteritis. Viruses associated with respiratory infections. Lentiviruses and animal infections.

QUALIFICATION
This activity corresponds to a presentation containing a current literature review of the object of study, research objectives and obtained results until the moment of qualification. The students will have 50 minutes to present their work.

DISSERTATION
During this course, the students will conclude the analysis of their assays, update the references in the literature review and write their dissertation according to the guidelines of PPGMM. In order to have their work of MASTER’S conclusion submitted to evaluation, students must successfully fulfill their course credits, qualify their Dissertation and send to the Course Coordination at least one manuscript related to the line of research of the dissertation approved for publication by an international Qualis A, B1 or B2 Biological Sciences III journal, according to CAPES Triennial Evaluation, under the category Student Body, theses and dissertations of BSIII.

DOCTORATE COURSES

INTERNSHIP IN TEACHING II AND III
This is a mandatory course for all postgraduate students granted with a CAPES scholarship. Teaching activities will include theoretical and practical classes, under the professor's supervision; participation in the elaboration of mid-term theoretical and practical exams and application of different teaching methods, such as guided studies, seminars, etc. The students enrolled in this course cannot, under any circumstances, be responsible for all the teaching activities of the graduation course in which they participate.

ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
This is a mandatory course for all of the students. Foreign language proficiency tests will be organized by the Offices of Foreign Culture of the Federal University of Ceará, according to their own yearly academic calendars.

KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION
In this course, the studemts will receive with one year of advance, a list of topics related to the area associated with the area of the Thesis Project. PPGMM will organize the date when the students will take the written test on 1 to 4 topics drawn from the list. The test will be publicly read to the Evaluating Board.

ADVANCES IN MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY
Recent aspects associated with epidemiology, physiopathology, diagnosis, therapeutics and study methods of infectious and parasitic diseases. Recent advances using molecular biology as a tool for the study of infectious and parasitic diseases.

BIOFILMS
Teach the students the fundamental importance of microbial biofilms in nature, industries and medicine, the fundamental mechanisms of biofilm formation, the processes that control microbial physiology within these micro-ecosystems and some methodologies to control biofilms.

BIOINFORMATICS
Scientific course based on computational sciences, statistics and molecular biology. Its main goal is to teach how to manage the results obtained from gene sequencing, which produce a growing amount of data on proteins, DNA and RNA. This course applies statistical methods capable of analyzing a great amount of biological data, predict gene functions and demonstrate the relationship between genes and proteins.

BIOPRODUCTS IN MICROBIOLOGY
Biological characteristics of microorganisms that produce antibiotics and bioactive products, with emphasis on life cycle of producer microorganisms, cellular differentiation, biosynthesis of antibiotics and bioactive compounds, distribution of the biochemical pathways, resistance genes, cloning and expression in heterologous hosts, production in industrial scale. Application of these microorganisms in Medicine, Agriculture and Veterinary, as well as in depollution processes and expression of heterologous proteins.

COLLECTIONS OF MICROORGANISMS
Conservation of genetic resources, acquisition, characterization, maintenance and distribution of microorganisms, registered cell lineages and certified biological reagents. Promotion of specialized services and information centers. Different types of culture collections, including working collections, institutional collections and service collections, highlighting the conservation and exploitation of genetic and metabolic diversity.

CELLULAR CULTIVATION
Animal cell cultivation. Scale of obtainment of animal cell cultures, advantages and disadvantages. General methods and culture parameters. Importance of cellular cultivation in Biology. Culture of primary cells or specific lineages. Subcultures and cryopreservation. Applications in Microbiology.

INFECTIONS CAUSED BY PROTOZOA
Lectures given by specialists who work with epidemiology and molecular diagnosis of protozoan infections. Different diagnostic methods for the several protozoan diseases will be approached, including those of intestinal manifestations (coccidia, microsporidia and amoebae), leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, toxoplasmosis and malaria. Genotyping methods and their application in taxonomy and epidemiology.

SPECIAL MICROSCOPY
Light microscopy: basic principles of light and color; image formation, objectives, contrast methods (DIC). Resolution. Principles of confocal microscopy. Uni and multi-photon microscopy. Lamps and LASERS. Photomultipliers. Image digitalization. Basic image processing with Adobe Photoshop. Choice of fluorochromes. Fluorescence. FRET, FRAP. Confocal microscopy of biological samples.

POSTGRADUATION IN MICROBIOLOGY
The rules and objectives of Postgraduation in Microbiology and the institutions for the financial support of scientific research (CAPES, CNPq, FINEP and FUNCAP) will be presented. Laboratory research conducts will be discussed, including: 1) bibliographic research and Internet access; 2) rules in manipulating radioactivity, pathogenic and genetically modified organisms; 3) deadlines and criteria of evaluation for public calls; 4) participation in teaching and administrative activities.

PRACTICE IN TEACHING
Participation in graduation classes, training Scientific Initiation interns and other supervised academic activities, as decided by the advisor and the Coordinator Commission of the Program.

PRODUCTION OF SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN MICROBIOLOGY
Methodological aspects applied to structuring projects and publishing scientific papers. Understanding the requirements in the Area of Biological Sciences III.

PUBLICATION I
Writing a scientific paper for publication in an indexed journal, classified as Qualis A by CAPES, according to the last triennial evaluation of the area of Biological Sciences III. The paper must be original and related to one of the research lines of the Postgraduation Programa in Medical Microbiology, but not related to the doctoral thesis. The same number of course credits will be earned by the publication of two papers in Qualis B international journals.

PUBLICATION II
Writing a scientific paper for publication in an indexed journal, classified as Qualis B international by CAPES, according to the last triennial evaluation of the area of Biological Sciences III. The paper must be original and related to one of the research lines of the Postgraduation Programa in Medical Microbiology, but not related to the doctoral thesis. The same number of course credits will be earned by the publication of two papers in Qualis C international journals.

NATURAL RESISTANCE AND MEDIATORS OF THE INFLAMMATORY PROCESS
Several topics will be discussed as theoretical classes and seminars, including specific and unspecific defense mechanisms, lymphocyte differentiation (including selection), immunoglobulins and antigens (interaction and structure), antigenic processing, cellular immunology, immunoregulation, immunopathology and immunotherapy.

TOPICS IN MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY I
The Faculty will semestrally define the program for this course, taking into consideration the themes of interest for the students, which are not included in other courses, surveyed during evaluation of the professional practice, seminars and research activities. These themes can be taught by visiting professors.

TOPICS IN MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY II
The Faculty will semestrally define the program for this course, taking into consideration the themes of interest for the students, which are not included in other courses, surveyed during evaluation of the professional practice, seminars and research activities. These themes can be taught by visiting professors.

QUALIFICATION
This activity corresponds to a presentation containing a current literature review of the object of study, research objectives and obtained results until the moment of qualification. The students will have 50 minutes to present their work.

THESIS
During this course, the students will conclude the analysis of their assays, update the references in the literature review and write their Thesis according to the guidelines of PPGMM. In order to have their work of DOCTORATE conclusion submitted to evaluation, students must successfully fulfill their course credits, qualify their Thesis and send to the Course Coordination at least one manuscript related to the line of research of the thesis approved for publication by an international Qualis A journal and another manuscript submitted to an international Qualis A, B1 or B2 journal of the area Biological Sciences III, according to CAPES Triennial Evaluation, under the category Student Body, theses and dissertations of BSIII.