Curriculum

This course will cover:-

Bioethics: It is designed to familiarize the student with current thinking on ethical issues in the medical laboratory profession. Emphasis is on how problems are identified and defined, and the methods employed to resolve them. This course examines basic principles that govern the responsible conduct of medical laboratory research. It explores topics related to scientific integrity, collegiality, research subjects, institutional integrity and social responsibility. Students participate actively in the course through written critiques and analyses of assigned readings, in-class presentations, and group discussions.

Bioinformatics: It focuses on the basic use of computers in health sciences, information searches and retrieval, and thorough library search of scholarly reports on advanced topics in medical laboratory sciences.

Presentation and communication skills: This module will cover generation, transmission, or reception of messages to oneself or another; defining objectives and main points; modes of presentation and communication; guides of writing prompts, ideas, memos, letters, resumes, proposals, tenders, conflict resolution, negotiation, posters, theses, research papers and grant applications; critical analysis, argument and opinion; plagiarism and citation; presenting skills in poster/oral presentations, public speaking, interviewing and phoning; use of audio-visual aids.

Laboratory safety: It covers biosafety levels; laboratory containment, design and facilities; laboratory equipment; fire and electrical safety; guidelines and code of practice; safety organization and surveillance; safety checklist, training programme and rules for supportive staff; disinfection, decontamination and disposal of bio-hazardous, chemical and radioactive waste.

Laboratory management: It deals with the organization of core laboratory and reference laboratory, good laboratory practice regulations, implementation and monitoring laboratory safety, equipment evaluation, financial budgeting and controlling, tendering, stock taking, auditing, decision making, formulation of laboratory policies and standard operating procedure, laboratory accreditation, personnel management, handling conflicts in work environment.

This course will cover:-

Biostatistics: It introduces descriptive statistics, normal distribution, significance tests, confidence intervals and point estimation, chi-square analysis, regression and correlation methods, analysis of variance, multiple comparison procedures and non-parametric methods. Basic methods of statistical analysis are emphasized including t-tests, ANOVA, etc. 

Measurement of uncertainty: It covers the international comparisons of measurement standards; classification of components of uncertainty, evaluating and expressing the uncertainty of National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) measurement results, combining standard uncertainty of a measurement result, expanded uncertainty and reporting, impact on laboratory accreditation.

Quality assurance: It highlights the importance of inter-laboratory comparisons of accuracy and reliability of medical testing, initiatives and impact of proficiency testing on medical laboratory; proficiency testing programmes and providers; standards and choice.

Laboratory accreditation: It focuses on the International Organization for Standards (ISO), International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) and Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS); ISO 15189:2012 standard for quality and competence to medical laboratories; regulations of good manufacturing practice (GMP) and good laboratory practice (GLP); technical criteria and guidelines for quality system.

This course will cover:-

Immunogenicity and immunogenetics; human major histocompatibility complex and antigen receptors; cellular immune responses of macrophages, dendritic cells and B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, antigen presentation cells and natural killer cells; complement system; secretary immune system; immune mechanisms in tissue damage; autoimmunity; clinical transplantation; infection-, tumour- and reproductive immunology; hypersensitivity, immunosuppression and anti- inflammatory drugs; immunization; immunotherapy; laboratory diagnostics and detection.  

This course will cover:-

Frontiers in medical laboratory sciences: It is designed to train students in keeping abreast of recent advances in proteinomics, immunotherapy, genetic engineering, stem cell technology, bio-micro-electro-mechanical systems and nanotechnology. Current research in these areas will be discsssued. 

Laboratory technology: It focuses on the principle and applications with specific highlights of the accuracy, precision and limitation of the latest advanced medical laboratory technologies.  The current usages in clinical applications and research will be discussed.

This course will cover:-

Genetics: It encompasses the structure and function of genes and chromosomes; autosomal dominant and recessive inheritance; sex-linked mitochondrial inheritance; genetics of development, metabolic disorder and cancer; genetic screening, diagnosis, counselling and therapy; recent advances in cytogenetic and molecular genetic detection methods of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), multi-colour FISH, high-resolution multi-colour banding (MCB), spectral karyotyping (SKY), reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), gene mapping and cloning.   

Gene expression and regulation: It deals with the transcription machinery of transcription factors, core promoter elements, co-factors and chromatin; histone acetyltransferase and histone deacetylase complex; transcriptional activators and repressors; chromatin remodelling and X-inactivation; DNA methylation and gene silencing; comparative genomics of tissue specific gene expression; cell death and transcription; pre-mRNA splicing; biogenesis and function of siRNA, miRNA and piRNA; gene therapy; laboratory diagnostics and detection.

This course will cover:-

• Cell injury and cell death; inflammation
• Principles of neoplasia and pathology of tumour
• Molecular pathology
• Surgical cut ups; design of histology benches; automation in histology
• Immunohistochemistry; new diagnostic antibodies
• Special stains in modern histology
• Microscopy
• Gynecologic and non-gynecologic cytopathology
• Mortuary management
• Quality assurance in histology

This course will cover:-

• Laboratory principles and instrumentation
• Disorders of water, electrolytes, and acid-base homeostasis
• Disorders of the renal system
• Disorders of the endocrine system
• Disorders of the cardiovascular system

This course will cover:-

• Haematopoiesis
• Medical genetics of haematologic diseases/disorders
• White cells in health and diseases; laboratory diagnostics and detection
• Therapy for haemic diseases/disorders

This course will cover:-

• Structure, classification, metabolism, genetics of normal flora and pathogens
• Pathogenesis, epidemiology, principle of diagnosis
• Application of molecular techniques in microbiology
• Antibiotics and mechanism of bacterial resistance

This course will cover:-

• Administrative aspects of anatomical pathology
• Autopsy pathology
• Pathology of various organs an systems
• Endocrine pathology; gynaecologic pathology
• Managements of fluids, fine needle aspiration cytology

This course will cover:-

• Disorders of the gastrointestinal system
• Disorders of the neuromuscular system
• Haematological biochemistry and nutritional status
• Clinical Biochemistry of pregnancy and childhood
• Toxicology, pharmacology and pharmacogenetics

This course will cover:-

• Platelet disorders and coagulopathy
• Red cell disorders; pathophysiology, investigation and treatment
• Immunohaematology and transfusion science
• Immunogenetics; HLA system and typing; bone marrow registry and donor/graft selection

This course will cover:-

• Mycology
• Parasitology
• Role of microbiology laboratory and infection control
• Infections in immunocompromised patients, laboratory investigations Zoonoses and bioterrorism
• Vaccines for the prevention of human infectious diseases

The student will conduct a research project on an individual basis on an area of medical laboratory science and complete a 8,000 word dissertation. The project should consist of review of materials in a medical laboratory, experimental work on some of the materials and literature review. Teacher(s) for the programme will be assigned to advise on the project.