All necessary information regarding the obligations and rights of students at the Faculty of Science can be found in the Dean's Measure No. D 48:

•  https://prf.jcu.cz/en/faculty/documents/study-regulations-related-topics/d48

Studies at the JU CB Faculty of Science are governed by the current JU Study Regulations:

• https://old.jcu.cz/about-the-university/documents-1/documents-for-students/study/study-and-examination-code-usb-docx.pdf/view 

The organisation of the school year is governed by the academic calendar for the school year.

• https://prf.jcu.cz/en/study-at-the-faculty/academic-calendar 

All three documents describe in detail the organization, conditions and course of study, examinations and credits, obligations and rights of JU students. It is therefore highly advisable to study those documents or seek answers to your questions directly in these documents.

The Department provides teaching of most of the compulsory courses of the Bachelor's degree in BLT and Master's degree in Clinical Biology. Courses are taught by both academic and clinical staff.

• List of courses provided by KME - 2022/2023
• List of courses provided by FSci USB (in Czech)

During the Bachelor's and Master's studies, the student is obliged to complete 3 internships in a clinically or diagnostically oriented laboratory (e.g. in the laboratory of clinical biochemistry, histopathology, microbiology, immunology, cytogenetics or other similar fields). It is also possible to visit other specifically focused laboratories in agreement with the Head of Department. The aim of the internship is to familiarize students with the normal workflow of laboratories and the laboratory procedures used.

During the Bachelor's degree students are obliged to complete Biomedical Laboratory Practise (KME/745) (duration of practice is 8 days) and Clinical Laboratory Practise I (KME/738) (duration of practice is 10 days). In the Master's programme, students take the Clinical Laboratory Practise II (KME/739) (duration again 10 days).

The place of the internship is of the students' own choice. In České Budějovice, students can complete their internships for example in the České Budějovice Hospital or in one of the private medical laboratories. It is also possible to complete the internship in another EU country. The focus of the departments where the student completes the Biomedical Laboratory Practice, and the Clinical Laboratory Practice I must be different, so it is possible to complete both internships in the same institution, but not in the same department. It is not possible to complete the internship in a research laboratory (e.g. it is not possible to count work in the laboratories of the BC CAS as part of the diploma internship).

At least one month before the internship, you must arrange the appropriate insurance through the faculty (arranged by Ms. Hana Kabelová - Economic Department, Building C, hkabelova@prf.jcu.cz, +420 387 776 203).

In order to receive credit, a certificate of completion of the internship must be submitted to the course supervisor (listed in STAG) for approval. This confirmation should include information about where the student has completed the internship, the duration of the internship, or what methods he/she has become familiar with (a contract between the faculty and the relevant laboratory is not sufficient as a confirmation of completion of the internship).

Students of Biomedical Laboratory Technology, Clinical Biology and Infectious Biology present their bachelor's, master's and dissertation theses at departmental seminars, which run in the winter and summer semesters. The departmental seminars are held as part of the Master's Seminar - Clinical Biology course (KME 179).

- Bachelor students are required to present the progress and results of their undergraduate thesis at least twice during their studies, which corresponds to 1 time per year since the assignment of the bachelor thesis. The presentation is required to be in the Czech language and to last a maximum of 20 minutes including discussion. For Bachelors, the presentation of results or research is a prerequisite for credit in the course KME/890, reps. KME/891.

- Master's students are obliged to present their thesis once a year. Presentations (slides) are required in English, speech in Czech. The maximum length of the presentation is 20 minutes including discussion. At the same time, in the semester in which they will be presenting at the seminar, Master's students enrol in KME/179 (Seminar of Master's Degrees - Clinical Biology) and are obliged to attend the seminars (attendance is kept with a maximum of 3 absences).

- Doctoral students are also required to present the progress and results of their dissertation once a year. Presentations (slides) and speeches are required in English for a maximum of 30 minutes including discussion.

 In case students defend their thesis in a department or institute other than KME, they will have to present the progress and results of their thesis in a seminar of the respective department in which they will defend. However, a presentation at the KME seminar is still required.

Presentation structure requirements:

• Introduction / Introduction
  • Introduction to the topic of the student's thesis, i.e. a summary of current knowledge on the topic in relation to the aim/objectives of the student's thesis
  • this knowledge should come from the scientific literature (peer-reviewed journals)
  • requirements for the number of references used in the introduction:
    • Bachelor student - min. 5 scientific articles, in case of a research paper min. 15-20 scientific articles
    • Master's student - min. 8 scientific articles
    • PhD students - at their discretion

• Objectives / Aims
  • concise and clearly stated aim or aims of the thesis
• Material & methods
  • concise summary of methods used
• Conclusions / Conclusions
  • summary of the results of the work and new findings in relation to the objectives of the work
• Acknowledgement

What is medical accreditation?

Medical accreditation is required to practice health professions and allows a graduate to be employed in hospitals and other health care facilities. Accreditation applies to approximately 40 legally defined non-medical health professions. Students and graduates of the fields of study provided by the KME, i.e. Biomedical Laboratory Technology (BMLT) and Clinical Biology (KB), are covered by paragraph 1b of §26 of Act No. 96/2004 Coll., which defines the possibilities of obtaining medical accreditation for the exercise of the profession "Professional worker in laboratory methods".

Extract from Act No 96/2004 Coll. §26:

(1) Professional competence to exercise the profession of professional worker in laboratory methods and in the preparation of medicinal products is obtained by completing

(a) an accredited medical master's degree course for the training of a professional in laboratory methods, or

(b) an accredited Master of Science degree and an accredited qualifying course in professional medical laboratory methods or an accredited qualifying course in laboratory methods in assisted reproduction or an accredited qualifying course in the manufacture, preparation and control of medicinal products; or

(c) an accredited master's degree in science, electrical engineering or mathematics and an accredited qualification course in professional laboratory methods in the protection and promotion of public health.

Students in Clinical Biology are referred to in the bolded passages.

Do the BMLT and KB programs have medical accreditation?

Due to statutory conditions, it is not practically possible to obtain a health accreditation for a study programme without cooperation with a teaching (university) hospital, which, unfortunately, is not present in České Budějovice. Therefore, the study fields of BMLT and KB do not have medical accreditation, however, this situation is solved by completing an accredited course after successful completion of the Master's degree (see below).

Note: Currently, there is no accreditation course offered in the Czech Republic that would lead to a medical accreditation after completing only a Bachelor's degree. Such a course would enable the regulated profession of "Healthcare Laboratory Technician" to be practised. Since the accredited course of Health Laboratory Technician is offered at many health-oriented faculties in the Czech Republic, including the ZSF JU CB in České Budějovice, there is no demand for such an accreditation course. Therefore, graduates of the Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Laboratory Technology CANNOT practice the regulated profession of Health Laboratory Technician, nor do they have the opportunity to take the relevant accreditation course! They are required to complete a Master's degree, preferably in Clinical Biology.

How is this situation solved at the Faculty of Science USB?

The faculty pays the fee for the accreditation course, which is organized annually by the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague (note: this course replaces the previously paid accreditation course organized by the Institute of Postgraduate Education in Health Care, which is currently no longer paid). The faculty contribution is made in the form of an extraordinary scholarship for students completing a Master's degree in Clinical Biology. Students must report to the Head of Department at the beginning of the calendar year that they intend to graduate in that year (or in January of the following year) and personally apply to the Department Head for an Extraordinary Scholarship prior to graduation. After graduation, the exceptional scholarship cannot be paid to the student.

Programme guarantor:

RNDr. Jindřich Chmelař, Ph.D., e-mail: chmelar@jcu.cz, phone: 387 776 278

Laboratory and Medical Biology is a modern study programme focused on understanding the principles of the functioning of the human body, including its pathologies, at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ and organismal levels. Students will be introduced to biomedicine as a dynamic and evolving field of science as well as the principles and practices of laboratory diagnostics and bioanalysis. The program provides the knowledge and skills to practically perform a variety of methods in biological or biomedical laboratories. Physicians and hospital laboratory professionals are involved in teaching clinically focused courses, ensuring that the latest trends in medical diagnostics are reflected. Students in the program can practice in collaborating laboratories. They will acquire theoretical knowledge in organic and physical chemistry and biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, genetics or immunology, all with an emphasis on the clinical aspects of these disciplines. In addition, the student will acquire practical skills in the molecular biology, biochemistry and immunology laboratory, and will be able to analyse, statistically evaluate and interpret data obtained by their own measurements. A significant part of the study is devoted to independent creative scientific work, in which the student will learn to navigate the scientific literature, obtain data from available databases, and in the case of experimental work will develop laboratory skills. Graduates of the programme will find employment in research laboratories focused on basic and preclinical biomedical research. Upon completion of the appropriate accreditation course, students may practice the regulated profession of health laboratory technician. They can work in diagnostic and other private laboratories as highly skilled laboratory technicians. Graduates also have the option to pursue a follow-up Master's degree in Clinical Biology, which will further enhance their knowledge and practical skills in medical biology.

Graduate profile
You will learn:

• Use knowledge of organic and physical chemistry, molecular and cell biology and genetics
• handle cell culture and prepare samples and solutions
• master state-of-the-art methods based on nucleic acid and protein analysis
• analyse, interpret and evaluate the data obtained

Admission procedure
The criteria for admission are a complete secondary education with a high school diploma and fulfillment of the conditions according to the annual Decision of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts of the JU on the admission of applicants to Bachelor's degree programs.

No later than at the beginning of the fifth semester of study in the Bachelor's degree programme, the student is obliged to choose the topic of the Bachelor's thesis in cooperation with the supervisor and to submit to the study department the Bachelor's thesis assignment protocol with all necessary signatures (download the form HERE). In the fifth semester at the latest, the student must be enrolled in the course Bachelor Thesis Practicum I (FBI/890). In the subsequent semester, the student must enroll in the course Bachelor Thesis Practicum II (FBI/891). If the student is extending his/her studies, he/she enrolls in the course Bachelor Thesis Practicum (FBI/893).

Even though the student is obliged to choose the topic at the beginning of the fifth semester at the latest, it is recommended that the topic of the bachelor thesis be chosen as early as possible, mainly because of the time demanding nature of some theses (this does not only apply to experimental theses, a sufficient amount of time is also needed for the quality of the research topics).

The topic of the bachelor thesis is chosen by each student according to his/her own interest. The thesis can be prepared either under the supervision of a supervisor directly from the KME or at one of the cooperating institutes (Biological Centre of the CAS, Department of Chemistry of the JU, etc.). Bachelor theses can also be supervised by external supervisors, e.g. from the České Budějovice Hospital. In the case of external supervisors, it is recommended to pay increased attention to the formal aspect of the thesis to avoid any misunderstandings caused by different requirements set for the thesis by the Faculty of Science and the supervisor (more about the formal requirements for bachelor's and master's theses can be found in the Provision of the Vice-Dean for Study P 5 On the Submission of Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Advanced Master´s Theses at the Faculty of Science, USB - HERE).

Basic advice on how to proceed correctly when writing a thesis and the most common mistakes to avoid are summarized in the attached presentation.

• How to write a thesis

The student reports on the course of preparation and partial results of the bachelor thesis at least twice during the study at the departmental seminar (see KME Seminars).

 If students defend their thesis in a department or institute other than KME, they may present the progress and results of their thesis at the seminar of the department in which they will defend. This should be reported to the Head of KME.

The student submits the bachelor thesis to the study department on the appropriate date (see the Calendar of the academic year). Before submission, students are required to upload the electronic version to the STAG database.

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Garant of the study programme:

Prof. RNDr. Jan Kopecký, CSc.
email: jkopec@prf.jcu.cz
phone: +420 387 776 274
Building C, Přf JU, door 02 038 

Briefly about the Clinical Biology program

The Master's program of Clinical Biology enables to acquire a wealth of theoretical knowledge and practical skills and to apply them in practice in carrying out complex methodological procedures in a wide range of laboratories, including the latest diagnostic and analytical methods. A graduate of Clinical Biology is able to interpret and integrate the results of individual laboratory findings and can therefore find employment in leading positions of clinical or diagnostic laboratories (virology, medical genetics, clinical biochemistry, etc.). The program Clinical Biology can be followed by doctoral study and continue scientific work.

The Clinical Biology study program does not have medical accreditation, this qualification can be obtained by completing an accredited qualification course “Professional Medical Laboratory Methods”.

 Study plan for Clinical Biology

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Graduates of the Master's program in Clinical Biology can follow the PhD program in Integrative Biology. More information here.