Advanced Course on Molecular Epidemiology: The Impact of Molecular
Biology on the Public Health Sciences

September 19-24, 1998

A two credit intensive five-day course in interactive workshop format at
the University of Tampere conference resort in Virrat, Finland.  
Maximum 40 Students.

The course fee, which includes full board and lodging, will be waived for
accepted students from Nordic countries outside Finland.

Background: Recent advances in molecular biology have provided powerful
new research tools for studies of causes of diseases and their occurrence
in human populations.  The application of molecular biology to the public
health sciences puts new demands on education of the major concepts and
technologies that can bridge these disciplines.  This course is intended
for researchers or research students who themselves are performing or are
interested in performing research in molecular epidemiology.  The
course is interdisciplinary and both participants that have a background
in molecular biomedical sciences and participants with background in
epidemiology are welcome.

Contents: Basic concepts of the major molecular technologies involved,
notably: HLA haplotyping; Genotyping of bacterial and viral strains;
Disease susceptibility markers; Seroepidemiology; Screening for
inheritable diseases; Biomarkers in screening for early diagnosis of
disease.

Tutorial of the epidemiological issues in study design and analysis,
notably: Phylogenetic analyses for tracking of bacterial and viral
epidemics; Biases in molecular assays; Biomarker development, validation
and evaluation; Estimation of effects of misclassification; Time-space
clustering and consequent search for unknown etiologies; Case-control,
case-cohort and ecological study designs in molecular epidemiology.
Comprehensive overview of the status of the frontline research in
molecular epidemiology of several major human diseases, notably AIDS and
other viral epidemics, cancer, gastric ulcer and diabetes.

Teachers:  Vis. Prof. Joakim Dillner; Doc. Heikki Hyvty; Doc. Jorma
Ilonen; Doc. Matti Lehtinen; Prof. Pauli Leinikki; Mr. Tapio
Luostarinen; Dr. Mika Matikainen; Prof. Timo Kosunen; Doc. Mika
Salminen; Prof. Ulf-Hekan Stenman; Prof. Antti Vaheri.

Arranged by the Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology of the
National Public Health Institute of Finland and the Public Health School
of the University of Tampere, with support from the Nordic Academy for
Advanced Studies (NorFA) and the Academy of Finland.

Organizing Committee: J. Dillner, H. Huhtala, P. Leinikki, M. Lehtinen, S.
Virtanen.

To obtain application forms and more information, contact Heini Huhtala
(heini.huhtala@uta.fi or fax: +358-3-2156057) or Marja Palander
(marja.palander@ktl.fi or fax: +358-9-47448468)