SciMed is a structured MD program for scientifically interested students of human and dental medicine. The program is divided into two parts.
The fist part is called Pre-SciMed, which starts during the preclinical studies and lasts for two semesters. It consists of a lectures series, a seminar and a practical course. The lectures focus on methods in molecular biology, biochemistry and physiology. In the seminars, the students present scientific publications. During the practical course, students gain skills in laboratory techniques. This part of the program prepares for an ambitious experimental MD thesis in an optimal way.
Pre-SciMed is followed by the second part termed SciMed, which encompasses work on the MD thesis. Doctoral students are expected to spend at least one year in the laboratory and have to take one semester off to fully concentrate on their experiments. The BONFOR program provides stipends to support doctoral students during their work on the thesis. In addition, the SciMed program provides systematic scientific basic training (lectures and practical parts) as well as mentoring to achieve a high-quality doctoral thesis.