Teaching

We provide teaching in the structure of domestic animals on both macroscopic and microscopic levels, from organs and the entire body to tissues and cells. The primary species are dog, cat, cattle, sheep, horse and pig, but other, more exotic animals are also studied. In developmental biology, we study the development of a new animal, the mechanisms regulating the development, the effects of medical substances and other environmental factors on development, and how developmental biology expertise can be applied in, among other things, production animal embryo technology. 

In addition to lectures and group work, teaching consists of abundant dissection and microscopy exercises. Besides dissection, plastination models are used in macroanatomy teaching to illustrate soft tissue structures.

Plastination models

The vast majority of teaching has been integrated with physiology, biochemistry and genetics into the Functional Organism study module worth 50 credits, during which students familiarise themselves with the structural and functional features of the body in healthy animals. This lays a solid foundation for understanding various functional disorders. In addition, part of the teaching is given under the Introduction to Clinical Veterinary Medicine study module.

Due to copyright reasons, learning materials are primarily available to students only, but here are some excerpts:

Microscopic anatomy or histology:
The collection of teaching sections in veterinary histology is freely available at the WebMicroscope service.

Further teaching material

• Identifying cell types in tissue sections with immunohistochemical methods (PDF, 2 MB)

MPEG video clips (not necessarily viewable with PowerPoint via the Internet):

• Paraffin embedding
• Paraffin sectioning with a microtome
• Lifting sections on slides
• Freezing samples for cryosection production
• Cryosectioning
• Manual staining
• Mounting stained slides
• Using the microscope
• VIELO: Virtual organ models in veterinary medicine teaching 
• We produce interactive, three-dimensional models of objects in veterinary anatomy that are hard to perceive with traditional methods.
• Research in anatomy and developmental biology

Biochemistry stands for the chemistry of life; in other words, biochemistry views the body and its constituent cells as chemical processes. Cell biology investigates cellular functions starting from the molecular level, and molecular biology mainly the nucleic acids DNA and RNA and protein synthesis.

Biochemistry and cell and molecular biology are the most central basic biomedical sciences supporting each other at both the conceptual and technical levels. Most of the Nobel laureates in medicine/physiology and chemistry are biochemists or cell or molecular biologists, which illustrates the central role of these sciences. In veterinary medicine, the studies in biochemistry and cell and molecular biology create a foundation for further studies in, for example, physiology, pharmacology and genetics.

The discipline of physiology is concerned with the functioning of cells, tissues, organs and animals. Teaching in veterinary physiology has been integrated with veterinary anatomy and biochemistry into the Functional Organism study module encompassing the first year of studies in the Degree Programme in Veterinary Medicine.

Studies examine both the general principles of vital functions and differences between various species, with emphasis on areas and species important to veterinary medicine. Teaching focuses on the normal functioning of the body. In addition, some clinically interesting disorders in vital functions are examined as examples of the interconnections between physiology and practical veterinary medicine.

The discipline of veterinary microbiology and epidemiology is responsible for the teaching in veterinary bacteriology, virology, mycology, immunology and epidemiology. This education provides prospective veterinarians with the required professional skills in infectious diseases in animals, host-microbe interactions and microbial diagnostics. The studies also include being acquainted with the legal duties of veterinarians in preventing infectious diseases in animals.

Microbiology and immunology

Teaching in veterinary microbiology and immunology is given during the second year of studies as part of the Disease Causes, Consequences and Prevention  study module, which belongs to the intermediate studies of the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine degree. The module includes an introduction to bacteriology, virology, mycology and immunology, and examines the basic characteristics of microbes, infectious pathogens relevant to veterinary medicine and the principles of related diagnostics, antimicrobial drugs and resistance to antibiotics, defence mechanisms of the body, as well as factors related to host-microbe interaction.

Epidemiology

Teaching in epidemiology is given during the third year of studies in two courses: infection epidemiology, which is part of the Disease Causes, Consequences and Prevention module, and evidence-based veterinary medicine, which is part of the basic studies in veterinary medicine.

Infection epidemiology examines the principles concerning the transmission, spread and adherence of animal infections and zoonoses, as well as Finnish legislation on veterinary medicine as regards diseases. The main focus is on disease prevention. Teaching in evidence-based veterinary medicine consists of the core ideas of the subject, analytical epidemiology and biostatistics related to disease contagion in populations, and the exploration of, for example, disease outbreaks. The EBVM course provides students with a solid foundation for reading articles critically, drafting research plans and avoiding research illusions, as well as analysing and interpreting research results. The course is beneficial to those writing a Licentiate thesis and researchers for planning their research. The two courses support each other and offer a preview of the work of veterinarians in public healthcare. Their material is available through the Moodle learning platform.

Pathology

Pathology is the subject which explains the birth mechanisms of diseases, how diseases cause changes and the consequences of these changes. As a discipline, pathology acts as a connection between the basic and clinical sciences. As a science, pathology studies responses to different forms of stimuli; observations can be carried out on a molecular level (molecular pathology), cell level (cellular pathology) or tissue level (histopathology), or the study subject can be an entire organ or animal (macropathology).

Lectures are divided between general pathology (28 hours) and organ pathology (50 hours). The course in histopathology examines microscopic changes on the tissue level, whereas the obduction course offers opportunities to conduct autopsies.

Parasitology 

In addition to teaching in pathology, the discipline is responsible for providing teaching in parasitology, which is concerned with parasites. Students will become familiar with the Finnish parasitic species most relevant to veterinary medicine and gain an understanding of the most important parasite groups and human parasitic diseases globally. Students will learn about the basic methods of parasite diagnostics.

The course explores a large number of medically significant parasites, their taxonomy, morphology, life cycle, host responses and diagnostics. The prevention and treatment of parasitic diseases in animals will be briefly discussed for each parasite group. In addition, topical parasite research will be presented.