Hello everyone!

Just like I promised last week, today I would like to explain what Biomedicine is as a university subject/major. People in Slovakia often ask me what it actually is and what I do. Biomedicine as an independent major does not exist in Slovakia. Therefore, my usual short answer is: theoretical medicine, or medicine behind the scenes.

Biomedicine and Medicine go hand in hand. While medical students learn how to take care of patients, what are the symptoms of diseases and what drugs to use for what, biomedical students glimpse onto the very edge of knowledge about the human body from both cellular and molecular perspective. What do I mean by that? Biomed students are mostly taught the same topics as medical students, but we stop in some areas and examine the concepts in depth. Since we are being prepared for scientific research, we learn how to perform experiments and a variety of techniques of how to test our hypotheses, on top of the theory. 

What courses or subjects fall under Biomedicine?

To make you familiar with what I have learned and studied to far, I will name some of them. We started with general and Organic Chemistry, followed by Cell and Stem Cell Biology. We continued with Biochemistry, where we learned about metabolic processes in the body. Another part of biomedicine is Genetics and Genomics. The first year concluded with Chemical Biology, which was the beginning of understanding how drugs are being made. We went to much more depth in the second year, but we could not move on before Biostatistics. During this course, we as young scientists, had to learn how to work with data and use different statistical methods. Immunology and Microbiology were next. It was a long course, but not only did we learn about the immune system in molecular detail, we also looked at bacteria, viruses and parasites. Another part of second year was Tissue Biology and Pathology, which go hand in hand. During the former, we explore the healthy tissue, during the latter, we look at diseases. Neurosciences were breathtaking for a lot of my classmates, but I was more interested in Pharmacology. However, there would be no pharmacology without a proper introduction: Physiology. They are two sides of the same coin. What are the normal physiological processes? How to these processes change during disease? How can we treat them? My last course was Molecular Medicine - Oncology. Among focusing on different types of cancer, their treatment options and current research, we had the opportunity to meet patients on multiple occasions and listen to their stories.

What does one do after Biomedicine?

A lot of students stay in academia, where they perform either basic or translational research. Basic research is a type of research, in which scientists discover new things - proteins, molecules, cellular processes, etc. Translational research refers to when scientists try to bridge the gap between the discoveries and how they can be utilised in the clinics to directly aid patients. Biomed graduates can also work in the industry; meaning being employed in a company that performs research with a certain aim or produces new drugs. Some business minded graduates start their own companies. 

What is the main difference between Biomedicine and Medicine?

As you can see, biomedical research is everything that is happening on the background of medicine. Drugs administered to patients. Tests performed on patients. Or even vaccines. All are the results of research, which biomedicine is a part of. Obviously, a lot of things we learn is theory, but our practical exercises look diametrically different from those of medical students. Whilst medical students do rotations in the hospital and perform dissections, we hide in the laboratory, culture cells, test bacteria for antibiotic resistance or observe behaviour of neurons under a microscope.

In conclusion, I would like to say that I have the utmost admiration for doctors and future doctors for deciding to take this path and for directly helping patients. My colleagues and I will do it in a slightly more remote way.