From 15th July to 2nd August, under the leadership of Professor Ximiao He, 11 students currently studying in Medical Experimental Technology (Grade 2), Clinical medicine (Grade 2 and 3) and Stomatology (Grade 2) attended the program of Biomedical Sciences: From Laboratory Bench to Hospital Bedside in Birmingham International Summer School.

Figure 1: Group photo with the teacher and students at the University of Birmingham campus

The course is offered by the Medical School of University of Birmingham, which is one of the largest medical schools in the UK, renowned in the field of biomedical science. The school possesses an experienced research and teaching faculty as well as several affiliated hospitals including Queen Elizabeth Hospital. In addition, the school of Translational Medicine with first-class equipment and top technology is being built to integrate basic medical research and clinical trials perfectly.

                                                 Figure 2: Rainbow after the rain at Birmingham University

In this course, we first learned about the history of University of Birmingham and the history of the Medical school. Besides, as an industrial city, Birmingham is blessed with an abundant history of the development in modern sciences, which truly enriched our knowledge. In addition, the two main courses - Laboratory Bench and Hospital Bedside were perfectly well-organized, the lessons of which were given by several senior professors who explained obscure and edged knowledge in creative ways so that we could absorb it easily. To summarize in detail, the professors not only taught us many common courses, including Authentic English expression and scientific English use, but also introduced to us a multiply of professional knowledge and skills, such as MTT viability assay、Iron titration UV-Vis spectroscopy、Ferrozine assay、qRT-PCR、Western Blotting and many other laboratory scientific research courses. Apart from above, in the course of Hospital Bedside, students also got access to British medical security service chain and medical system, practicing urine test and other clinical courses covering clinical medicine, pharmacy, nursing, biotechnology and so on. All students have benefited a lot.

Figure 3: Birmingham Canal

The course teaching of University of Birmingham adopted various teaching methods, including large-class teaching, group teaching, group discussion, scene teaching, laboratory practicing, demonstration class, role playing and so on. In most cases you would see students are divided into different groups to perform different research tasks, which includes learn autonomously by reading literature review, participating in group discussion or distributing tasks as a team leader. In the end of the course, each student was required to give a presentation in English, which meant the instructions from professors were extremely essential and students were supposed to take the initiative to turn to them for academic help.

The students had learnt plenty of professional knowledge and skills from the world's leading experts. Students studying in the course of Hospital Bedside got to know the NHS and mastered some practical study methods relevant to medicine through in-depth discussion with general GPs, clinicians, scholars, and lecturers. Through hands-on sessions, students got a taste of cutting-edge equipment and teaching methods.Their clinical skills courses including doctor-patient communication were very useful. Students in the Laboratory Bench course managed to combine theory and practice, completed three weeks of a set of continuous experiments themed "The role of different substances in chocolate in the treatment of iron deficiency anemia" in the laboratory. They preliminarily mastered the important experimental technologies such as qRT-PCR and Western Blotting. They also independently performed scientific research tasks such as data analysis, literature retrieval, and finally managed to present nearly perfect personal results. At the end of the course, University of Birmingham held a grand graduation ceremony for the international summer school, and each student was presented with a certificate.

Figure 4: Part of the experimental record of the Laboratory Bench course

                                         Figure 5: Part of the course record for the Hospital Bedside course

 The three-week experience of higher education in England inspired students to reflect on what Chinese education can draw on its strength. For example, using heuristic teaching instead of simply cramming, letting students themselves find out appropriate experiment conditions and the meaning of each steps; recruiting a TA to make classes more accessible and efficient; giving abundant opportunities for student presentations to boost their presentation skills; and also enhancing appeal to students by using vivid gestures, inspiring speeches and ultimately by really putting their hearts into teaching.

There are excellent extra curriculum activities, too. Whether it was barbecue on BISS induction day, street dance class, Games Night, formal dinner, visits to museums, going to “Annie” the musical, or daytrips to Oxford, Cambridge, Liverpool and Manchester, it was a wonderful experience exploring sites and culture of England, getting a glimpse of the intriguing history and architecture of the world’s best academies together with friends from 13 different countries.

Figure 6: Punting in Cambridge

Figure 7: Liverpool Cathedral

After more than half a month of course learning and various practical activities, the final poster shows that the summer study in Birmingham of Tongji basic medical college has come to an end and the trip to England has put across completed. Can Cao, a sophomore major in medical experimental technology , expressed her feelings, ‘This summer exchange program not only improves my life ability, but also makes my scientific research quality greatly enhanced. The Western blotting experiment enables me to consolidate the operational protocols learned in domestic laboratories. Additionally, it’s refreshing for me to carry out MTT Assay to determine cell viability. Not to mention that making academic posters is a challenge but a practical skill that I have mastered, and it also an exercise to my scientific research abilities， such as searching theses and processing experimental results, by a large margin. Meanwhile, the multifarious social activities and short trips arranged every week have given me a deeper understanding of British customs and culture. It's been the very fulfilling three weeks!’ Zishan Feng, a sophomore majoring in clinical medicine said, ’During the three-week learning at Birmingham University, not only did I gain academic knowledge and experimental skills, but I obtained the opportunity of self-transformation as well—to experience a more diversified life in this new environment, to be open to make friends, to think and make decisions independently.’

Figure 8: Together with our teacher Richard after poster presentation

                                             Figure 9: All students in BISS