Human Biology

Research of the human population (both recent and historical) can no longer be carried out only by the classical way. Into human biology research is necessary to integrate new laboratory, experimental methods from the biological fields. Especially methods of genetic and molecular biology.

The aim of the study program Human Biology is to create an experimental study course that will educate specialists able to apply methodology used in biology and chemistry, with a special focus on methods of genetics and molecular biology in the research of the human population (both recent and historical). Specialists who have been trained to work in a molecular biology lab, they have been able to apply the latest methods to both the recent man and the historical person. But at the same time, they have extensive knowledge of human anatomy and classical biological anthropology on the level of both the recent and the historical population. At the same time, they would be able to combine the knowledge gained by the latest laboratory methods at the molecular level and the classical anthropological pathway and were able to capture the whole human being from the molecular level. The teaching of application and modification of molecular biology and genetics methods to the anthropological material is an important feature characterizing program Human Biology.

After successfully completing his/her studies the graduate is able to:

• be oriented in problems of the genetics and molecular biology with a focus on human
• examine human and his features (this concerns both the recent population and the historical skeletal material) in the context of its coexistence with the surrounding environment and the interaction with it
• work in laboratory in general and to learn using equipments in a biological laboratory, including work with molecular biology analyzers
• explain the principles of working with ancient DNA and the specifics of laboratory equipment for the study of aDNA
• be oriented in problems of the biological anthropology (living human and skeletal anthropology)
• combine knowledge from genetics and anthropology and to interpret the results of molecular biological analyzes in connection with the with the knowledge of anthropology
• work in the field on archaeological sites to digging up skeletal remains of humans and to prove sampling for genetic analysis of historical skeletal material

The advantage of graduates of the Human Biology study program is the interconnection of knowledge in the fields of anthropology and molecular biology and genetics and the knowledge of work in the laboratory, which extends their possibilities of finding a job.

The graduate of the Human Biology study program is prepared for work in the field of biological anthropology and areas of molecular biology and genetics. This guarantees quite a wide range of possibilities to succeed. A graduate can work in archeological organizations, museums, universities, in healthcare, in the field of recent population studies or in laboratories with genetic analysis. Students can also found a job in companies which focus on the development of new products in molecular biology or their applications. Last but not least, they can find a job in both national and private forensic laboratories.

Students of the master's degree course will pass the field practice in the spring semester of the first year within a minimum of one week (5 working days). The content of the practice is to work with the human skeletal material or practice in an institution working with members of recent human populations. The area of practice is selected by the student according to the diploma thesis. The student will find the workplace by himself, after prior consultation with the supervisor of practice, who has to approve workplace selection.

Formal requirements for the diploma thesis in the Human Biology Study Program are governed by the requirements of the MU Faculty of Science (Dean's Decree 5/2014) published on the website of the MU Faculty of Science http://www.sci.muni.cz/NW/predpisy/od/OD-2014 -05.pdf.

The diploma thesis in the Human Biology study program has an attribute of an independent empirical research in the field of biological anthropology and molecular biology and human genetics. At work, the student must demonstrate that he is capable of planning and realization of experimental research, orientation in problems, interpretation of results and work with literary sources. The presentation of the results and conclusions of the thesis is in the form of a short lecture with a PowerPoint presentation (the lecture is not longer than 15 minutes), in which the student proves that she/he is able to present the topic, problems and results of his work to the professional audience in understandable and condensed form. And she/he is able to respond to questions from opponents, members of the examination committee and the professional audience.

The graduate of the Master's program of Human Biology can continue (after the admission requirements) in doctoral studies in the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University: Molecular and Cell Biology, General and Molecular Genetics, Anthropology. The graduate can continue in doctoral studies in the Faculty of Medicine or in similarly conceived fields of doctoral studies at other universities in the Czech Republic or abroad.