Undergraduate Exchange Programs
Come join Sup’Biotech’s International Class and study at France’s leading private Biotechnology education institution.
Sup’Biotech’s curriculum is a multidisciplinary balance between science and engineering coursework (lectures, practical laboratory work and projects), management skills, industrial know-how and knowledge of both domestic and international biotechnology markets.
Each Biotech 3 undergraduate exchange semester offers a set customized 30 ECTS program for all students enrolled.
In addition to the classes offered, participants attend extra workshops aimed at developing interpersonal and teamwork skills and at enhancing their experience in the intercultural environment of their class.
Autumn semester 2023/2024 (September to December)
Semester overview and credit breakdown:
Course descriptions:
Minor (6 ECTS)
Students chose one of the orientations below for their semester. 2 intensive weeks will be dedicated to working on the selected field.
- Agri-Food: Food Preservation and Traceability, Quality Control, Practical Work-Sensorial Analysis
- Cosmetics: Reconstituted Skin, Quality Control, Sensorial Analysis, Practical Work
- Environment: Risk Management, Pollution-Bioremediation, Soil Science and Urban Ecology
- Health: Angiogenesis, Medicinal Chemistry, Neurobiology, Molecular Innovation
*The availability of each Minor is subject to the number of students enrolled
Cell Biology & Stem Cells (4 ECTS)
In-depth exploration of cell biology and the mechanisms governing the maintenance of stem cell properties, including phenotypical and functional assays, as well as the mechanisms at play in differentiation and cellular reprogramming.
During workshop sessions, students study articles in class in order to apply the concepts studied based on the scientific literature. Workshops are focused on techniques used in cell biology, and are based on published protocols and scientific articles. Students will also mobilizing theoretical knowledge and applying it during a Stem Cell Biology practical session. .
This course aims to give students the basis to understand the utilization of cell culture techniques in novel biotech applications (vaccines, cell therapy, gene therapy…)
Sup’Biotech Innovation Project – SBIP (6 ECTS)
Working as part of a team on innovative entrepreneurship projects. Developing skills in project management andteamwork.
The different phases of the project are:
- Introduction: identifying topic, market research, benchmarking, key figures, client needs, impact
- Exploration: bibliographical research, identifying solution inspiring models
- Construction/conception: regulations, marketing, science, and techniques
- Testing/validation: R&D strategy, networking, developing financial model
- Pitching
Bioinformatics Tools A (4 ECTS)
As an introduction, this course aims at giving students general notions of bioinformatics and the different fields in which we can apply it. Key features of the main “Omics” sciences will be presented, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and metagenomics. They will understand the past and the state-of-the art of a wide range of techniques in the field. As general objectives, students will learn about the theory behind and how to exploit online resources (both databases and tools to work easily and get complete outputs). A brief supervised introduction to R, a programming language widely used in this type of bioinformatics analysis, will also be given. As cross-cutting competences, the aim is to develop students’ ability to generate and present scientific results through oral presentations throughout the course.
Industrial Engineering A (4 ECTS)
The objective of this course is to give students a global vision of the equipment’s used in Bio-Process industries, and provides students with an introduction to principal concepts and methods of fluid mechanics and heat exchanges.
Students will also have the opportunity to demonstrate a familiarity and ability to work on fluid mechanics, heat exchangers and filtration during practical sessions. Four practical works have been designed to allow students to apply the courses (fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat exchanges). Practicals in small groups (18 students maximum) are carried out on pilot-scale installations, in the presence of two teachers to allow effective supervision in complete safety.
French as a foreign language (2 ECTS)
Two levels available:
- Beginner: gaining the basics of the French language through a practical approach. Achieving communicativespeaking goals to be able to function in simple everyday life contexts. Discovering the basics of Frenchculture through simple examples.
- Intermediate/Advanced: improving and practicing communicative skills through individual and groupclassroom and take-home activities. Working on oral expression and presentation skills. Gaining awarenessof French culture through different topics (gastronomy, culture, geography etc.)
Business Game – RUSH (2 ECTS)
Immersing students in an intensive and intense serious game activity. Encouraging teamwork and developing problem solving skills. The activity is run on a large scale with students from different years and sometimes in collaboration with other schools. The specific topic and content are not revealed in advance as the objective for students is to manage to perform in a context for which they are unprepared.
Sustainable Development & Society (2 ECTS)
The course is a general introduction to the concepts and issues of Sustainable Development (SD) in an interdisciplinary and systems-oriented context. The relationship between how the economy functions and the environment functions will be investigated. The role of governments, society and businesses (Environmental Value Systems and Environmental Justice) in the effective formation and efficient implementation of policies involving SD will be examined.
A field trip will be organized after the first five sessions. On completion of the course, the student should be able to: critically understand the concepts and history of SD, analyse and complex interdisciplinary issues from the different stakeholder points of view (political, social, economic and ethical), propose substantive advice and solutions to the different problems sustainable development engages through a critical analysis of different actors’ norms and perspectives.
* The list of courses may be modified during the semester
Spring semester 2023/2024 (February to July)
Semester overview and credit breakdown:
Course descriptions:
Minor (6 ECTS)
Students chose one of the orientations below for their semester. 2 intensive weeks will be dedicated to working on the selected field.
- Agri-Food: Food Preservation and Traceability, Quality Control, Practical Work-Sensorial Analysis
- Environment: Risk Management, Pollution-Bioremediation, Soil Science and Urban Ecology
- Health: Angiogenesis, Medicinal Chemistry, Neurobiology, Molecular Innovation
- Cosmetics: Reconstituted Skin, Quality Control, Sensorial Analysis, Practical Work
*The availability of each Minor is subject to the number of students enrolled
(6 ECTS)
Genetic & Cellular Engineering (4 ECTS)
With the multitude of genome manipulation techniques developed in recent years, the importance of biotechnology in our society continues to grow in the face of the upcoming societal and environmental challenges that arose for mankind. In these classes will first be given a general presentation of the concepts of genetic engineering commonly used in research today (most notably cloning, sequencing and genome editing). Students will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of these techniques during the semester, through reading and analysing scientific papers related to these topics of research. At the end of the semester, practical sessions based on these standard techniques will also be held to strengthen their experimental skills. Finally, students will be particularly challenged to consider the various ethical and moral aspects surrounding this scientific field, in order to exercise their critical thinking and elocution through debates organised around various current topics, such as the use of CRISPR-Cas9 technology to cure major diseases, or the place of GMOs in the future of agriculture for example.
Sup’Biotech Innovation Project – SBIP (6 ECTS)
Working as part of a team on innovative entrepreneurship projects. Developing skills in project management andteamwork.
The different phases of the project are:
- Introduction: identifying topic, market research, benchmarking, key figures, client needs, impact
- Exploration: bibliographical research, identifying solution inspiring models
- Construction/conception: regulations, marketing, science, and techniques
- Testing/validation: R&D strategy, networking, developing financial model
- Pitching
Bioinformatics Tools B (4 ECTS)
A short recap on the evolution of bioinformatics as a research field will be given and the tight link to computer science and big data exploration. In detail the fields of DNA and RNA sequence analysis and sequencing technologies that have evolved and are still rapidly evolving will be discussed. The course will then start from the analysis of a single genome to a wider community-based approach encompassing meta-omics (Metagenomics, Metatranscriptomics, Metabolomics & Metaproteomics) analysis with practical examples in human microbiomes as well as in environmental datasets. Programming languages such as R & Python will be introduced and a small case study for sequence alignment and phylogeny will be conducted. The introduction of open science and FAIR data approaches will provide students with cutting edge knowledge for big data analysis.
Industrial Engineering B (4 ECTS)
“Process Engineering”, a crossroads of disciplines, brings together knowledge and know-how that allow the industrial transformation of natural or synthetic raw materials into products produced by a succession of operations.
The primary purpose of Process Engineering is to determine the sizing, layout and operation of process industry devices to achieve the required performance.
There are two major classes of process devices:
- Separations between different chemical (or biochemical) species
- Transformations of the constituents by chemical reaction (or fermentation). These transformations are performed in chemical or biological reactors (fermenters)
From the raw material, it is necessary, in a first step, to operate separations to purify the constituents that we use, then react them to synthesize the products we want to obtain by means of a reactor (chemical or biological). After this step, the reaction products are most often accompanied by unconsumed/unused reactants and of by-products. Again, separations must be made to bring the products to the required degree of commercial purity on the one hand and to recycle reagents and by-products on the other hand.
The objective of this course is to give students a global vision of the separation equipment used in Process industries, their sizing and the optimization of their operation.
Students will also have the opportunity to demonstrate a familiarity and ability to work drier and liquid-liquid extraction Pilots during practical sessions.
French as a foreign language (2 ECTS)
Two levels available:
- Beginner: gaining the basics of the French language through a practical approach. Achieving communicativespeaking goals to be able to function in simple everyday life contexts. Discovering the basics of Frenchculture through simple examples.
- Intermediate/Advanced: improving and practicing communicative skills through individual and groupclassroom and take-home activities. Working on oral expression and presentation skills. Gaining awarenessof French culture through different topics (gastronomy, culture, geography etc.)
Business Game – RUSH (2 ECTS)
Immersing students in an intensive and intense serious game activity. Encouraging teamwork and developing problem solving skills. The activity is run on a large scale with students from different years and sometimes in collaboration with other schools. The specific topic and content are not revealed in advance as the objective for students is to manage to perform in a context for which they are unprepared.
Biology in Society (2 ECTS)
Biology in Society is a survey course that addresses the role biology plays in different sectors of human society: social, economic, technological and ethical. Topics covered include biology’s role in biodiversity (both domestic biodiversity and in the wild); the historical impact biology has had in terms of biotechnology, vaccination, antibiotics and reproductive control; controversies surrounding biotechnology ranging from GMOs to designer genomes and personalized medicine; the social construction of disease concepts and the role society plays in the development and propagation of diseases (epidemics and pandemics); the role biology is beginning to play in the transition to sustainable development and sustainable agriculture.
A field trip will be organized after the first three sessions.
Upon completion of the course students should be able to address and analyze the rapid evolution of biotechnology in the framework of the social, political and environmental issues biotechnology will raise, and are expected to propose reasonable and actionable approaches to address the impact (negative and positive) that the emerging biotechnologies will have on human societies.
* The list of courses may be modified during the semester