Introduction to Sub-Molecular Medical and Agricultural Sciences VU Graduate Winter School

Introduction to Sub-Molecular Medical and Agricultural Sciences

Apply now

We live in a world where scientific questions may be the same as years ago but the answers have changed. If one wishes to get results that you have never had before, or had in a different environment which is no longer the same, then one needs to start doing things one has not done before.

We are currently not open for applications. We will announce the new course offer in August 2023. Please leave your details to receive the announcement when we open registrations for VU Graduate Winter School 2024.

Here you can check out the Introduction video for this course!

Picture Nobel Prize in physics (1921) awardee Albert Einstein, in 1942, at an Oxford University lecture where an exam was given to his senior class of physics students. Following the exam, Einstein's assistant questioned whether it was the exact same exam given the previous year. Einstein confirmed it was exactly the same exam. The assistant pressed further as to how could Dr. Einstein do that since it seemed unethically irresponsible. Einstein validated his argument by stating that "the answers have changed".

The first thematic element to this course is "the answers have changed", meaning what Einstein said in 1942 is even more true for today.

We live in a world where scientific questions may be the same as years ago but the answers have changed. This means, what has gotten some here now, will no longer get you to the next destination. If one wishes to get results that you have never had before, or had in a different environment which is no longer the same, then one needs to start doing things one has not done before.

Check out the results from the Charles Collins' Together We Grow campaign, from last year, where we applied the works from the NASA HRP to significantly enhance the growth of plants in the desert, and significant health status changes in the persons who applied the work.
Learn how cancer and neurological disorders are being understood and treated differently using nature's forensic GPS tracing agent deuterium explained in deutenomics. We show and explain how this is visible in MRI images.
Read here what Nobel Prize for Peace 2013 co-recipient Ivan Culjak wrote about the course after experiencing how it changed his life.

Biophysics.org states that “the field of science is at the forefront of solving age-old human problems as well as problems of the future by developing cutting-edge technologies working to develop methods to overcome disease, eradicate global hunger, produce renewable energy sources, and solve countless scientific mysteries”. This requires tackling a wide array of topics, for example, how nerve cells communicate, how plant cells capture light and transform it into energy, how changes in the DNA of healthy cells can trigger their transformation into cancer cells, and an inexhaustible range of other biological problems. Biophysics is a field that applies the theories/models and methods of physics to understand how and why biological systems work. It helps to understand the mechanics of how the molecules of life are made, how different parts of a cell move and function, and how complex systems in our bodies — the brain, circulation, immune system, and others — work.

Quantum biology (QB) is the field that deals with the application of quantum mechanics (QM) to biological processes. QB is generally considered a subdivision of quantum physics. Its application to medicine is termed sub-molecular medical sciences (SMMS), and its application to agriculture is termed sub-molecular agricultural sciences (SMAS), which indirectly also impacts SMMS. SMMS is about taking a complicated QM idea and demonstrating how it manifests itself in life, in this instance, medical treatment and/or diagnostics. SMMS is a domain that may appear hard to believe but an incredible path to be built offering novel treatment options to patients with new perspectives.

We will also publish a paper that is presented to the annual WHO International Advisory Committee, and students with good participation will have their names and data on this paper. The paper is then also presented to Parliament and portfolio committees.

Courses

View courses on offer

Return to homepage

Return to the VU Graduate Winter School homepage

Return to homepage

Stay up to date

Subscribe now!

Dr. Ioana Vrăbiescu is an Assistant Professor at VU. Her recent project DispoCIT: Policing and Deporting EU citizens interrogated how transnational police cooperation in targeting EU citizens for deportation impacts state sovereignty and citizenship dispossession. She's conducted multi-sited fieldwork alongside the deportation apparatus in France and in Romania (ERC project SOLIDERE, UvA), studied the implementation of the European Cohesion Policy at the local level (H2020 project RELOCAL), and conducted research with social services and institutions for migration management in Spain. She's published on topics of migration control, institutional racism in Europe, and intersectional analysis of violence against women. She's an active member in different professional networks, such as DAMR, Migration and Diversity Research Centre (VU), H-Migration, and others.

Complete Course Description
1. Taking a single idea in quantum mechanics and demonstrating it in practical application.
2. The course shall apply the same teaching methodology employed by the NASA HRP (human research program). With the three (3) foundations of analysis examining the interactive and synergistic relationship of Light, Water, and Magnetism.
3. Application of the scientific method. A framework for gaining and organizing knowledge and not simply a set of facts but also a plan of action.
- a. As scientists they will be required to be immersed in nature and observe it. Such observed behaviour is formulated into a statement called Natural Law.
- b. A number of Laws can tell us WHAT happens, but it does tell us the WHY.
- c. We try to explain WHY, and have the students try to explain WHY and continue to make observations from the first-hand experience. Formulate hypotheses, and test against observations.
- d. The hypotheses are assembled into a model. The students then experience the model and or propose a new model through their learning and input.
- e. The taught models provide a set of tested hypotheses that gives an overall explanation of the natural phenomenon observed and experienced.
4. In alignment as an innovative and interactive disciplinary course, Organs of State reviews, and awards have confirmed the topics of interest and analysis to be “highly innovative”. We want the students to be entertained and develop passion in the work. Similarly, to watching an amazing magic show, feeling that spark of wow, and then learning how it was performed and why as a means to interdisciplinary understanding and analysis.
- a. We aim to achieve this by stimulating altered neurochemistry (via POMC) in the brain and cells, targeting the dopamine receptors, promoting the student to wanting to learn more.
5. The why is explained from data collected from scientific instruments for example MRI scans performed on humans, animals, plants, and water.
- a. The history in MRI stems from in 1952, the Noble Prize was given to Felix Bloch and Edward Mills who introduced the concept of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to chemistry and physics in 1946. The quantum idea buried at the heart of the NMR is that one can voluntarily “force” the alteration of atomic orientation of atoms by altering the orientation of the magnetic moment of all atomic nuclei. We can do this by entering into resonance with them. A resonance is a frequency, oscillation or vibration. When we enter a resonance with atomic nuclei, we can modify their overall magnetization by giving them a specific energy in the form of a radio wave at a very precise frequency to disrupt that resonance and measure the effects.
- b. From adjusting the teaching curriculum one can teach students, agriculture scientists and clinicians this interpretative science to allow them to become expert in determining the redox potential of their studied tissues by looking more critically at their MRI images.
- c. MRI's are basically quantum super position images of proton shadows.
- 6. Strongly stated in Chp1 of the textbook Chemical Principles by Dumdahl DeCoste, We see the idea of changing theories in all realms of science. It is also important to keep in mind that scientists are human. They have prejudices; they misinterpret data; they become emotionally attached to their theories and thus lose objectivity; and they play politics. The progress of science is often affected more by the frailties of humans and their institutions than by the limitations of scientific measuring devices. The scientific methods are only as effective as the humans using them. They do not automatically lead to progress.
7. Thereby, the Reviews by Organs of state have found (sub) molecular sciences as an endorsed field to development of the WHY. Stated by the Dept. of Justice and Constitutional Development to the benefit of a more rigorous and fact-based standard to assist in achieving transparent and accountable government.
Students who are already in Amsterdam can come visit and see elements of the course content in practical application implemented in the public spaces of Amsterdam University Medical Center, and opposite residential buildings OurDomain – South East.
Learning objectives

At the end of the course the students will have a firmer grasp of circadian biology and be able to coach others through practical demonstration.
Course preparation (essential pre-readings and materials)

Check out this interactive platform on MIRO. This link is to the board from last year, showing the lectures, required pre-reading and necessary entry requirements as well as students' interactive participations from 2022.
Here you can also access the Youtube channel that features a number of videos related to the course.
On the board you will see at the end of each day students are assigned tasks.
Students are required to read the book provided to them Health and Light by John Ott before the course. This is an easy weekend read, and helps set the flow and reference points for the course. You can purchase it online or download a copy.
Mandatory requirement: each day students must see the sunrise, take a picture and send the time-stamped image to the lecturer. If one day is missed, then the student automatically fails the course. This was done last year and it worked extremely well. With each day the class will go through the adjustments made by students.
P.S. different time zones are taken into account, and there is flexibility around those.
Students will need to purchase beforehand some simple supplies from the Hardware store to construct and implement these tasks. Students who have an iPhone OLED screen or OLED TV will get the most benefit and experience.
Forms of tuition

The course is taught through a mix of about 5-6 hours of daily lectures and pre-recorded lectures as well as a round-up Q&A session. At the end of each day students are assigned tasks and there's also an obligatory sunrise task.
Students have tasks they do in their own time during the course. These are exercises of pragmatic quantum biology
There is extra bonus textbooks to expand on the subject matters.
Each day, pre-recorded lectures will be released, but students will not be able to view them all in advance.
Assessment
Mandatory requirement to pass the course: Sunrise task.
- Each day students must see the sunrise, take a picture and send the time-stamped image to the lecturer. If one day is missed, then the student automatically fails the course. This was done last year and it worked extremely well. With each day the class will go through the adjustments made by students.
At the end of the course, the students are given 2 weeks in which to complete the exam. This allows them to go back and look at the recorded lectures from the week. A grade is given for this.
Students will be able to conduct a case study and publish it.
At the end of the course we publish a paper that is presented to the annual WHO International Advisory Committee, and students that participate and demonstrate their abilities have their names and data on this paper. The paper is then also presented to Parliament and portfolio committees.