Geomedicine

The course is aimed at those who are interested in the connection and the impact of minerals and geochemical elements on health. The course is designed in the form of lectures held by Nina Zupancic and Nastja Rogan Šmuc and tutorials, where students prepare a lecture and present it to the colleagues.
The content partly concerns the field of chemistry and biology, where we will learn about the mechanisms of the intake of elements to the cell or/and living organisms. You get knowledge about the biological function of the elements and the responses of organisms to them. You will discover what elements and in what proportions are essential for organisms and which of them may be potentially toxic. You will learn how to distinguish between natural abundance of elements, their anthropogenic sources and the importance of speciation of elements. We will identify and define geological impact on nutrition of plants and animals. You’ll learn the geological origin of individual elements and their biological importance. Part of the lectures will be devoted to environmental epidemiology, pathology and toxicology.