Within the application form, applicants are asked to provide a Graduate Record Examination certificate (see www.ets.org/gre/). The best candidates according to the written applications will be ranked along the results of their GRE certificates. Assuming that some applicants won’t be able to present a GRE certificate, the most promising candidates will be invited to participate in an online multiple-choice test with questions from each of the four thematic areas within CCHD (neurobiology, vascular biology, immunology, and inflammation). For that purpose, 45 questions will be available at a World Wide Web site that is only accessible with a username and an according password.
By email, a date and a time period for the performance of the online test will be arranged; during that time period, the applicant needs to be reachable by telephone. On the phone, the candidate will receive the entire access information, and will then be given 30 minutes to complete the online test. After these 30 minutes, the online questionnaire is deactivated, and the test is evaluated. The results of the test will be emailed to the candidate. Only candidates who are able to correctly answer at least 67% of the questions (i.e. 30) will be eligible to come to Vienna for the hearing and for personal interviews. Below, several sample questions are listed.
Assuming that the extracellular Na+ concentration in mammalian skeletal muscles is about 150 mM and the intracellular Na+ concentration is about 15 mM, what is the approximate Na+ equilibrium potential?
A) -60 mV
B) -30 mV
C) 0 MV
D) +30 mV
E) +60 MV
Blood platelets are generated from
A) megakaryocytes
B) monocytes
C) lymphocytes
D) granulocytes
E) endothelial cells
If a compound binds with an affinity (KD = dissociation constant) of 1 nM to a receptor, how many receptors are occupied if this compound is present at 10 nM?
about
A) 1%
B) 10%
C) 50%
D) 90%
E) 99%
The association rate constant for binding of a compound to a given receptor is 107 M-1 s-1. The KD is 1 nM. What is the approximate half-life of the dissociation reaction?
A) 150 s
B) 70 s
C) 15 s
D) 7 s
E) 1 s
Which of the following protein domains binds specifically to phosho-tyrosine residues?
A) SH2-domain
B) SH3-domain
C) PDZ-domain
D) PH-domain
E) WD40-repeat
What is the structural hallmark of a G protein-coupled receptor?
A) 1 transmembrane spanning alpha-helix, (type-II topology = C-terminus extracellular)
B) 4 transmembrane spanning alpha-helices, N- and C-terminus extracellular
C) 4 transmembrane spanning alpha-helices, N-terminus and C-terminus intracellular
D) 7 transmembrane spanning alpha-helices, N-terminus extracellular
E) 12 transmembrane spanning alpha-helices, N-terminus and C-terminus intracellular
Hereditary diabetes insipidus may be caused by mutations in
A) Vasopressin V1 receptors
B) Na+/K+/CL- cotransporters
C) mineralocorticoid receptors
D) Aquaporin-2
E) CLC-1 chloride channels
