The course of Biochemistry aims to provide to the students the basis to understanding the physical, chemical and biological contexts in which molecules, reactions and metabolic pathways play their role. Particular attention will be given to the structure and function relationship of the major classes of macromolecules as also to the metabolic regulation at the molecular and cellular level. In order to stimulate student interest, the topics will be explained emphasizing the logical and consequential interconnections emphasizing the clinical aspects and introducing experimental methods. At the end of the present course, the student will understand the structure-function relationships of the main biological molecules, essential biochemical mechanisms that underlie a proper metabolic function and the consequences of their alterations.
The course of Biochemistry and Molecular biology aims to provide to the students the basis to understanding the physical, chemical and biological contexts in which molecules, reactions and metabolic pathways play their role. Particular attention will be given to the structure and function relationship of the major classes of macromolecules as also to the metabolic regulation at the molecular and cellular level. In order to stimulate student interest the topics will be explained emphasizing the logical and consequential interconnections emphasizing the clinical aspects and introducing experimental methods. At the end of the present course the student will understand the structure-function relationships of the main biological molecules, essential biochemical mechanisms that underlie a proper metabolic function and the consequences of their alterations.
The aim of the course is to make the student understand the role of genetic tests in the patient's clinical path and to provide an updated view of the molecular biology methods that are applied in the clinical field. At the end of the course the student will acquire the knowledge of the application principles of techniques for detecting genetic alterations.
The teaching of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology, of the integrated course of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, aims to provide to the students the basic and methodological notions to the comprehension and interpretation of the results obtained from the biochemical-molecular diagnostic investigations of biological samples for the characterization of conditions pathophysiology and pathology of organs and tissues. At the end of the course the student will acquire the knowledge of the biological and biochemical parameters and of the indicators of the alterations which are at the base of some diseases widely spread in the population.
The course will be delivered as direct lectures ex-cathedra, with the support of ppt slides.
The course content will be the following:
NUCLEIC ACIDS: STRUCTURE
EUKARYOTIC GENOMES AND GENES
GENETIC INFORMATION AND MOLECULAR MECHANISM OF HEREDITY. RNA CLASSES - REPLICATION
PROTEIN SYNTHESIS – Ribosomes - inhibitor of protein synthesis
GENETIC CODE
TRANSCRIPTION – MECHANISM - PROMOTER . RNA POL
TRANSCRIPTION REGULATION IN PROKARYOTES - OPERONS
TRANSCRIPTION REGULATION IN EUKARYOTES : RNA pol - TRANSCRIPTION FACTORS
Splicing AND alternative Splicing
THE MAIN TECHNIQUES IN MOLECULAR BIOLOGY
RESTRICTION ENZYMES, Southern e Northern blot – DNA sequencing
VECTORS - Cloning
PCR
Clinical Molecular Biology tests.
Clinical molecular diagnostics: biological material and general techniques of clinical molecular biology.
Spectrophotometric techniques for nucleic acid and protein analysis.
Genome and gene expression analysis.
New generation sequencing platforms.
Recombinant biotechnologies for clinical diagnosis.
Enzymatic tools of genetic engineering.
Molecular technologies.
Introduction to Clinical Biochemistry: collection, transport and storage, treatment and causes of alteration of biological samples.Analytical and statistical concepts in data analysis: pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical variability, biological variability, diagnostic sensitivity and specificity, predictive value of a test, quality control of analytical methods, principles of bioinformatics and biobanks.
Laboratory analysis in diseases of the liver and biliary tract. Markers of hepatic injury.
Laboratory analysis in cardiovascular diseases. Cardiac injury markers.
Laboratory analysis in kidney diseases. Indices of renal function.
Clinical molecular diagnostics: application of the omic sciences in the laboratory, nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics.
Immunochemical techniques.
Metabolomics in laboratory medicine.
Genomic and proteomic biomarkers.
1. Siliprandi-Tettamanti. Biochimica Medica. Piccin.
2. Nelson Cox. I principi di Biochimica di Lehninger. Zanichelli
The suggested textbooks are italian translations of english books. The student can refer to the same work in the original language.
Watson, J.D. et al., Biologia Molecolare del gene VII ed., Zanichelli 2015
Zlatanova & van Holde, Biologia molecolare, Zanchelli 2018
In the last chapters of the Biochemistry book here listed, there is a resumè of the course contents.
Nelson & Cox, I principi di Biochimica di Lehninger, Zanichelli 2010
1) Biologia Molecolare. F. Amaldi, P. Benedetti, G. Pesole, P. Plevani. CEA edizioni.
2) Medicina di laboratorio. Logica e patologia clinica. I. Antonozzi, E. Gulletta, Piccin.
3) Le analisi personalizzate nella medicina di laboratorio. L. Spandrio, B. Milanesi. Piccin.
1) Biochimica Clinica e Medicina di Laboratorio. M. Ciaccio, G. Lippi. Edises.
2) Medicina di laboratorio. Logica e patologia clinica. I. Antonozzi, E. Gulletta, Piccin.
3) Medicina di Laboratorio. G. Federici. McGraw-Hill Education.
4) Le analisi personalizzate nella medicina di laboratorio. L. Spandrio, B. Milanesi, Piccin.