ADVANCED BIOCHEMISTRY

The Advanced Biochemistry course aims to provide the student with an advanced and operational preparation on the structure and function of biological systems, the bases of which were acquired with the first level degree.

Frontal lessons

Folding, transport, intracellular degradation of proteins
Introduction to protein folding. Molecular chaperones: general characteristics and principles of operation. Protein degradation: ubiquitination, proteasome and autophagy. Cellular targeting. Transport mechanisms. The secretory pathway: translocation, modification and folding of proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum. Quality control and functions of the Endoplasmic Reticulum. Glycosylation of proteins: glycan code, dedicated chaperones and folding mechanisms. Unfolding Protein Response (UPR) and ERAD (ER associated Degradation). Misfolding pathologies.
Cellular trafficking: lipids, membranes and vesicles
References to the lipid composition of biological membranes and their importance in the architecture of the different compartments and vesicles. Topology of transmembrane proteins. Regulation of enzymatic activities by compartmentalization. Lipid rafts and extracellular matrix.
Biosignaling: Receptor and Ligand Structure-Function and Signal TransmissionThe signal transduction pathways of RAS / PKA, SNF1 / AMPK, TOR, JAK / STAT, PI3K AND MAPK. The tyrosine kinase receptors and steroid receptors. Non-receptor tyrosine kinases. Receptors associated with G.

Dynamics of the mitochondrial network: Biochemistry of fusion / fission processes and quality control of mitochondria; structure and function of high molecular weight GTPase proteins such as Dnm1 / Drp1, Mitofusine and Opa1. Molecular mechanisms of quality control of mitochondria: role of PINK1 and Parkin in mitophagy. Oxidative stress: biochemistry and biological role of antioxidant enzymes. Role of the redox state in the processes of cell proliferation and death. Role of nitric oxide in physio-pathological processes. Redox mechanisms implicated in carcinogenesis. Mitohormesis

Biochemistry of the tumor cell. Metabolic adaptation of cancer cells. The response to hypoxia and transcription factors HIFs. Role in tumor progression. Metabolic deregulation as one of the hallmarks of cancer; the deregulation of glycolysis in tumor metabolism; oncogenes and tumor suppressors and impact on glycolysis; metabolic targeting in the tumor. Crosstalk between metabolism and epigenetics. Oncometabolites.

Biochimica - Berg J., Tymoczko J., and Stryer L. Zanichelli

Biochimica medica – Siliprandi, Tettamanti – PICCIN

ALBERTS ET AL., BIOLOGIA MOLECOLARE DELLA CELLULA, ZANICHELLI

Review articles

R.A. Weinberg La Biologia del Cancro Zanichelli 2016

Bross P. e Gregersen N. Protein misfolding and disease, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 232 (Humana Press).