BIOLOGY AND GENETICS - channel 1

BIO/13 - 10 CFU - 1° Semester

Teaching Staff

MICHELE PURRELLO


Learning Objectives

To understand how the biomolecular and morphological structure of the cells of our organism are tightly connected to its physiological functions and to the eventual occurrence of pathology. More specifically, Students must study and understand the molecular mechanisms involved in: cell cycle control and DNA duplication, physiological gene structure and its expression, its alterations due to mutations, cell proliferation and differentiation, organism development, biogenesis of organells and cell structures, interactions among cells, molecular bases of evolution, molecular bases of behaviour. Translational applications of Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology are important chapters of the course, as also are the advanced biological technologies related to the study of transgenic animals.


Course Structure

Lectures through powerpoint presentations



Detailed Course Content

Organisms and cells: the cell theory.

Structural and functional organization of eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.

Viruses.

Laws and biomolecular mechanisms of evolution.

The transition from genotype to phenotype.

Phenotype and environment.

Molecular mechanisms of differentiation.

The nuclear genome and that of the organelles.

Growth and proliferation. Cell cycle and related control mechanisms.

Chromatin and chromosomes.

DNA duplication.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).

Structural organization of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic genome.

Molecular Structure of eukaryotic and prokaryotic genes.

Transcription: synthesis and modification of RNA molecules.

The genetic code.

Protein synthesis.

Genetic and epigenetic mutations of DNA.

Mitosis and meiosis.

Mendelian Genetics.

Transmission modes of genetic characters in humans.

The limits of the mendelian model.

Genome projects.

Genetic diseases of Homo sapiens.

Cell membranes: Structure and functions.

 

Cell organelles: structure, functions, evolution.

Mechanisms of molecular interaction among cells.

Signal transduction.

The neoplastic phenotype.

Differentiation and apoptosis.

Stem cells. Cloning of organisms.

Biomolecular analytical methods in BioMedicine.

Computational Biology and Bioinformatics.



Textbook Information

Molecular Cell Biology, Lodish e coll.

Molecular Biology of the Cell, Alberts e coll.

Genetics in Medicine, Thompson e Thompson.

Human Molecular Genetics, Strachan e Read.

NOTE: It is important to study on the most recent edition of these textbooks.




Open in PDF format Versione in italiano