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BIOPHYSICS
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BIOPHYSICS
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Academic year 2016/2017
- Course ID
- SVB0048
- Teaching staff
- Prof. Luca Munaron
Prof. Alessandra Fiorio Pla - Degree course
- Cellular and Molecular Biology
- Year
- 2nd year
- Type
- Distinctive
- Credits/Recognition
- 6
- Course disciplinary sector (SSD)
- BIO/09 - fisiologia
- Delivery
- Formal authority
- Language
- English
- Attendance
- Lessons optional and laboratories mandatory
- Type of examination
- Written and oral
- Prerequisites
- Basic knowledge of General and Cellular Physiology
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Sommario del corso
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Course objectives
The course aims at focussing the relevant issues of Biophysics and Cell Physiology and aims to foster the training of students in the application of the physical sciences and engineering to fundamental biological questions at the molecular, cellular, and systems levels. Additional objective points to a quantitative analysis of some conceptual and technical approaches to signal transduction mechanisms from a molecular and postgenomic pint of view, with particular emphasis on selected themes.
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Results of learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING SKILLS. Theoretical and experimental approaches for the quantitative study of cell membranes and intracellular signaling.
USE OF KNOWLEDGE AND LEARNING SKILLS. At the end of the course, the student is expected to be able to:
- use multiple experimental tools and results to solve a biological problem in cell physiology
- discuss the strenght and limitations of the results published on a research paper
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Course delivery
The course consist of traditional frontal lectures (5CFU) and practical course (1CFU) consisting on discussion and a deepening of selected topics with focused seminars.
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Learning assessment methods
The course grade is determined on the basis of a written examination. It may be integrated by a brief oral discussion.
The examination (2 hours) tests the student's ability to do the following:
- Present briefly the main ideas, concepts and results developed in the course, also explaining the meaning and scope of the experimental approaches behind the validity of the results .
- Use effectively the concepts and the result to answer questions and solve theoretical and experimental problems .
The above is accomplished by asking the student to answer 5-6 open questions and 20 closed questions (multiple choise, short answer and fill in the blanks) .
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Program
Cell membranes: lipid rafts, caveolae and signalplexes. Membrane permeability. A modern classification of ion channels, transporters and pumps. Functional roles. Ion fluxes: from Fick to Nernst-Planck. Ion channels: classification, structural and functional properties. How to study ion fluxes through plasmamembrane and intracellular membranes? Electrophysiology: history and techniques. Patch clamp. Amplitude and frequency coding. Postsynaptic and receptor potentials. Action potential and excitability.
Voltage-gated channels in non excitable cells: role in cell proliferation and tumor progression. Ion channels as proteins: functional role independent from ion fluxes. Role in cell volume regulation. Examples of non voltage-gated channels: TRP channels and PIEZO channels. Spatiotemporal dinamycs of intracellular diffusible second messengers: Ca2+, gasotransmitters, cAMP. Cellular bioimaging using fluorescent probes: FRET, FRAP, TIRF. Optogenetics.
Suggested readings and bibliography
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Lectures, selected papers and websites are available on Moodle.
For some topics selected textbooks available at DBIOS library.
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