The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning outcomes

The primary educational aim of the course is to provide the student an overview on the most common methodologies and techniques for the manipulation of DNA. In particular, the course covers the main techniques for purification of nucleic acids, their separation by electrophoresis, DNA amplification and methods for cloning in bacterial vectors.
In the practical exercises the student will apply these techniques for purification of plasmid DNA and genomic DNA, separation of DNA by electrophoresis on agarose gel, its digestion with restriction enzymes, preparation of gene constructs and their transformation into E. coli.

Program

Theory:
The recombinant DNA. Cloning of Genes.
Bacterial and non bacterial vectors. cDNA and genomic libraries.
Manipulation of nucleic acids. Digestion with restriction endonucleases. Electrophoresis. Ligation of the DNA.
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and its applications.
Bacteria colutres. Trasformation of bacterial and eukaryotic cells.
Production of recombinant proteins.

Laboratory exercises:
Purification of plasmid DNA
Purification of genomic DNA
Purification of RNA
Electrophoresis and purification of DNA from gel.
Digestion with restriction enzymes.
PCR and ligation
Transformation, colony PCR
Expression of a recombinant protein and its analysis by SDS PAGE and Western Blot.

Examination Methods

Laboratory exercises report and oral examination