Teaching code

4S000089

Credits

4

Coordinator

Elisabetta Trabetti

Language

Italian

Also offered in courses:

• Propaedeutic physical and biological sciences - BIOLOGIA APPLICATA of the course Bachelor's degree in Physiotherapy
• Biomolecular fondamentals of life - BIOLOGIA APPLICATA E GENETICA of the course Bachelor's degree in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Techniques

Moodle Seminars 0

The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning outcomes

Teaching aims to provide knowledge of human biology in an evolutionary vision with particular reference to the molecular and cellular processes common to all living organisms, to raise awareness of the structures and functions of biological macromolecules and the main metabolic pathways in which they are involved. The student should be able to explain the cellular mechanisms underlying the functioning of the whole organism and grasp the pathogenic meaning of any alterations of them; it should also be able to recognize the different ways in which Mendelian characters are transmitted in humans. BIOCHEMICAL MODULE Training objectives: The course aims to present the relationship between the structure and function of biological macromolecules and the main metabolic pathways in which they are involved. The key objective is to stimulate the student's interest in biomolecular sciences by giving maximum prominence to the interconnections between biochemical processes and the energy variations associated with them. At the end of the teaching, students will have to demonstrate that they have acquired terminology and useful knowledge for a critical analysis of vital biochemical processes in order to achieve autonomy of critical and comprehensive evaluation of the processes themselves. APPLIED BIOLOGY MODULE Training objective: Providing knowledge of human biology in an evolutionary vision with particular reference to the molecular and cellular processes common to all living organisms. Provide knowledge about the mutagenic action of chemical and physical agents. Provide knowledge about the transmission of hereditary characters. The student should be able to explain the cellular mechanisms underlying the functioning of the whole organism and grasp the pathogenic meaning of any alterations of them; students must also be able to recognize the different ways in which Mendelian characters are transmitted in humans. At the end of the teaching, students will have to demonstrate that they have acquired the basic knowledge of the mechanisms that govern life and cell reproduction, the interactions between cells, between organisms and between organisms and the environment. They will also need to demonstrate to have acquired knowledge about the mechanisms of transmission of hereditary characters and will have to be able to recognize how genetic diseases are transmitted in humans, particularly those relating to tooth development and structure. These basic knowledge is a prerequisite for further specialist insights that will be the subject of teachings in the following years of the Course.

Program

------------------------
MM: BIOCHIMICA
------------------------

------------------------
MM: BIOLOGIA APPLICATA
------------------------
• Characteristics of the living beings, their hierarchical organization and classification into Kingdoms and Domains. Origin of life on earth and cell theory. • The properties of water. Comparison between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell and viral agents. The endosymbiotic theory, the evolution from prokaryotes to eukaryotes up to multicellular organisms. Darwinian concept of evolution, neo-Darwinism and scientific evidence of the continuity of life on earth. • Main structural and functional characteristics of the cell, organelles and cytoskeleton, with particular attention to the roles of the different cell compartments and their interconnections. • Biological membranes: structure and proposed models; passage of materials across cell membranes: passive transport (facilitated diffusion and simple), osmosis, directly and indirectly active transport, co-transport. Exocytosis and endocytosis. Anchoring, tight and gap cell junctions in animal and plant cells. • Cell communication: types of cellular communication: endocrine, paracrine, autocrine and iuxtacrine. Different ligand molecules and receptors. Signal amplification and second messengers. Sending and receiving the signal, cellular response. • Organization of DNA in chromosomes, mitosis and meiosis. DNA and proteins, nucleosomes, heterochromatin, euchromatin, chromosome condensation. The cell cycle and its regulation. Mitosis, meiosis and sexual reproduction • DNA and its role in heredity. DNA structure and replication. • Gene expression: transcription, genetic code and translation. Gene definition. • DNA mutations and mutagenesis • Hereditary character transmission and Mendel’s laws; definition of phenotype, genotype, locus, gene, dominant and recessive allele, homozygosity and heterozygosity. Segregation and independent assortment. Chromosomal basis of heredity. Independence and association. Crossing-over and recombination. Genetic determination of sex. Dosage compensation in Mammals. Gene interactions. Incomplete dominance, codominance, multiple alleles, epistasis and polygenic inheritance, variable expressivity and penetrance. • The human genome: karyotype analysis and pedigrees; autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, X-linked diseases. DIDACTIC METHOD Attendance to lessons is mandatory. Teaching methods consist of frontal lessons. In addition to the suggested texts, additional didactic supports are offered on the e-learning platform of the course. Students can make an appointment directly with the teacher every time they need it throughout the academic year, by email. Students are invited to choose a book among those indicated.

Bibliography

Examination Methods

Goal of the exam for the Course of Biomolecular fondamentals of Life: to verify students' advanced comprehension of the whole program topics and their capability to expose their reasoning in a critical and precise manner using appropriate scientific terms.

6 examination sessions are foreseen in the whole Academic Year: 2 in the Winter Session after the Course ending, 2 in the Summer Session, and 2 in the Autumn session.
Students will undertake both modules (written test made of multiple choice quizzes and open questions) if they have attended at least 75% of the frontal teaching activity of the entire Course; further information about exam organization is available in each module form.

The final mark (/out of 30) will derive from the evaluation of both modules. Students will pass the examination if the overall rating of both modules, based on the weighted average of credits, is greater than or equal to 18/30. Students can retire or refuse the proposed mark.
Students who do not pass both exam modules in the same session will have to take the missing/insufficient module in one of the subsequent sessions, if only within the extra winter session of the next Academic Year. From the next summer session, students will need to take both modules.