Studying at the University of Verona
Here you can find information on the organisational aspects of the Programme, lecture timetables, learning activities and useful contact details for your time at the University, from enrolment to graduation.
Academic calendar
The academic calendar shows the deadlines and scheduled events that are relevant to students, teaching and technical-administrative staff of the University. Public holidays and University closures are also indicated. The academic year normally begins on 1 October each year and ends on 30 September of the following year.
Course calendar
The Academic Calendar sets out the degree programme lecture and exam timetables, as well as the relevant university closure dates..
Period | From | To |
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I semestre | Oct 1, 2012 | Jan 31, 2013 |
II semestre | Mar 4, 2013 | Jun 14, 2013 |
Session | From | To |
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Sessione straordinaria | Feb 4, 2013 | Feb 28, 2013 |
Sessione estiva | Jun 17, 2013 | Jul 31, 2013 |
Sessione autunnale | Sep 2, 2013 | Sep 30, 2013 |
Session | From | To |
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Sessione autunnale | Oct 17, 2012 | Oct 17, 2012 |
Sessione straordinaria | Dec 11, 2012 | Dec 11, 2012 |
Sesisone invernale | Mar 20, 2013 | Mar 20, 2013 |
Sessione estiva | Jul 15, 2013 | Jul 15, 2013 |
Period | From | To |
---|---|---|
Festa di Ognissanti | Nov 1, 2012 | Nov 1, 2012 |
Festa dell'Immacolata Concezione | Dec 8, 2012 | Dec 8, 2012 |
Vacanze di Natale | Dec 21, 2012 | Jan 6, 2013 |
Vacanze di Pasqua | Mar 29, 2013 | Apr 2, 2013 |
Festa della Liberazione | Apr 25, 2013 | Apr 25, 2013 |
Festa del Lavoro | May 1, 2013 | May 1, 2013 |
Festa del Santo Patrono di Verona - San Zeno | May 21, 2013 | May 21, 2013 |
Festa della Repubblica | Jun 2, 2013 | Jun 2, 2013 |
Vacanze estive | Aug 9, 2013 | Aug 16, 2013 |
Exam calendar
Exam dates and rounds are managed by the relevant Science and Engineering Teaching and Student Services Unit.
To view all the exam sessions available, please use the Exam dashboard on ESSE3.
If you forgot your login details or have problems logging in, please contact the relevant IT HelpDesk, or check the login details recovery web page.
Academic staff
Study Plan
The Study Plan includes all modules, teaching and learning activities that each student will need to undertake during their time at the University.
Please select your Study Plan based on your enrollment year.
1° Year
Modules | Credits | TAF | SSD |
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2° Year activated in the A.Y. 2013/2014
Modules | Credits | TAF | SSD |
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3° Year activated in the A.Y. 2014/2015
Modules | Credits | TAF | SSD |
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Legend | Type of training activity (TTA)
TAF (Type of Educational Activity) All courses and activities are classified into different types of educational activities, indicated by a letter.
General Biology (2012/2013)
Teaching code
4S00997
Teacher
Coordinator
Credits
6
Language
Italian
Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)
BIO/13 - EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
Period
II semestre dal Mar 4, 2013 al Jun 14, 2013.
Learning outcomes
The course purposes are:
• To give basic knowledge about living organism characteristic: procariots, eucariots, viruses, through the acquisition of the fundamental concepts of biology and of the structural, functional and molecular principles of cellular processes.
• To educate to the critical evaluation of experimental data, describing and discussing past and contemporary important experiments.
• To let know the current methodologies used in the biological molecules study
CONTENTS:
• Organization levels of living organisms
• Chemistry of living organisms and biological molecules
• Energetic bases of life: energetic metabolism, photosynthesis, cellular respiration. Enzymes.
• Structure, function, replication of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic cell. Role of the cell compartmentation.
• Methods and Instruments of cell investigations
• Plasmatic membrane: structure, properties and function
• Cell communication
• Cell cycle and its regulation, mitosis, meiosis
• Nucleic acids gene value and experimental demonstration
• DNA: structure, function, replication
• DNA mutation and repair
• Informational pathway: transcription, translation. Regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes and prokaryotes
• Hereditary character transmission and Mendel’s laws
• Recombinant DNA technology and genomics.
• The human genome
• Somatic mutations and cancer
• Evolutionary theory. Speciation, selection, evolution, adaptation
• General biology of Viruses and Prokaryotes.
• Developmental and aging biology
• Animal behaviour
Program
OVERVIEW ON BIOLOGY. Characteristics of the living beings: prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell, growth and development, regulation of metabolism, ability to respond to stimuli, reproduction, evolution and adaptation. Levels of biological organization. Transmission of information between organisms and across generations. Evolution and hierarchical classification of living organisms. Energy flow through ecosystems.
CHEMICAL ELEMENTS OF LIFE. Chemical elements in living organisms. Covalent, ionic, polar, nonpolar, hydrogen bonds; intermolecular interactions, the van der Waals forces. Redox reactions, pH, salts, acids, bases, buffers. Functional groups. Geometrical and structural isomers. Organic molecules and macromolecules. Carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids. Enantiomers. Importance of water in biology.
PRINCIPAL INSTRUMENTS AND METHODS OF CELL INVESTIGATIONS: light microscopy, electron microscopy, cell fractionation
PROKARYOTIC AND EUKARYOTIC CELL. Cell theory. Organization of the cell. Internal membranes and compartmentalization. Organelles, characteristics and functions: Nucleus, ribosomes, RER, REL, Golgi, lysosomes, peroxisomes, cytoskeleton (microtubules, microfilaments, intermediate filaments, centrioles), cilia, flagella, cell wall, extracellular matrix. Animal and plant cells. Mitochondria and plastids (chloroplasts, amyloplasts, chromoplasts) and endosymbiont theory.
BIOLOGICAL MEMBRANES. Structure and proposed models. Kinds of membrane lipids and proteins. Function of membrane constituents. 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. Sending and receiving the signal. Surface and intracellular receptors. Receptors coupled to ion channels, G protein, enzymes. Signal transduction and second messengers. The response to signals. Negative signal transduction.
ENERGY FLOW THROUGH LIVING ORGANISMS.
Energy and metabolism: energy and biological work; exo-and endo-ergonic reactions, metabolism, anabolism and catabolism, reduction-oxidation reactions, energy coupling; ATP; energy transfer systems: transport of phosphate groups, electrons and other active groups.
Enzymes. Activation energy, active site, features, functioning, control systems, activation and inhibition of enzyme activity, metabolic pathways, cofactors, coenzymes, prosthetic groups.
ATP SYNTHESIS AND METABOLIC PATHWAYS THAT RELEASE ENERGY. Redox reactions. Glycolysis, aerobic respiraton, Krebs cycle, electron transport chain: oxidative phosphorylation and chemiosmosis. Anaerobic respiraton. Fermentation.
Photosynthesis. Chlorophyll and other pigments. Antenna pigments. Light-dependent reactions. Photosystems I and II. Cyclical and not-cyclical transport of electrons. Chemiosmosis and photophosphorylation. Light-independent reactions and C fixation. Calvin Benson cycle. C4 cycle. Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM). Photorespiration.
Heterotrophic, autotrophic, phototrophic, chemotrophic organisms.
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.
PRINCIPLES OF MENDEL’S HEREDITY. Definition of phenotype, genotype, locus, gene, dominant and recessive allele, homozygosity and heterozygosity. Segregation and independent assortment. Independence and association. Crossing-over and recombination. Genetic determination of sex. Gene interactions. Incomplete dominance, condominance, multiple alleles, epistasis and polygeny.
DNA AND GENETIC MATERIAL. Transforming principle in bacteria. Bacterial Transformation and Griffith experiments. Hershey and Chase experiment. DNA structure. Replication. Meselson and Stahl experiment and semiconservative replication. DNA synthesis and error repair.
GENE EXPRESSION IN DIFFERENT ORGANISMS. Gene/protein relationship. Gene/enzyme hypothesis, Beadle and Tatum experiment. Genetic information pathway. Transcription, mRNA synthesis and maturation. Genetic code, tRNA and translation. Post-transcriptional and post-translational modifications. Coding and noncoding sequences. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic genes. Several types of RNA and gene expression control. DNA mutations and mutagenesis.
GENERAL ASPECTS OF GENE REGULATION IN PROKARYOTES AND EUKARYOTES. Operons, promoters, inducible and repressible genes, repressors and activators. Positive and negative control of gene transcription. Post-transcriptional and post-translational controls. Epigenetic inheritance. Imprinting. Gene amplification. Promoters, TATA box and UPE. Transcription factors, enhancers. RNA maturation and alternative splicing. RNA stability. Maturation of proteins.
RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY AND GENOMICS. DNA cloning, restriction enzymes, vectors and genomic libraries. Genetic probes. DNA amplification in vitro by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). DNA analysis by means of electrophoresis: Southern, Northern and Western blot. Polymorphisms and DNA sequencing. Definition of structural, functional and comparative genomics. DNA microarray. Human Genome Project, Bioinformatics, Pharmacogenomics and Proteomics.
HUMAN GENOME. Karyotype analysis and pedigrees. Mouse models for studying genetic diseases in humans. Chromosomal abnormalities and genetic mutations. Autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, X-linked diseases.
DEVELOPMENT BIOLOGY. Cell differentiation and morphogenesis. Differential gene expression. Somatic and germ cells. Stem cells. Cloning. Transgenic organisms. Genetic control of development. Model organisms: Drosophila, Caenorbiditis elegans, Mouse, Arabidospsis. Maternal effect genes, the segmentation genes, homeotic genes. Mosaic development, apoptosis. Transgenic mice. Aging process. Plant development. Cancer and cell growth. Growth factors.
DARWIN AND EVOLUTION. Natural selection. Micro and macro-evolution. Synthetic theory of evolution (neo-Darwinism). Effect of chance. Evidence for evolution. Sedimentary rocks. Fossils. Comparative anatomy. Biogeography, geology (plate tectonics and continents drift) and correlations with evolution. Developmental biology and evolutionary patterns. Molecular comparison among organisms. Universality of the genetic code, evolutionary changes in proteins and DNA. Phylogenetic trees, speciation and divergence between species. Evolutionary hypothesis.
GENERAL BIOLOGY OF VIRUES AND PROKARIOTES. DNA viruses, RNA viruses (retroviruses) and phages. Origin of the virus. Lytic cycle and virulence. Lysogenic cycle and temperate viruses. Lysogenic conversion. Viruses of vertebrates and viral infections. Elements of plant viruses. Viroids and prions.
Prokaryotes. Archea and Bacteria domains. Gram+ and Gram-. Cilia, flagella, chemotaxis. Binary fission and reproduction of bacteria. Transfer of genetic information. Processing, translation, conjugation. Evolution of bacterial populations. Sporulation. Biofilm. Metabolism: dependence on oxygen and other energy sources. Colonization of extreme environments. Prokaryotes and environment: parasites, saprophytes, symbionts. Prokaryotes and diseases. Antibiotics and resistance. Prokaryotes and commercial processes
ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR. The influence of sensory stimuli, learning, genetic heritage. The selection for the survival and reproductive success, the concept of total fitness.
Examination Methods
Written test (multiple choice quiz and open questions) based on the educational content of the course.
Students who have received at least 25/30 in the written test and aiming for a better rate can support an oral exam.
Type D and Type F activities
Modules not yet included
Career prospects
Module/Programme news
News for students
There you will find information, resources and services useful during your time at the University (Student’s exam record, your study plan on ESSE3, Distance Learning courses, university email account, office forms, administrative procedures, etc.). You can log into MyUnivr with your GIA login details: only in this way will you be able to receive notification of all the notices from your teachers and your secretariat via email and also via the Univr app.
Tutoring faculty members
Graduation
Attendance modes and venues
As stated in the Teaching Regulations, attendance at the course of study is not mandatory.
Part-time enrolment is permitted. Find out more on the Part-time enrolment possibilities page.
The course's teaching activities take place in the Science and Engineering area, which consists of the buildings of Ca‘ Vignal 1, Ca’ Vignal 2, Ca' Vignal 3 and Piramide, located in the Borgo Roma campus.
Lectures are held in the classrooms of Ca‘ Vignal 1, Ca’ Vignal 2 and Ca' Vignal 3, while practical exercises take place in the teaching laboratories dedicated to the various activities.