Biomedical Laboratory techniques

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LIVING THINGS. Water properties. Chemical bonds, functional groups and organic molecules of biochemical interest. PROTEINS - Amino acids: classification, isomerism, zwitterions, essential aminoacids, peptide bond. Proteins: functions, primary structure, secondary structures (alpha helix, beta sheet, collagen), tertiary structure, denaturation and denaturing agents, quaternary structure. Myoglobin and Hemoglobin: transport and storage of oxygen, protein and heme structure, functional aspects, oxygen dissociation curve, allosteric hemoglobin properties, carbon monoxide action. Heme catabolism and bilirubin formation. Enzymes: classification by reaction and mechanism of catalysis, prosthetic groups, cofactors and conzymes, catalysis, transition state, activation energy, enzyme kinetics, competitive and non-competitive inhibition. Plasma proteins and enzymes of clinical interest. Protein turnover and aminoacid catabolism. Transamination and deamination of amino acids. Urea cycle. CARBOHYDRATES – General information, classification, main monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides. Glucose: metabolism and regulation, glycolysis and pyruvate oxidation, citric acid cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, pentose-phosphate pathway, glycogen and glycogen metabolism. Blood glucose regulation: insulin and glucagon. LIPIDS - General information, classification, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids, steroids. Fatty acid metabolism (beta-oxidation), plasma lipids of clinical interest. Lipoproteins: constitution and metabolism. INTERMEDIATE METABOLISM AND ENERGY EXCHANGES - Basic concepts, via anabolic and catabolic, general scheme of metabolic pathways. strategies for regulating the metabolic pathways. HORMONES - General information, classification, hormone receptors and signal transduction mechanisms.

The student must have acquired the concepts related to the courses of the first semester

M. Stefani – Biochimica con elementi di Biologia Molecolare e Scienze dell’Alimentazione - Zanichelli D.L. Nelson, M.M. Cox - Introduzione alla Biochimica di Lehninger” (terza edizione) - Zanichelli

Formal lessons. At the end of each lesson, students will be provided with a self-assessment test

The overall assessment of learning will be based on an oral exam. The oral exam will assess: 1) knowledge of the structure and function of biological macromolecules; 2) knowledge of the metabolic pathways dealt with during the course; 2) role of specific hormones in the global control of metabolism; 3) ability to write chemical structures of the main biological molecules for which students have received a detailed list.

Further bibliographic material will be provided by the teacher during the course and will be shared with students via Google classroom

Formal lessons. At the end of each lesson, students will be provided with a self-assessment test