Biology

General objectives At the end of the course the student 1) will know the basic principles of transmission of hereditary traits in humans and will be able to analyze Mendelian segregation in genealogical trees and perform linkage analysis 2) will be able to describe the type of genetic variation underlying the most common normal and pathological genetic traits in humans 3) will be able to analyze the distribution of genetic variation in a population 4) will be able to describe the mechanisms that determine the stability or the change of the genetic structure of the populations Specific objectives -Knowledge and understanding: students will know the fundamental principles and peculiarities of inherited characters transmission in humans; the genetic variability distribution in populations and forces that maintain or modify it. - Applying knowledge and understanding: student will know how to apply the human genetics methodologies in research and laboratory practice, from the segregation analysis to some molecular methods; will knowhow micro-evolutionary mechanisms may determine the genetic structure of natural populations with particular regard to human populations - Making judgements: at the end of the course, based on the proposed examples and exercises, students will be able to evaluate human genetics / population genetics data with an autonomous judgement - Communication skills: at the end of the course the students will be able to provide information and ideas in the field of human genetics and population genetics - Learning skills: at the end of the course the students will have received the basic knowledge on human genetics and population genetics which are necessary to undertake further more specialized studies