Physics

GENERAL OBJECTIVES: The Molecular Biology course is designed to provide students the conceptual and methodological basis required to study the molecular mechanisms regulating gene expression in physiological and pathological conditions, including epigenetics. In addition to the knowledge on the structure and metabolism of nucleic acids, the course will introduce the most relevant techniques of DNA cloning, DNA and RNA manipulation and the applications of Genetic Engineering to basic research and biomedicine. Topics discussed will also include the recent generation of sequencing technologies in light of their importance for the recent annotation of emerging noncoding RNA genes. The discovery of long noncoding and circular RNAs will be also discussed as well as the in vivo approaches used to study their functional role (practical examples taken from recent literature will be used). The course will include lectures and seminars. By the end of the course, students will be able to apply the acquired knowledge to the study of the basic mechanisms of gene expression, as well as of complex processes such as development, cell division and differentiation, and to exploit them for a practical use in both basic and applied research. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: A - Knowledge and understanding OF 1) to know the mechanisms of regulation of gene expression and the technological methods available to intervene on it; OF 2) to know the structure and function of the genome in humans and in the main model systems; OF 3) to know the origin and the maintenance of the biological complexity; OF 4) to understand the influence of the modern sequencing technologies for a better description and for the study of transcriptome dynamics in humans and in the main model systems; OF 5) to understand the network of interactions between the biological molecules in the mechanisms of regulation of gene expression. B - Application skills OF 6) To be able to discriminate techniques to apply according to the different problems to be dealt with in the molecular biology field C - Autonomy of judgment OF 7) To be able to use the specific terminology; OF 8) To be able to interpret the biological phenomena in a multi-scale and multi-factorial context; OF 9) To be able to interpret the results of genomic studies D - Communication skills OF 10) To know how to report papers already present in the literature in the form of an oral presentation E - Ability to learn OF 11) Have the ability to search and consult the scientific literature in the main biological databases OF 12) Have the ability to evaluate the importance and the stringency of the published data