64841 - BIOCHEMISTRY

Learning outcomes

The course is aimed at the comprehension of the main biological process at a molecular level: structures, properties and function of biomolecules, molecular mechanism, route and law of bio- transformations, the base of microbiological physiology and genetics, enzymatic catalysis and fermentation. The course is also aimed at the comprehension and application of the knowledge and acquired skills in the biochemical interaction among organisms and environment.

Course contents

Biochemistry is a module of BIOCHEMISTRY AND ECOLOGY teaching. This module consists of two Parts:

Part 1: Biochemistry (Prof. Francesco Francia)

1. Macromolecules

Amino Acids

Carbohydrates

Lipids

2. Protein structure

Primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary

3. Plant biochemistry

Photosynthesis: light reactions, carbon fixation

Synthesis of lipids

Nitrogen metabolism

4. Enzyme catalysis

Enzyme classification

Substrate specificity

Catalytic mechanisms

Enzyme kinetics

Competitive and non-competitive inhibition, mixed inhibition

Allosteric regulation

Enzymes used in industrial biotechnology

 

Part 2: Biochemical Methodologies (Prof. Anna Maria Porcelli) consists of lectures and experimental laboratory course.

Lectures (2CFU)

1) Analysis of biomolecules: fundamental principles

2) Methodologies for protein separation

3) Methodologies for protein analysis

The experimental laboratory course (1CFU) is placed at the beginning of the course and will introduce the students to the basic approaches for the determination of proteins amount, separation and identification. During the practical laboratory the following experimental activities will be foreseen:

1) Determination of protein content by using a colorimetric assay;

2) Separation of a mixture of known proteins by using a chromatographic analysis;

3) Identification of purified proteins using spectrophotometric and electrophoretic techniques.

The attendance to the laboratory is recommended in order to test at the workbench the knowledge acquired during the Biochemical Methodologies lectures.

Readings/Bibliography

Part 1:

Advised readings: any basic biochemical textbook among the following in the list is recommended:

“Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry” by Nelson and Cox

“Biochemistry” by Stryer

"Fundamentals of Biochemistry” by Voet and Voet

Part 2:

Educational support necessary: Lectures slides will be available to students as PDF files and will be available to the students on IOL platform (https://iol.unibo.it/).

Advised readings: "Biochemistry Laboratory: modern theory and techniques" by Rodney Boyer.

Teaching methods

Part 1 and Part 2: the teaching method used is based on lectures during which the contents of the program will be illustrated using PowerPoint slides. Attendance to such lessons is not mandatory but it is highly recommended as the contents of the program will be presented and explained by the teacher and discussed with the whole class. This teaching method will facilitate the learning of contents and will allow the achievement of the knowledge and skills by the whole class. Students are encouraged to communicate to the teacher any requirements by e-mail as soon as possible. This will allow teacher to evaluate which teaching support tools are most adequate to make the training course accessible to all students of the course.

Laboratory: the practical experience in laboratory will be carried out in single place at the workbench by using several laboratory equipments. This will be followed by a working group to discuss the obtained data. Students are encouraged to communicate to the teacher any requirements by e-mail as soon as possible. This will allow teacher to evaluate which teaching support tools are most adequate to make the training course accessible to all students of the course. Attendance at the laboratory is mandatory.

 

Assessment methods

Part 1 and Part 2: the learning test assessment will consist of an interview that provides at least 3 questions related to the topics covered in the program in order to verify and evaluate the student's knowledge of the contents developed and discussed during the lessons and the experimental laboratory. Moreover, during the interview the student's ability to link and integrate the various topics with particular attention to the scientific terminology used and to correct and accurate exposure will be evaluated. The learning assessment of Part 1 and Part 2 must be verified in the same exam session. In order to obtain a final grade of 30/30 with honors, the student must show that he/she knows and has deepened, using the textbooks and bibliography indicated by the teacher, all the topics covered during the lessons. Further, they must explain and integrate the topics with scientific language properties. To obtain a final grade of 30/30, the student must explain contents covered during the lessons and show the ability to correctly integrate them with scientific language properties. The final grade will be scaled from 30/30 to 18/30 based on the number of questions to which the student answers and her/his ability to integrate the topics with scientific properties language. In particular, to obtain a grade of 18/30 the student must show to have superficial knowledge of all the contents discussed during the lessons and not be able to integrate them with scientific language properties. The vote obtained will be considered valid within the calendar year and will contribute to the final mark, determined as the weighted average of the Part 1 and 2 of the Biochemistry and Ecology teaching.

Prof. Porcelli, as responsible of Biochemistry teaching, will communicate to the student the final vote by e-mail and will proceed with the vote verbalization only after receiving an e-mail in which the student states to accept the vote.

Teaching tools

Part 1 and Part 2:

Students are encouraged to communicate to the teacher any requirements by e-mail as soon as possible. This will allow teacher to evaluate which teaching support tools are most adequate to make the training course accessible to all students of the course. The contents of the lectures will be presented using PowerPoint slides and discussed with the whole class through appropriate teaching materials. The practical experience of single-place laboratory and the use of several laboratory equipments will be carried out using appropriate teaching tools in order to make the training accessible to all students of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Francia