84285 - Cell Signaling

Learning outcomes

Differentiate structure, receptors, and mechanism of actions of hormones. Describe pathways of cellular signaling, and their mechanisms of activation, cross-talk and regulation. Discuss how disruptions in cellular signaling may lead to disease, and illustrate with selected examples.

Course contents

This Course is part of the Integrated Course (I.C.) in Signaling Pathways in Health and Disease, which aims to cover detailed biochemical knowledge of the cellular strategies used to communicate with the extracellular environment and to integrate complex metabolic networks that determine the biological output of cells in health and disease.

Learning about signaling systems is also crucial for understanding how cells regulate the molecular interplay through which nutrients are converted into energy and the molecular building blocks needed for cell growth, maintenance, and reproduction.

The Signaling Pathways in Health and Disease I.C. offers students an in-depth theoretical education that covers the criteria for exam assessment. By attending the specific course blocks, students will acquire competencies to understand, interpret and integrate the complexity of healthy cellular physiology and to recognize how aberrant regulation of signaling pathways is linked to metabolic disruption, developmental disorders and various human diseases.

 

The specific contents of the Cell Signaling course block are:

Lecture A. 1. General features of cell signal transduction: physical and chemical signals

Lecture A. 2. Cell surface receptors and nuclear receptors

Lecture A. 3. Classification of hormones

Lecture A. 4. Biosynthesis and secretion of insulin

Lecture A. 5. Signaling mechanisms regulated by receptor tyrosine kinases – part 1 (insulin/EGF & the MAPK cascade)

Lecture A. 6. Signaling mechanisms regulated by receptor tyrosine kinases – part 2 (insulin & the PI3K branch)

Lecture A. 7. Heterotrimeric G protein-coupled receptors – part 1 (adenylyl cyclase, cAMP dependent protein kinase)

Lecture A. 8. Peer study group: mid-course quizzes

Lecture A. 9. Heterotrimeric G protein-coupled receptors – part 2 (phospholipids & calcium as second messengers)

Lecture A.10. Heterotrimeric G protein-coupled receptors – part 3 (insights: G-protein signal disruption by toxic bacteria)

Lecture A.11. Cytochrome P-450 and biosynthesis of steroid hormones – part 1

Lecture A.12. Cytochrome P-450 and biosynthesis of steroid hormones – part 2

Lecture A.13. Nuclear receptors: the ligand-activated transcription factor paradigm (hints about cell signaling by steroid hormones, vitamin D and thyroid hormones)

Lecture A.14. Cholesterol-derived oxysterols as signalling molecules. Biosynthesis and secretion of thyroid hormones

Lecture A.15. Cell death signaling (apoptosis): the role of testosterone and its receptor.

Lecture A.16. Guanylyl cyclases and NO signaling. Receptors recruiting protein tyrosine kinases to the plasma membrane (JAK-STAT).

Readings/Bibliography

• David L. Nelson, Michael M. Cox

          Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry,

          Eighth Edition ©2021

          ISBN: 978-1-319-22800-2

          or equivalent ISBN: 978-1-319-38149-3

Alternatively, the previous (7th) edition is also adequate ©2017 ISBN-10: 1-4641-2611-9; ISBN-13: 978-1-4641-2611-6 or equivalent International 7th Edition by W. H. Freeman-Macmillan learning ISBN: 978-1-319-10824-3

• Additional resources available for download from the E-learning dashboard of the course [link]

Teaching methods

The course of Cell Signaling is taught through 34 hours of regular lectures and 16 hours of asynchronous online learning activities (i.e. 4 CFUs).

A minimum attendance is required to be admitted to the final exam. please note that, since the Cell Signaling block is part of the #84284-Signaling pathways in health and disease Integrated Course (I.C), the minimum attendance is 60% of the total amount of hours of ALL scheduled activities of the I.C. itself (i.e. 60% of 14 CFUs). Students who fail to meet the minimum attendance requirement (i.e. 105 hours) will not be admitted to the final exam of the I.C., and will have to attend relevant classes again during the next academic year. Professors may authorize excused absences upon receipt of proper justifying documentation, in case of illness or serious reasons. Excused absences do not count against a student’s attendance record to determine their minimum attendance requirement.

Learning materials related to the topics presented during class time are available for download from the E-learning application of the course (cf. below) for the students to gain further insights on particular topics and to make their learning an active process. Our general policy for those handouts is that they are not a literal script of the teacher's talk, but reflect key features and tricky points that may require in-depth explanation.

Assessment methods

Students enrolled in the #84284-Signaling pathways in health and disease Integrated Course will be assessed through three written test blocks: Physiology, Cell Signaling and Metabolic Biochemistry. ALL the three blocks must be taken as an integrated exam in the same exam session date. (see below)

Cell Signaling will be assessed through a 1-hour online written test including both multiple-choice and open-ended response quizzes published on EOL. More details on the exam policy will be described during class time.

Mark Fractions: Cell Signaling, 9/32 pts; Metabolic Biochemistry 14/32 pts; Physiology, 9/32 pts.

The minimum total score a student must achieve to pass and receive credit for the I.C. course i 18 pts.

Honors (30 cum laude) are given to those who score more than 30 pts.

However, please also note that exam outcomes will not be disclosed to students as partial grades of each block, but as integrated final marks. Consequently, the passing value (18) can be reached with any possible mathematical combination of the hidden partial results from the three individual exam blocks.

Students will have to make a decision whether or not to accept the Signaling Pathways in Health and Disease exam outcome based on their integrated final mark. 

Six possible exam sessions are scheduled over the academic year (cf. AlmaEsami).

Teaching tools

Lecture slides and further insights by E-learning activity (i.e. the institutional platform for teaching support service [link]).
 

Office hours

See the website of Maria Luisa Genova