Medical Biotechnology

General objectives: The main objective of the teaching is to provide the student with more knowledge in the fields of immunology and diseases associated with the immune system, as well as with general pathology. The deepening of the cellular and molecular processes underlying different diseases, and of the new diagnosis and therapeutic tools offered by biotechnologies, will offer the student an up-to-date view on the different possibilities of diagnosis and therapy. Lectures will help to develop competences on the etiopathogenic bases of diseases, fundamental for a biotechnological medical approach to themselves. Specific objectives: The Immunology and Immunopathology part of the course is aimed at providing the students with the basic knowledge on the molecular mechanisms underlying the main immune-mediated disorders in humans, and how they can be exploited for innovative biotechnology-based diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. Particular attention will be given to the study of chronic inflammatory diseases, response to infections, allergic reactions, rejection of organ and tissue transplants, immunotherapies of tumors and primary immunodeficiencies. The part of the course related to Molecular and Cellular Pathology aims to provide the basic knowledge to make the student able to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that regulate pathological processes in humans. In recent years, important discoveries have highlighted the importance of the study of pathologies both at the cellular and molecular level. The knowledge of the molecular processes that underlie diseases allows the development of new biological therapies, demonstrating how fundamental the analysis of the molecular and cellular aspect is, generating new questions and opening up to further analysis. The knowledge of the pathogenetic mechanisms of human diseases, at the molecular and cellular level, allows to create the necessary substrate for a biotechnological approach in different fields, such as prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and clinical aspects of human diseases. In particular, the focus will be on the molecular and cellular bases of those human diseases whose incidence has increased in recent years, in relation to the fact that the average age of the human population has grown. Therefore, diseases such as malignancies and chronic degenerative diseases – e.g., diabetes and atherosclerosis - will be discussed. The pathogenetic mechanisms of non-coding RNA (microRNA and long non-coding RNA) will be also examined. Molecular mechanisms regulating the maintenance of stem cells, their use for therapeutic purposes and the involvement of cancer stem cells in the maintenance of tumor processes will be described. The methods of next generation sequencing (NGS) and some practical examples will be discussed as well. For both modules, among the specific objectives that the student will achieve at the end of the course, there will be: - the ability to perform bibliographic searches in international scientific databases (eg PubMed); - the ability to select scientific articles on the topics covered during the course; - the ability to understand and elaborate a scientific article in English; - the integration of the knowledge acquired during the course with the international scientific literature; - the ability to communicate orally, through a computer presentation (with the power point program), the results described in a scientific article; - the ability to study autonomously, self-administered and integrating material from multiple sources (textbooks, material provided by teachers, scientific literature). The ability to search scientific data and literature on specific subjects, the ability to assess the impact that the various scientific journals have in the international community, together with the knowledge and skills in the field of immunology and pathology, will provide the student with useful and crucial tools for consulting multiple sources, developing research projects, analyzing data, communicating results, and gaining more knowledge on some of the latest biotechnological innovations applied in the biomedical field.