Methods for biosciences I

Methods for Biosciences I

Coordinators
Júlia Carvalho Costa
Carlos Salgueiro

Syllabus
1. Protein purification
1.1. Extraction and fractionation techniques
1.2. Purification and monitoring
1.3. Recombinant protein production. Fusion proteins
2. Spectroscopic techniques in molecular biosciences
2.1. Ultraviolet/visible and fluorescence
2.2. Infrared and Raman
2.3. Dynamic light scattering and circular dichroism
2.4. Surface Plasmon Resonance
2.5. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Electronic Paramagnetic Resonance
2.6. X-ray crystallography
3. Mass spectrometric techniques and applications. Ionization. Mass analyzers. Detectors. Structural information. Data bases.
4. Microscopy and Imaging
4.1. Light microscopy. Fluorescence microscopy. Confocal microscopy. Monitoring protein dynamics in cells. Atomic force microscopy
4.2. Electron microscopy
5. Model organisms. Escherichia coli. Yeast. Arabidopsis. Caenorhabditis elegans. Drosophila melanogaster. Mouse
6. Emergent techniques and methods

Evaluation
The evaluation will consist of the preparation, presentation and discussion of a seminar. In the seminar each student presents a particular case study addressing some of the methodologies and techniques learned in the course. Each case study is based on one or more scientific articles that are supplied by the coordinators. The presentations of new strategies are also encouraged.

Main bibliography

• Alberts, B., Bray, D., Hopkin, K., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K., Walter, P. (2010) Essential Cell Biology. 3rd Edition. Garland Science, Taylor & Francis Group, New York, USA. ISBN 978-0-8153-4129-1.
• Gordon, G. H. (2005) Spectroscopy for the biological sciences. John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA.ISBN-10: 0471713449
  Lawrence, Q. (2000) Physical methods in bioinorganic chemistry: spectroscopy and magnetism. Lawrence Que, Jr. Ed., University Science Books, Sausalito, California, USA. ISBN-10: 1891389025
• Wilson, K., Walker, J. (2010) Principles and Techniques of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. 7th Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. ISBN 978-0-521-73167-6.

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