MEMBRANE BIOPHYSICS STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY APPLIED TO CANALOPATHIES
Stampa
Enrollment year
2020/2021
Academic year
2021/2022
Regulations
DM270
Academic discipline
BIO/11 (MOLECULAR BIOLOGY)
Department
DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE
Course
MEDICAL AND PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGIES
Curriculum
Medico: Biotecnologie mediche e ricerca biomedica
Year of study
Period
2nd semester (28/02/2022 - 10/06/2022)
ECTS
3
Lesson hours
24 lesson hours
Language
Italian
Activity type
ORAL TEST
Teacher
LOLICATO MARCO GAETANO (titolare) - 3 ECTS
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge in organic and inorganic chemistry, molecular biology and biochemistry.
Learning outcomes
The course aims to introduce students to the world of membrane proteins and their role in human pathophysiology.
Membrane proteins (and in particular ion channels and transporters), in fact, make up 40% of total proteins and are excellent pharmacological targets. However, the number of new molecules directed against membrane proteins is small and further structural and functional studies are needed to identify specific molecules that have both high specificity (minimizing interactions with other proteins) and a high ability to block / increase the functionalities of the channel / transporter. The course will, therefore, focus on the structure-function correlation of membrane proteins in both physiological and pathological processes. In particular, the student will learn to identify, at the molecular level, the functionalities of specific membrane proteins, to correlate them with their three-dimensional structure and to identify the regions of the protein responsible for the pathological phenotype.
Course contents
The course has five main parts:
(1) Recall and study on protein biochemistry, with particular attention to the biochemistry of membrane proteins.
(2) Biophysical methods for studying membrane proteins (crystallography, electron microscopy, electrophysiology, etc.)
(3) Pathologies associated with membrane proteins
(4) Role of structural biology in the study of pathological variants of membrane proteins
(5) Introduction to structure-based drug design on membrane proteins.
Teaching methods
Classroom lectures with theoretical and case-studies aspects of membrane protein structure and function.
Reccomended or required readings
1. Struttura e funzione delle proteine. Gregory A. Petsko and Dagmar Ringe - Zanichelli

2. Membrane protein Structure Determination. Jean-Jacques Lacapère. Humana Press.

3. Articoli scientifici su Pubmed.
Assessment methods
Oral test
Further information
Sustainable development goals - Agenda 2030