Glycobiology and Disease
Code
12032
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia
Department
Departamento de Ciências da Vida
Credits
3.0
Teacher in charge
Maria Angelina de Sá Palma, Paula Alexandra Quintela Videira
Weekly hours
2
Total hours
28
Teaching language
Português
Objectives
At the end of the course, the student should have the ability to:
- To refer diseases whose mechanisms involve glycans
- To associate structure and the biological function of the glycans and of proteins (lectins, adhesins, antibodies) involved in their recognition.
-To refer state-of-the-art methodologies in Glycobiology for the study of glycans.
- To relate diagnostic methods / technologies for Congenital Diseases of Glycosylation (CDG), cancer and infection.
- To list therapeutics based on glycans or glycoconjugates and vaccine development, correlating with clinical application.
- To formulate questions related to diversity and function of glycans and its importance in pathology.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge in Cell and Molecular Biology, Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Biochemistry.
Subject matter
Glycobiology and Disease - Year 2017/2018
Theoretical, Theoretical-Practical/e-learning, Practical
|
Month |
Day |
Type of class/ Syllabus |
Teacher |
|
September |
21 |
Introduction to the Curricular Unit/ Introduction to Glycobiology |
Paula, Angelina, Filipa |
|
28 |
Theoretical: Introduction to Glycobiology (part 2): basic concepts of the of the glycan structural diversity, physiological and pathological implications |
Angelina |
|
|
October |
12 |
Theoretical: Biosynthesis of glycans – N- and O-glycosylation –ER-GOLGI secretory pathway and glycoprotein processing |
Angelina |
|
19 |
Theoretical: Recognition of glycans by the immune system and immunomodulation. Inflammation and cell migration |
Paula |
|
|
26 |
Theoretical-practical: “Glycan-mediated microbial adhesion” - e-learning session |
Paula (e-learning Moderator) |
|
|
November |
2 |
Theoretical: Molecular recognition of glycans by lectins in disease (infection and cancer). From structure to function. |
Filipa |
|
9 |
Practical: Advanced methodologies in Glycobiology for the study of glycans: NMR for structural characterization of the glycan-protein interaction. |
Filipa |
|
|
16 |
Theoretical-practical: “Mechanisms of cancer associated glycosylation changes” - e-learning session |
Paula (e-learning moderator) |
|
|
16 |
Evaluation |
|
|
|
23 |
Theoretical-practical: Advanced methodologies in Glycobiology for the study of glycans (part 2): glycan microarrays and mass spectrometry. Identification of aberrant glycosylation in tumor cells through lectins - microscopy / flow cytometry. |
Angelina |
|
|
30 |
Practical: Glycan microarrays to identify glycan binding specificity and ligand discovery |
Angelina |
|
|
December |
7 |
Theoretical-practical: Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation (CDGs) and human therapy |
Paula |
|
14 |
Evaluation |
|
Teaching method
The curricular unit is organized in eight themes, each comprising theoretical, theoretical / practical classes and practices. This course will be in b -learning format: i.e. it contains face-to-face classes with teachers and, in addition, a part of teaching is online (videos, documents, forums), making use of computers and the internet as teaching tools. There will be two thirds of theoretical classes (b-learning) and one third of practical classes. Theoretical classes include distance-learning classes, online content with resources and videos of teachers. The curricular unit covers tutorial strategies with distance learning sessions and discussion forums on topics of interest. The practical classes include innovative technology and allow students to work hands-on in a variety of laboratory techniques.
The teaching will be in Portuguese and English. In this way, the student will update and expand his knowledge in glycobiology and develop critical thinking for application in glycosylation-related diseases. With these teaching methodologies, the aim is to captivate the student from the beginning of the curricular unit, to foster an active and collaborative participation, to foment discussion and criticism, allowing the students to interrelate the various themes among themselves and create bases for eventual application of Glycobiology in their future work.
Weighted average of:
1) a written test to evaluate the acquired knowledge (50% weighting, (minimum 9 grades); 2) participation in practice and mini-test or report (weighting 40%); 3) Discussion forum (including e-learning) (10% weighting).
Evaluation method
A weighted average of:
1) Two written tests with 50% weighting each (minimum grade of 9);
2) Discussion forum (including e-learning), participation and presence. To be given to the final grade.
A Good - rises 1 point to the grade
B Sufficient -gets 0 points to the grade
C Bad- decreases 1 value to the grade
Note: Obligatory frequency to the practical and theoretical-practical lectures.