511423 - INDUSTRIAL BIOCHEMISTRY AND LABORATORY

courses

ID:

511423

Duration (hours):

52

CFU:

SSD:

BIOCHIMICA

Year:

2025

Date/time interval

Secondo Semestre (02/03/2026 - 12/06/2026)

Course Objectives

Part 1: The students must acquire the knowledge and the ability to describe the techniques and the strategies for the identification, the production, and the characterization of recombinant enzymes, and for their uses in industry. The practical workshops will help the students to acquire the ability of handling basic biochemical techniques for enzymes analysis. Part 2: The students will also be able to describe the scientific and technical basis of monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins and their use as therapeutics and advanced diagnostics and a new class of drugs based on cells, so called Advanced Therapy medicinal products, that are contributing to the revolution of medicine of the future.

Course Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of biochemistry and molecular biology. Knowledge of the general concepts about protein structure and function and cell metabolism.

Teaching Methods

Frontal lessons, seminars held by experts in the field of the biotechnology, guided tours of production plants. Practical activities in the laboratory to approach to enzyme characterization. The topics described in the two parts of the course were selected by the two teachers to optimize students' formation and avoid repetitions.

Assessment Methods

Oral exam to determine student's learning abilities and fluency in presenting scientific topics. The score is expressed over a scale of 30 points and determined by the whole commission.

Texts

Enzymes in Industry: Production and Applications. 2007. Wolfgang Aehle (Ed). John Wiley & Sons. Monoclonal antibodies: versatile platforms for cancer immunotherapy. Nature Reviews Immunology 10, 317-327 (May 2010) Therapeutic antibodies: past, present and future. Nature Reviews Immunology 10, 297 (2010) Strategies for the Production of Recombinant Protein in Escherichia coli. Gopal Jee Gopal • Awanish Kumar Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013 Recombinant protein expression and purification: A comprehensive review of affinity tags and microbial applications. Biotechnology Journal :620-34. 2012 Course notes and material provided by the teacher and videos shared on the KIRO platform. The didactic materials provided by the instructor, in the form of PowerPoint slides and/or PDF files, are intended solely for the use of students enrolled in the 2024/2025 academic year of the Master’s course in Advanced Biotechnology. These materials are designed to support the understanding of topics covered in each lecture. They are not a substitute for the recommended textbooks or original sources referenced by the instructor. Reproduction, distribution, or publication of any content (including text, audio, or video) in any form is strictly prohibited.

Part 1 (Prof Chiarelli) Enzymes as natural molecular machines for bioeconomy applications. Purification and characterization of enzymes in the laboratory and on large scale. Advanced applications of enzymes: from biofuels to modern textile industry. Enzymes and microorganisms in the agri-food chain: the production of beer, bread, cheese, wine, fruit juice and sweeteners. Part2 (Prof Nolli) The new frontieers of monoclonal antibodies: from mouse monoclonals to recombinant, humanized and minibodies, their applications in diagnostics and therapy. Analytical tests for the characterization and use of monoclonals: different types of ELISA, SDS-Page, WB, Biacore, flux cytometry, coculture tests.Recombinant proteins: from expression to production and purification, therapeutic and diagnostic applications. The development of biotech drugs, from research through the preclinical and clinical development, to the market. Biosimilars and development. The biotech production. New methods and equipments for the industrial production of monoclonals and rec proteins. The revolution in medicine: the cell-based drugs Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). Cell and Gene Therapy, Tissue Engineering, Combined Therapies. The Quality System in the production of biotech drugs and ATMPs. The production of biotech drugs and GMP rules. In vivo and ex vivo Gene Therapy with CART. The transition from conventional medicine to autologous, personalized, and precision medicine. Rare diseases, their scientific and social role.

Course Language

Italian

More information

Additional support and teaching aids will be guaranteed to students belonging to specific categories defined by the University governance (working students, disabled students, caregivers etc.), who will not be able to attend the lessons in presence.