Integrated Laboratory Practicals I
Objectives
This course has the objective of endowing students with an extensive knowledge of the experimental techniques used in different areas of Biochemistry. The students will be exposed to a broad range of techniques available at the Department of Chemistry of FCT and at ITQB.
It is intended that students improve their knowledge of the selected experimental techniques, and develop a critical approach to the analysis and interpretation of experimental data.
General characterization
Code
11178
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Margarida Archer Baltazar Pereira da Silva, Maria Teresa Nunes Mangas Catarino
Hours
Weekly - 5
Total - 60
Teaching language
Português
Prerequisites
There are no requirements to attend this curricular unit.
Bibliography
Biochemistry textbooks of general interest:
LEHNINGER PRINCIPLES OF BIOCHEMISTRY
Nelson, D.L., & Cox, M.M.
W.H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco, 5th ed. 2008
PRINCIPLES OF BIOCHEMISTRY
Voet, D., Voet, J.G. & Pratt, C.W.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 3rd ed. 2008
BIOCHEMISTRY
Lubert Stryer
W. H. Freeman and Company, San Francisco. 6th Ed. 2007
BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Andear Manz, Nicole Pamme and Dimitri Iossifidis
Imperial College Press, 2004
More specialized books, reviews and/or original papers will depend on the selected experimental techniques.
Teaching method
The students will be organized in groups with a maximum of 4 elements. Every week they have to study the protocol prior to the execution of the experimental work. In some situations this preparation includes writing parts of the experimental protocol. After the laboratory work each group has to write a report including the analysis and discussion of the results obtained as well as the theoretical background and the conclusions.
Evaluation method
The assessment will be continuous and will take into account the student’s laboratory work and its preparation, the capacity to perform a critical analysis of the data, as well as its written and oral presentation.
The final grade will be given by the following equation:
30% experimental component + 40% report + 30% presentation and discussion of results
Subject matter
The students will have the opportunity to perform experimental work in different areas of Biochemistry, from Molecular Biology to Biophysics. They will apply techniques used in the isolation and purification of biomolecules and their characterization at the biochemical and biophysical, kinetics, spectroscopic and structural levels. In the case of recombinant proteins, the practical work will include gene amplification techniques, cloning and expression. Enzyme kinetic studies will be made. The experimental work will be integrated with the syllabus of other curricular units in the 1st semester of this Master''s program.