C8775 Essentials of Chemical Biology

Faculty of Science
Spring 2019
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 2 credit(s) (plus extra credits for completion). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Prof. Andrew David Miller (lecturer), doc. RNDr. Ctibor Mazal, CSc. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. RNDr. Ctibor Mazal, CSc.
Department of Chemistry – Chemistry Section – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: doc. RNDr. Ctibor Mazal, CSc.
Supplier department: Department of Chemistry – Chemistry Section – Faculty of Science
Prerequisites
C2021 Organic Chemistry I && C3050 Organic Chemistry II
General knowledge of chemistry, mainly organic and physical chemistry.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This course is a wide-ranging introduction to chemical biology. Biology can be described as chemistry that we do not understand yet. Accordingly, chemical biology can be described as all aspects of chemical endeavor devoted to understanding the way biology works at the molecular level. In chemical biology we take a multi-disciplinary, problem focused approach that makes use of the tools, techniques and understandings of organic, physical, inorganic and analytical chemistry in order to solve research problems of major interest at the interfaces between chemistry & biology or chemistry & medicine.
Syllabus
  • The structures of biological macromolecules and lipid assemblies – protein, carbohydrate, nucleic acid, lipid structures
  • Chemical synthesis of peptides, proteins, nucleic acids, oligosaccharides, lipids
  • Biological synthesis of proteins, nucleic acids, oligosaccharides, lipids
  • Molecular biology as a toolset for chemical biology – basic gene cloning, protein expression and site directed mutagenesis
  • Electronic and vibrational spectroscopy – UV-visible, circular dichroism, vibrational and fluorescence, metal spectroscopy
  • Magnetic resonance – Key principles of NMR, 2D/multi-D NMR, biological NMR, EPR
  • Diffraction and microscopy – X ray crystallography, neutron diffraction, electron microscopy, scanning probes (STM and AFM)
  • Molecular recognition and binding in chemical biology – measuring binding interactions with calorimetry, CE, and SPR
  • Kinetics and catalysis – measuring rates of catalysis, steady state kinetics, theories of biocatalysis
  • Mass spectrometry – soft ionization, characterisation of proteins, peptides, nucleic acids, proteomics
  • Molecular selection and evolution – origins of life, molecular breeding, directed evolution of nucleic acids, catalytic antibodies
  • Miniaturization and arrays – microfluidics, improved models of disease
  • Chemical biology of cells and cell therapies – chemical genetics, stem cell biology, cell therapies
  • Nanomedicine and advanced therapeutics – synthetic nanoparticles, design and creation for gene therapies
  • Advanced diagnostics and theranostics – MRI, PET/CT, SPECT, imaging and theranostic nanoparticles
Literature
    recommended literature
  • MILLER, Andrew and Julian TANNER. Essentials of chemical biology : structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2008, xvi, 573. ISBN 9780470845301. info
Teaching methods
lectures
Assessment methods
The course consists of several lectures and is closed by a written examination. Students are challenged with 12 questions reflecting various aspects of chemical biology. Each answer is scored, maximum score is 10 points. Total number of points must be at least 46 to pass the examination.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: in blocks.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
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