PhD in Complex Systems for Quantitative Biomedicine

Introduction to Cell Biology

Introduction to Cell Biology

Academic year 2019/2020

• Introductory courses

Sommario del corso

• Learning assessment methods
• Program
• Suggested textbooks and readings
• Teaching tools

Learning assessment methods

Each student will be required to prepare a short presentation (5 slides) on one of the topics presented (not necessarily the ones she/he picked for reading). Details will be communicated during lectures.

Program

The course is structured around 10 hours of teaching plus two dedicated to assessment. Due to its extreme brevity I have chosen to cover only a few selected topics:

1. Visualizing cells to get insights into tissue homeostasis
2. Cell signaling and collective migration
3. Stem cells and population dynamics in cancer
4. Directional migration and lymphocyte homing to cancer cells

The course will give priority to the understanding of the basic principles underlying these 4 topics and to focus on modern experimental techniques that can help perform measurements on such phenomena. Particular attention will be devoted to the development of a common sense for numbers in cell biology , i.e. the estimation of duration, rates, physical dimensions, etc...

Each topic will be examined by considering one scientific article along with a more general review on the topic. You will have to read in advance at least 2 of the 4 proposed papers and reviews and propose a list of questions that will help the teacher to shape the lectures around the interests and needs of the students.

Questions should necessarily be of general interest (what is meant by differentiation? What is a transcriptional profile? What is fluorescence microscopy?) and more detailed depending on your research interests and curiosity. For obvious reasons, each paper should be picked by at least one of you.

Each topic will therefore be covered in 2.5 hours of lectures, which will be roughly subdivided into 1h general introduction of the problem, 1h experimental paradigms faced by the paper and 10 min discussion.

Timetable and Deadlines:

The course Introduction to Cell Biology will take place on:

February:

15: h 9.30-12 Aula Rossa

17:  h 9.30-12 Aula Rossa

20: h 10-12.30 Aula Verde

24: h 9.30-12 Aula Arancione

March 3rd: h 9.30-12 final exam and student presentation Aula Rossa

Deadlines: send out questions at least 3 days in advance with respect to each corresponding lecture.

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• Teaching materials
• Exams and finals
• Go to Moodle
• Visit the forums