Seminar in Biology
Prerequisites
first year of Bachelor
Programme
Module I
Mechanisms of evolution
Origin of variation.
Variation in DNA and Proteins.
Quantitative traits
Genetic drift
Population structure
Selection on variation
Interactions between evolutive forces
Measuring selection
Evolution of phenotypes
Speciation
Evolution of sexual reproduction
Evolution of man
Module II
Molecular Phylogenetics
Sequence alignments
Multiple sequence alignments
Phylogenetics trees
Protein families
Conserved domains
Homology and analogy
The Tree of Life
The Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA)
Module III
cell biology laboratory techniques:
preparation of cell cultures
primary cultures and cell lines
cell transfection
pluripotent cells
brain in a dish
transcription analysis by qRT-PCR
transcription analysis by ISH
gene expression analysis by ICD
NGS
transcriptome analysis
Educational aims
Objective of the course is to complement courses taught in the Unversity of Pisa with some key concepts and methods of contemporary Biology
Bibliographical references
-Evolution Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory Press