Biological Sciences

This course provides an examination of cell biology. Students consider cell structure, the history of cell biology, and the basic mechanics of a eukaryotic cell. The structure and function of the cell membrane, organelles, nucleus, and cytoskeleton are explored. Finally, normal cell cycle, cell division, and differentiation processes are examined alongside their dysregulation leading to cancer.

Through theoretical studies and practical exercises, the course conveys knowledge about the structure and function of the brain and key areas of modern cognitive neuroscience, such as attention, memory, language, cognitive control, emotions, and social interaction. The understanding of normal function is the primary focus of the course, but clinical examples are used as they provide substantial illustrations of normal functioning. The course includes relevant research methods within the area, and major emphasis is placed on the interdisciplinary nature of the subject.

The course consists of three modules. Module 1 (Introduction to Brain Function) provides basic knowledge of neuroanatomy, brain development and change, cellular function and communication, and basic brain functions, such as sensory processing, perception, motor function, and motivation. Important methods to study cognitive functions, mental processes, the activity of the brain, and functional anatomy are described. Module 2 (Higher Cognitive Functions) focuses on attention and cognitive control, memory, language, social interaction, problem solving and thinking, and decision making. This module communicates knowledge about the neurocognitive basis of emotion and how cognitive function is influenced by emotion and introduces different types of brain damage and psychoorganic syndromes. Students participate in laboratory demonstrations to train important skills for conducting empirical studies in cognitive neuroscience, including reporting the results in accordance with the international norms for publication in psychology. Module 3 (Project Work) includes a literature review but can also consist of a short empirical-oriented project.

This course provides an overview of the biotechnology in diagnostics within the fields of invitro diagnostics, including various diagnostics and medical devices. Biotechnology in diagnostics is the study of the diagnostic assays of human diseases in clinical applications. The course examines the principles and assays (techniques) of various diagnostics in various clinical applications such communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Prerequisite: General biology

The first part of this course is on the molecular and cellular biology of the nervous system. Focus is on the neurotransmission process, in particular the role of neurotransmitter receptors as a basis for understanding the mode of action of Central Nervous System (CNS) drugs. The second part of the course gives an overview of the major classes of a number of CNS drugs: the hypnotics and sedatives, the anxiolytics, and the drugs used to treat CNS degenerative disorders. The pharmacology of these drugs is put in the perspective of their clinical use. The final part of the course is devoted to illicit drugs, their acute and long term effects, and their potential as medicines.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program in Sciences and Management of Nature. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course focuses on the distribution of human biodiversity in the world and on the main adaptive processes that have influenced it through patterns of phenotypic and molecular variation in human populations. The course explores how the different and changing environments have prompted ecological and cultural shifts that have introduced new selective pressures that have impacted the human genome. Special attention is placed on cases in which ecological and cultural contexts have changed so rapidly in the modern era that they have trigger adaptive traits that were previously shaped by natural selection and now are shaped by maladaptive selection. The course also provides elements useful for understanding the evolutionary causes of differential susceptibilities to complex diseases in human populations. The course presents the main theoretical models developed so far to describe the processes by which human populations have biologically adapted to a variety of environmental conditions. Moreover, it describes patterns of molecular and phenotypic variation that underlie some of the most well-studied human adaptive traits. Finally, evidence supporting dis-adaptive processes undergone by present-day human populations due to rapid changes occurred in their environmental and/or cultural contexts is presented. The course is organized as follows: evolutionary principles, processes enabling human biological adaptation to environmental settings, contextualization of human adaptive traits in the overall landscape of human biodiversity, case studies describing adaptive processes of human populations in response to environmental stresses, and case studies describing dis-adaptive processes of human populations due to rapid environmental/cultural changes.