Corso di laurea magistrale in Biotecnologie Industriali

The course contributes to the objectives of the Master program in Industrial Biotechnology, enabling students to integrate knowledge already acquired in the biochemical and enzymological fields with skills related to the latest biotechnological advances, with specific references to the design of drugs based on their protein targets.

The course provides students with tools for the design and construction of molecular models of wild type and mutant proteins based on notions of the relationship between their structure and function. In particular, students will learn the structure-function of Phase I human drug metabolising enzymes including cytochromes P450.  Important techniques for the study of such enzymes and their interaction with drugs and inhibitors will covered including 'quantitative structure-activity relationship "(QSAR), electrochemistry of the immobilised enzymes, FTIR, Flourescence. Methods for production of libaries of mutants will also be covered.
Major attention will be placed on students "development of capacity" in addressing critical problems in this area of research, acquiring knowledge and familiarity of the theoretical aspects as well as laboratory techniques and bioinformatics.

Students must acquire competences, detailed following the Dublin Descriptors below:

Lectures (56 hours)

Practicals (25 hours): in silico modelling of drug metabolising enzymes followed by structure assesment and finally docking of drugs in the 3D model of the protein.

 The exam consists of an oral exam in which the students have to answer three questions based on the material taught during the lectures.

The evaluation of the oral accounts for 80% of the final grade.

10% of the grade is based on the evaluation of the presentation given by each student in English an a recently published article, and the final 10% is for a report written in the format of an article based on the in silico molecular modeling and docking.

Part A: Protein Engineering
In this part the following topics will be covered:
- Protein Structure and Folding
- Protein Data Banks: CATH, SCOP; Homology protein modelling, pattern search, Energy and
electrostatic factors, PROCHECK, LIGPLOT, DOCK.
- Protein rational design: site-directed mutagenesis, methods and approaches
- Directed evolution of proteins: random mutagenesis, recombination, DNA-shuffling

- De novo design of proteins: models for protein folding, design of helix bundles, metal binding sites
- Ingegneria proteica applicata a studi di trasferimento elettronico intra- e inter-molecolari
- Applications of rational design in the construction of optical and amperometric biosensore.
- Bioelectrochemistry, Ciclic voltammetry, AFM, STM.
- Antibody engineering: Construction of libraries, phage display, in vitro selection. Applications in medicine,
radioimmunotherapy, pro-drug activation.
- Engineering cytochromes P450, principles of drug metabolism.
- Student seminars on protein engieering and drug design
- Practicals on molecular modelling and ligand binding
Part B: Drug Design
This part of the course will be mainly devoted to the following aspects:
- Molecular basis of drug action
- Rational drug design and interaction with receptors
- Combinatorial synthesis and screening methods

It is strongly recommended to use the lessons and teaching material available on the website  http://biotecnologieindustriali.campusnet.unito.it
In addition, during the lectures refernces material in form of recently published aritcles will be specified as reading material.

Recommended basic texts for the course are:

Introduction to protein structure (autori Branden and Tooze),
Biosensors 2nd Edition (editors J. Cooper and A.E.G. Cass), Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK - NewYork, US.

Bioinformatic tools and data available on the following websites are also recommended:

www.expasy.ch
www.rcsb.org/pdb