Level of education
Bachelor's degree
ECTS
5 credits
Training structure
Faculty of Science
Description
This compulsory course for the "Molecular and Cellular Biology" program aims to deepen and supplement, mainly through tutorials and practicals, the fundamental molecular and cellular processes covered in the BCM2, BCM3, and Advanced Cellular and Molecular Biology courses by addressing them in greater depth. These classes will focus on the topics of intracellular trafficking, cell cycle, and apoptosis, continuing on from the BCM3 course.
Group work will be carried out in tutorials, during which students will be required to analyze a scientific article and produce a structured summary specifying the context of the study, the specific scientific question posed by the authors, the strategies implemented, and the techniques used to answer it. The aim of this work is to help prepare students for writing their TER reports and Master's internship reports.
The tutorials and practicals will be carried out in an integrated manner on the same topics as those covered in the lectures. The tutorials will be directly linked to the practicals. Students will be required to ask a question related to a cellular mechanism and, in accordance with the scientific approach, propose an experimental strategy to answer it. The practicals will enable students to apply this strategy by integrating techniques from biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology, such as immunoblotting, cell culture, immunolabeling, and fluorescence microscopy. The results obtained will be analyzed using image analysis techniques and bioinformatics.
Objectives
- Knowledge:
- Knowledge and understanding of the fundamental concepts of cell biology and molecular biology
- Understand the main principles of protein targeting to different cellular compartments.
- Understand the main principles of vesicular trafficking (concepts of fission and fusion and knowledge of some of the major proteins involved (Rabs, Arf, SNARE, SNX, BAR proteins, etc.) and nuclear trafficking.
- Understand the different stages of the cell cycle and the major molecular principles of its regulation (CDK cyclin concepts).
- Understand the main pathways leading to cell death (necrosis, apoptosis, anoikis, etc.) and the signaling mechanisms associated with them.
- Know approaches for studying modes of interaction between proteins (direct/indirect) (pull down, immunoprecipitations, in vitro interaction, etc.).
- Understand the approaches used to evaluate the importance of a protein in a cellular mechanism (siRNA, cells from KO mice, expression of dominant negative or constitutively active mutants) in relation to the concepts of loss or gain of function.
- Understand cell transfection approaches
- Expertise:
- know how to analyze a scientific article figure.
- know how to analyze and interpret the results of a scientific article and be able to summarize it quickly (level 1 of article analysis).
- know how to perform plasmid transfection on cell lines.
- know how to perform immunocytochemical/fluorescent staining.
- know the basics of using an upright epifluorescence microscope.
- know how to use simple image analysis and bioinformatics tools
- Interpersonal skills:
- work independently and in a group
- Write a report on practical work, following the presentation rules and within the allotted time.
- Comply with the health and safety rules of a practical training room and good laboratory practices related to cell line culture.
Mandatory prerequisites
- From molecules to cells (S1).
- Biochemistry and molecular biology of the cell (S2).
- Cellular and molecular biology (S3).
- Cell biology and molecular biology (S4)
- Advanced Cellular and Molecular Biology (S4)
- This course allows students to deepen their understanding of the fundamental concepts and techniques of cell biology and molecular biology, and is essential for pursuing the Master's program in Genetics, Epigenetics, and Cellular Determinism.