ECTS credits ECTS credits: 4.5
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Student's work ECTS: 74.25 Hours of tutorials: 2.25 Expository Class: 18 Interactive Classroom: 18 Total: 112.5
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: Microbiology and Parasitology, Functional Biology
Areas: Microbiology, Plant Physiology
Center Faculty of Pharmacy
Call: Second Semester
Teaching: Sin docencia (Extinguida)
Enrolment: No Matriculable
Students will know the applications of Biotechnology in the Health area, with special emphasis on the application of genetic engineering techniques in the development of new pharmaceutical products. The fundamentals of these processes and their present and future possibilities will be analysed.
The fundamental content of this discipline is the part of biotechnology known as Red Biotechnology, and refers to the biotechnological applications for the human and animal health, which include different technologies. The subject is divided in three parts:
In the first part, there will be a very brief review about traditional biotechnology and its application to obtain drugs, thus, we will focus on the antibiotic production and the biotransformation of steroids.
In the second part we will assess the study of genetic engineering techniques from a basic and advanced point of view and the use of those techniques to produce drugs. Nowadays genetic engineering is essential for pharmaceutical industry since it improves the yield of the classical fermentation processes such as production of antibiotics, vitamins, steroids, etc. and it allows the cutting-edge development of drugs. Thus, hormones, vaccines, antibodies, interferons are produced by fermentation. In this part molecular cloning and its application for drug production from recombinant microorganisms will be reviewed. Other possible applications will also be briefly discussed to show the huge possibilities of the biotechnology to the students.
In the third part, we will address the biotechnology applied to the plants, accomplishing the production and characterization of transgenic plants and their multiple applications in improving the yield and quality of species of socio-economic interest and the use of plants as biofactories to obtain products with nutritional and sanitary interest.
Reduced theory program:
Unit 1. Concept and historical development of biotechnology. Classification.
Unit 2. Traditional biotechnology in the pharmaceutical industry. Concepts. Bioreactors. Metabolites. Antibiotic production and biotransformation of steroids.
Unit 3. Recombinant DNA technology (I). Basic techniques and historical development. Restriction enzymes. Plasmid vectors. Ligation. Bacterial transformation.
Unit 4. Recombinant DNA technology (II). Advanced genetic engineering techniques. Cloning vectors. Strategies to obtain genes: specific and random cloning.
Unit 5. Recombinant DNA technology (III). Suitable hosts to express recombinant proteins. Introduction of recombinant rDNA into the host. Incorporation of the rDNA to the genome host: site-specific and homologous recombination, and CRISPR-Cas. Knock-out and knock-in animals.
Unit 6. Hormone production by recombinant DNA technology. Historical development: somatostatin and insulin. Purification of fusion proteins.
Unit 7. Recombinant DNA technologies applied to obtain monoclonal antibodies. Concepts. Hybridoma. Humanization of antibodies.
Unit 8. Development of recombinant vaccines. Concepts. Types of vaccines based on recombinant DNA technology.
Topic 9. Plant biotechnology in the pharmaceutical industry. Concept and historical development. In vitro culture of plant cells and tissues: historical background, types and stages. Production of active principles in plants: cell suspensions and culture in bioreactors.
Unit 10. Genetic transformation of plants. Expression cassettes: promoters, terminator sequences, protein targeting. Vectors for plant transformation. Types. Stable and transitory transformation. Techniques.
Unit 11. Plants as biofactories: advantages and challenges. Production of molecules of pharmacological interest: molecular agriculture and metabolic engineering. Other applications: phytoremediation, agronomic improvement, production of raw materials and bioplastics.
Laboratory program:
Genetic engineering. Process design. Basic techniques. Molecular cloning and expression of genes in bacteria using recombinant DNA technology.
Identification of environmental microorganisms producing substances with antibiotic activity.
Plant in vitro culture.
Recommended books (Spanish)
LUQUE CABRERA, J. and A. HERRÁEZ SÁNCHEZ (2006). Texto Ilustrado de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Genética. Conceptos, Técnicas y Aplicaciones en Ciencias de la Salud. Ed. Elsevier. Madrid.
RENNEBERG R. (2008). Biotecnología para Principiantes. Ed. Reverté. Barcelona.
Recommended books (English)
CLARCK, D. P. E and N. J. PAZDERNIK (Eds) (2016). Biotechnology (2nd Ed) Academic Cell, Ed. Elsevier. ISBN 978-0-12-385015-7
CROMMELIN, D. J. A., R. D. SINDELAR and B. MEIBOHM (Eds) (2008). Pharmaceutical Biotechnology. Fundamentals and Applications (3rd Ed). Ed. Informa healthcare USA Inc. New York.
GLICK, B. R., J. J. PASTERNAK and C. L. PATTEN (2010) Molecular Biotechnology. Principles & Applications of Recombinant DNA. Ed. ASM Press. Washington.
PRIMROSE, S. B. and R. M. TWYMAN (2006) Principles of Gene Manipulation and Genomics (7th Ed). Ed. Blackwell Publishing. Oxford.
ALTMAN, A. and P. M. HASEGAWA (Eds) (2012) Plant Biotechnology and agriculture. Prospects for the 21st century. Elsevier
SLATER, A., N. SCOTT, M. R. FOWLER and A. SLATER (Eds) (2003) Plant biotechnology: the genetic manipulation of plants. CABI Life Science ISBN 0-19-925468-0.
Online resources
Srivastava, P. S., A. Narula, and S. Srivastava (Eds) (2004) Plant Biotechnology and Molecular Markers Boston: Springer. Full text available in EBSCOhost Ebooks.
The virtual classroom will include materials prepared by teachers and links to online resources.
Degree competences to which the subject contributes:
B05 Develop skills to identify therapeutic targets and biotechnological drug production, as well as the use of gene therapy.
Q01 Identify, design, obtain, analyse and produce active principles, drugs and other products and materials of health interest.
Q09 Know the origin, nature, design, obtaining, analysis and control of medicines and health products
TF07 Know the basic operations and technological processes related to the elaboration and control of medicines.
Transversal competences
CI05 Oral and written communication in one's own language.
CI07 Basic computer skills.
CI08 Information management skills (ability to search and analyse information from various sources).
CI09 Troubleshooting.
CP02 Teamwork.
CS01 Ability to apply knowledge in practice.
CS05 Ability to generate new ideas (creativity).
CS09 Design and project management.
To support teaching, a virtual classroom will be available on the Moodle platform of the Virtual Campus, to which teaching material will be uploaded and which will be used as a means of communication with students.
1. Lectures. Synchronous face-to-face teaching in the classroom. Theory lectures given by the teaching staff supported by modern audiovisual techniques, combined with oral presentations by the students.
2. Seminars. Synchronous face-to-face teaching in the classroom. Throughout the course, questions and problems that students must answer individually or as a team will be provided, and they will be delivered through the virtual classroom to be corrected by the teachers.
3. Laboratory Practices.
Microbiology area: Compulsory in which each student must prepare their own work material and must carry out the proposed experimental assays individually. Experimental assays can be replaced by "in silico" simulations of practical cases. The necessary computer tools and protocols are provided through the virtual course. In the final exam, one or more questions may be included to evaluate the knowledge acquired in the practical lessons. The mark of said practical questions will be included in the percentage of the evaluation corresponding to the practical lessons.
Plant Physiology Area: compulsory in which each student must prepare the material, carry out the experimental part and interpret the results individually. They will be carried out in person in the laboratory and evaluated through questions formulated through the Virtual Campus and / or completion of an individual work. In the final exam, questions related to the laboratory practices may be included, which will be comprised in the evaluation mark corresponding to the laboratory practices.
4. Tutorships: Face-to-face in the classroom.
The final mark for each block (Microbiolgy and Plant Physiology) will be weighted as follows:
a) Final exam (program contents): 65%
b) Seminars: Presentations, newsletters, questionnaires, etc.: 15%
c) Practices: 20%. Mandatory. Evaluation with questions at the end of the practices and / or with questions in the final exam.
The student's final grade will be the sum of the weighted grades obtained for the continuous assessment (b + c) and for the final exam in each area. On the final grade, the Microbiology block constitutes 2/3 and the Plant Physiology 1/3. To pass the course it will be necessary to obtain a minimum of five points (without weighting) in each of the blocks.
In the 2nd evaluation opportunity of the academic year, only the theory exam will be carried out, keeping the grade corresponding to the continuous evaluation (b + c). In case of having approved only one block in the first opportunity, this qualification will be maintained exclusively in the second opportunity.
The practice mark will be kept in the two subsequent academic years in case of failing the subject.
The evaluation of the competences acquired in the subject will be carried out through the following ways:
1. On the exam: specific competences Q09, TF07; transversal competences CI09, CS0.
2. In laboratory practices: transversal competences CI09, CS0.
3. In interactive classes: specific competences B05, Q01, TF07; transversal competences CI09, CS0.
For cases of fraudulent performance of exercises or tests, the provisions of the "Regulations for evaluating students' academic performance and reviewing grades " will apply.
In-class hours:
Lectures: 24
Seminars: 7
Laboratory: 12
Tutorials, exams: 3.5
Student personnel work hours:
Studio: 40
Laboratory: 2
Seminars, works: 25
Total: 112.5 hours.
Attendance to class and continuous monitoring of the subject, both in the case of face-to-face and remote teaching.
Active participation in seminars.
Contingency plan
A contingency plan is addressed taking into account the necessary adaptations to scenarios 2 and 3. The sections referring to the Subject objectives, Contents, Basic and complementary bibliography, competencies, studying time and personal work and Subject study recommendations does not experience changes with respect to scenario 1 of adapted normality. Next, the adaptations to scenarios 2 and 3 referred to the teaching methodology and evaluation system sections are detailed.
Teaching methodology
Scenario 2. Distancing (partial restrictions on physical presence)
1. Lectures: Synchronous on-line teaching.
2. Seminars: synchronously in the classroom.
3. Laboratory Practices: for both the microbiology and plant physiology areas, 50% of the practical hours will be carried out in a synchronous face-to-face way in the laboratory and 50% will be virtual asynchronous. The practical part carried out in person in the laboratory will be evaluated through questions formulated using the Virtual Campus and / or the delivery of an individual work. The part of telematic work will be evaluated by means of questions formulated through the Virtual Campus.
4. Tutorials: Synchronous or asynchronous telematic means, by appointment.
Scenario 3. Closure of facilities
1. Lectures. Synchronous or asynchronous on-line teaching.
2. Seminars: Synchronous or asynchronous on-line teaching.
3. Laboratory Practices: for both the microbiology and plant physiology areas, 100% of the practices will be carried out virtually (synchronous or asynchronous or a combination of both). The practices will be evaluated by questions formulated through the Virtual Campus and will be compulsory for all students.
4. Tutorials: Synchronous or asynchronous telematic means, by appointment.
Evaluation system
Scenario 2.
The final exams will be carried out in person/online depending on the health situation. If telematics, the institutional tools in Office 365 and Moodle will be used. In this case, the adoption of a series of measures will be requested that will require the students to have a device with a microphone and a camera, as long as an adequate software is not yet available.
Scenario 3.
The final tests will be exclusively telematic.
Maria Del Carmen Rodriguez Gacio
Coordinador/a- Department
- Functional Biology
- Area
- Plant Physiology
- mdelcarmen.rodriguez.gacio [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: Temporary PhD professor
Javier Dubert Perez
- Department
- Microbiology and Parasitology
- Area
- Microbiology
- javier.dubert [at] usc.es
- Category
- Researcher: Juan de la Cierva Programme
Alba Vázquez Barca
- Department
- Microbiology and Parasitology
- Area
- Microbiology
- albavazquez.barca [at] usc.es
- Category
- USC Pre-doctoral Contract
| Monday | |||
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| 15:30-16:30 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | 5035 Classroom 2.1 Faculty of Politics |
| Tuesday | |||
| 15:30-16:30 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | 5035 Classroom 2.1 Faculty of Politics |
| Friday | |||
| 15:30-16:30 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | 5035 Classroom 2.1 Faculty of Politics |