Regulation of Biochemical Processes   (403B1)

Academic year:

2019/2020.

Attendance requirements:

401B1

ECTS:

5

Study level:

Study program:

Teacher:

Milan R. Nikolić, Ph.D.
associate professor, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Assistant:

Aleksandra M. Đurđević Đelmaš
research assistant, Faculty of Chemistry, Studentski trg 12-16, Beograd

Hours of instruction:

Weekly: two hours of lectures + two hours of labwork (2+0+2)

Goals:

This course will enable students to acquire basic and advanced knowledge of the mechanisms of biochemical regulation.

Outcome:

Students have mastered the essential biochemical regulatory mechanisms and basic laboratory techniques.

Teaching methods:

Lectures, theory exercises and experimental exercises.

Extracurricular activities:

—

Coursebooks:

Main coursebooks:

• David R. Jones, Duško P. Blagojević, Mihajlo B. Spasić: Uvod u molekularnu fiziologiju (Biohemija III). Hemijski fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, Beograd, 2006.
• PowerPoint presentations which accompany the lectures.

Supplementary coursebooks:

• Gerhard Krauss: Biochemistry of Signaling Transduction and Regulation, Fifth, Completely Revised Edition, Wiley-VCH Verlag, 2014.

Additional material:

http://www.chem.bg.ac.rs/~mnikolic

Lectures:

10 points (2 hours a week)

Syllabus:

General principles and concepts of the regulation of biochemical processes; homeostasis in the context of the thermodynamics of open systems;

Structure, organization and characteristics of signaling pathways: primary messengers, receptors, the coupling of receptors, second messengers, adaptor proteins and effector proteins;

Signaling through G protein-coupled receptors;

Phosphatidylinositol signaling system;

Signaling through (non-)receptor tyrosine kinases;

Signaling through nuclear receptors;

Signaling coupled with ion-channel-coupled receptors;

Gaseous signaling molecules;

Integration pathways for signal transmission: vision and muscle contraction/relaxation;

Signaling systems: signal integration, crosstalk mechanisms and networks;

Disruptions in signal transmission pathways;

Experimental approaches and methods in the study of signaling pathways and their components.

Labwork:

20 points (2 hours a week)

Syllabus:

• The first messengers: structure, activity, function.
• Intracellular signaling proteins: structure, activity, function.
• Reactive species as signaling (redox) molecules.
• In vitro activity of selected first messengers.

Written exam:

40 points

Oral exam:

30 points