Concepts of cell and molecular biology

Lectures, with the aid of slides. The teacher can show tutorials found on the web;

elearning website: download of ppts and communications between teacher-student;

type of interaction between student and teacher: meeting, email, skype;

language: English

Raffa’s module

• Introduction to Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine
• Nanotechnology for cellular targeting: phage display, aptamers, antibodies and plastic antibodies
• Organic nanoformulation on markets: focus on brain cancers treatmen
• Inorganic nanotechnology for theranostics
• Molecular biology: mechanisms of gene expression regulation in eukaryotes at the epigenetic, trascriptional, co-trascription and post-trascriptional level
• Synthetic biology: genetic circuits, molecular motors and nanomachines
• Nanotechnology, therapeutic approaches for CNS nerve regeneration: neural interfaces, stem cells, organoids
• Nanotechnology, therapeutic approaches for PNS neural interfaces: chemical and physical strategies
• Magnetogenetics for cell signalling manipulation and mechanotransduction of axonal growth

Bizzarri’s module

1. Light-matter interactions and optical microscopy
   1. Light, color, waves
   2. Geometrical optics
   3. Diffraction and interference in image formation
   4. Microscope design
   5. Diffraction and spatial resolution
   6. Contrast in image formation: bright-field and dark-field microscopy
2. Fluorescence microscopy
   1. Definitions, empirical approach, quantum-mechanical basis of the fluorescence process, Jablonski diagram
   2. Optical read-outs of fluorescence: intensity, wavelength, lifetime and anisotropy
   3. Excited state reactions and relaxation
   4. Fluorescence quenching
   5. Optical microscopy and fluorescence microscopy
   6. Confocal microscope
   7. Two-photon microscope
   8. Total Internal Reflection Microscope
   9. Binding by fluorescence microscopy: Forster Resonance Energy Transfer
   10. Dynamics by fluorescence microscopy: Fluorescence Recovery After Photobleaching and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy
3. Super-resolution microscopy
   1. Toraldo’s statement on the physical basis of resolution
   2. Bistability and information
   3. The stochastic approach: PALM, STORM, and SOFI techniques
   4. The deterministic approach: STED and RESOLFT techniques
   5. The hardware: structured illumination and beyond.

Papers (reviews) selected by the teacher.

Use consultation hours to fill any gap

The oral examination consists of an interview between the candidate and the teachers. During the oral examination the candidate may also be asked to solve "think as a scientist" or to try to approach an experimental problem with the right scientific plan. The duration of the interview is about 40 minutes, the number of questions is generally 4 (2 each module).