Engineering - Chemical Biology (cancelled)

Due to the covid-19 outbreak, this course has been cancelled for 2020.

The aim of the course is to enable the student to understand the underlying biology based on its chemical building blocks and their interactions, which is important in regard to designing better medicines that improve the quality of human life.

Students will learn about the chemical structures and properties of the three main classes of biomolecules – nucleic acids, proteins and lipids – and learn how each of them can play a role in therapeutics, diagnostics or biotechnology. Through lectures, tutorials and laboratory exercises, the course will provide a comprehensive approach to design, synthesis and analysis of natural and unnatural function of important classes of biomolecules.

The following main topics are contained in the course:
DNA / RNA
Peptides / Proteins
Nanobiotechnology - Engineering of biological membranes
Biocatalysis

Course leader

Jasmin Mecinovic, mecinovic@sdu.dk

Target group

Entry requirements:
Students enrolled in bachelor’s or master's programme in chemistry, pharmacy, biochemistry or molecular life sciences.

Academic preconditions:
Students taking the course are expected to:
• Have basic knowledge of organic molecules, biomolecules and organic reactions.
• Have knowledge of the central dogma of biology
• Be able to use molecular structure to understand properties of molecules.

Course aim

recognize natural and modified nucleic acids, their secondary structures and possible applications in nanotechnology and gene therapy
understand the link between protein structure and function
synthesise peptides and examine them as substrates for biomedically important enzymes
learn how to immobilize enzymes into solid particles for better applications
get hands-on experience to encapsulate enzymes into alginate gel for their reuse
learn about the structure and physico-chemical properties of amphiphiles and their self-assembly into lipid bilayer membranes
design amphiphilic synthetic biopolymers that can be embedded into lipid membranes
prepare synthetic lipid membrane nanoparticles – liposomes – and to functionalize them with amphiphilic synthetic DNA or peptides
perform solid-phase DNA and peptide synthesis

Fee info

EUR 0: Admission/Tuition:
NOTE: Exchange students from a partner university pay no tuition. Guest students pay tuition fees. Please read more: https://www.sdu.dk/en/Uddannelse/SDU_summer_school/Fees

NON-EU student: 8635 DKK per course (1160 Euro)

EU Students: 4250 DKK per course (570 Euro)