| Department of Plant Biology
65 % Department of Food Science 10 % Department of Natural Sciences 20 % Department of Veterinary Pathobiology 5 % | |||||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year | ||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Course Level | MSc | ||||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination and oral examination All aids allowed Description of Examination: The exam is based on a final personal mini project which is delivered as a personal written report as well as an oral 30 min presentation in plenum including discussion. The project is selected and approved by the corse responsible teacher and shall not be directly linked to any of the previous exercise reports. Weight: Final personal oral presentation: 40% Written personal report of mini project: 60% pass/fail, internal examiner | ||||||||||||||||||
| Requirement For Attending Exam | Three out of five written reports must be passed. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | 5-10 hours/week including lectures (2-4 hours) and exercises or demonstrations ( max 8 hours. 16 hours/week for preparation and a project with computer searches. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 3 Week Structure: C Practicals in weeks 3,4,6 and 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English may be conducted in Danish | ||||||||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | Biokemi 2 Organisk kemi og spektroskopi Makromolekyler, cofaktorer og metalioners kemi Bioinformatik 1 Energiomsætning og kemiske reaktioner | ||||||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | 24. Exercises and demonstrations of expensive instrumentation, some of which we have only a single instrument, limits the group size. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Areas of Competence the Course Will Address | |||||||||||||||||||
| Basic Sciences: Comprehend nanobiotechnology principles and terminology and synergistic effects of cross disciplinary research. Transfer theories and principles for nanobiotechnological systems including array and dendrimer systems, assembly processes, catalytic activities, motion, recognition, sensing and biological functionalities. Applied Sciences: Comprehend methods of prediction of physical effects in food and material applications from nano structures. Apply principles of technologies within nanobiotechnology including biotechnological engineering and applications of nano array and dendrimer systems. Ethics and Values: Reflect over the societal impact of nanobiotechnology | |||||||||||||||||||
| Course Objectives | |||||||||||||||||||
| The course generates competence in general nanobiotechnology addressing its cross disciplinary nature. It covers the structure and functionalities of active biological units of macromolecular and (self)-assembled origin at the nano-scale focussing on bio-to-nano systems i.e. biological processes, motions and reactions taking place dependant on a nano-scale dimension. By learning from typical examples in Nature, scientific and technological break throughs can be reached. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||||||||
| This course covers the structure and functionalities of active biological units of macromolecular and (self-) assembled origin. Hence, it will be focused bio-to-nano systems where biological molecules are used to produce nano systems. However, also nano-to-bio systems will be mentioned i.e. nanotechnological tools used for the study and production of nano devices. For the production of nano devices, we will concentrate on the bottom-up strategy e.g. the use of gene technology and living organisms. Top-down strategies will be addressed where applicable e.g. the production of array systems for biomolecular analysis and the production and applications of dendrimer structures. The common occurrence with nano-scale processes in biology has been demonstrated in numerous technological reports. The course has a focus point at the biological function of these assembly structures. These assemblies have many different specialized functions such as supportive structures, dividing and transporting structures (membranes) motors etc. Classical examples of such structures are proteineous assemblies, e.g. metabolones and molecular pumps and carbohydrate assemblies including starch and cell wall structures and lipid membranes. Their exact structures, assembly mechanisms and functionalities in the living organism are disclosed along with the revolutionary developments in analytical technology, especially within microscopy. An example is atomic force microscopy (AFM). Many phenomena become active for chemical structures at the nano-level including radiation scattering effects (X-ray, light) and particle size dependent fluorescence utilized in the quantum-dot technology. Many of these techniques offer the possibility to measure forces and monitor processes as sequences (movies) of molecular processes at molecular and even atomic scales. The course also covers biomimetic models such as dendrimer structures as (mimicking biological structures and processes) for biological assemblies and the construction of biochips, biosensors etc. used for biotechnological applications. In the first phase of the course (week 1) the basic terminology for the nanobioteknology field is covered. The nextcoming weeks, different nano structures and are treated starting with protein assemblies followed by carbohydrate, lipid and specific mixed structures such as lipid bilayers functionalised by protein assemblies. Technologies required for nanobiotechnologal investigations are introduced together with the appropriate specific nano structures. These technologies include AFM, SEM, CLSM, radiation scattering, spectroscopy, optical tweezer, quantum dot technology, plasmon resonance etc. A general theme troughout the course is the biological and genetical basis for the investigation and engineering of nanostructures. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||||||||
| The course includes lectures, exercises, demonstrations and a mini project. General principles analytical technologies and applications are covered by the lectures. Theoretical and hands-on exercises will give experience of the nanobiotechnologies. A separate mini project is selected to be reported in the end of the course. It includes web based information searches will permit to specialise and focus on a specific desired nanostructure or nanotechnological device supervised by a specialist. Typically, each type of nanostructure and technology is introduced in a lecture followed by and exersice or a demonstration on the generation and analysis of the structure or process. Interesting additional technologies are highlighted by specific lectures given by specialists. Many teachers, each specialised in a specific reserach field, participate in the course which is a fundamental requirement as a direct result of the cross-disciplinary nature of nanobiotechnology. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||||||
| Stipulated in "Areas of Competence the Course Will Address" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||||||||
| Soft Machines, Nanotechnology and Life, Richard Jones, ISBN 0 19 852855 8, OxfordPress, 2004 Scientific articles: covering recent relevant research not covered by the text book delivered at the course start. Material for exercises and demonstrations delivered at the course start. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||||||
| Andreas Blennow, abl@life.ku.dk, Department of Plant Biology/Laboratory for Molecular Plant Biology, Phone: 35333334 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||||||||
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