Courses
Bi4999en Structural Biology and Bioinformatics
Structural biology and bioinformatics are scientific disciplines derived from molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics and computer sciences. These disciplines focus on the understanding of living organisms at the level of individual macromolecules and their interactions. Bioinformatics is the information technology for obtaining, storing, analysing and distributing biological data. Structural biology enables determining or predicting the structure of macromolecules and investigating structure-function relationships.
Bi9680en AI in Bioengineering
The course objectives are to i) Introduce basic principles and concepts of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning; (ii) demonstrate applications of Machine Learning to tackle modern problems in biology, chemistry, and bioengineering; (iii) discuss data interpretation, major pitfalls and limitations of the methods. After completing the course, a student will be able to:
- identify and describe main principles of ML algorithms to solve
regression, classification, and clustering problems; - describe main steps in the design of ML predictors;
- identify major challenges in developing an efficient ML
predictor and explain performance measures; - analyze modern bioengineering problems in terms of ML
applicability.
Bi9690en Synthetic Biology
Over the past decades sufficient understanding of how biological systems work has been gained to allow advanced manipulation of living creatures driven by engineering principles. This has led to a new scientific discipline called synthetic biology that nurtures on technology breakthroughs in genomics, proteomics, protein chemistry, genetic engineering, systems biology and bioinformatics to design new or extensively redesign existing biological properties for applications in biotechnology and medicine. In this lecture course, students will grasp concepts in synthetic biology, become familiar with basic methodological approaches and learn about a wide range of possible applications in science and technology.
Bi5000 and Bi5000c Bioinformatics
The aim of this course is to give an introduction to Bioinformatics. Bioinformatics covers different computer applications in biological sciences. In its broadest sense, Bioinformatics constitutes information technology applied to the management and analysis of biological data. The course will consist of a theoretical part followed by practical training using computers and the Internet. An introduction will be given to the theory of genome and protein information resources, to DNA and protein sequence analyses, to the organization and searching of primary and secondary databases, etc.
Bi7430 Molecular Biotechnology
The course of molecular biotechnology is focused on specific aspects of modern biotechnology covering the latest innovations and development of therapeutics, vaccines, biotransformations, transgenic plants and animals and the role of these modern technologies in sustainable living. The number of examples illustrates the latest principles and applications of the recombinant DNA technology in up-to-date industrial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications.
Bi7430 Molecular Biotechnology – practical course
The practical course provides an interesting combination of practical problems solved under the guidance of experts from academia (MU and VRI) and business environment (a biotechnology company). At the end of the course, students will be familiar with a variety of techniques of molecular biotechnology, such as the design of primers, DNA cleavage by restriction enzymes, a transformation of bacterial cells, methods of fermentation culturing E. coli, an application recombinant microorganisms and isolated enzymes in biosensing and remediation of hazardous substances or synthesis of pharmaceutically pure chemicals. The course will enable students to deepen their theoretical knowledge acquired in Molecular Biotechnology lectures. Students will become familiar with the currently used methods and the principles and operation of modern laboratory equipment. The course also aims at strengthening the students’ communication skills in discussions with experts in the field and exercising the stylistic skills of students through writing essays and laboratory protocols. The usage of learning materials in English support the students’ ability to work with scientific texts, including developing the knowledge of the English terminology used in this field.
Bi9410 and Bi9410c Structural Biology
The aim of this course is to introduce the biological systems from the point of view of biomacromolecular structures. Students will get an overview of methods for the determination, retrieval and visualisation of structures, and learn how to infer useful information about their function. Students will also learn the basics of important biological phenomena such as protein dynamics or protein-protein, protein-DNA and protein-ligand interactions. At the end of the course, the application of structural biology to the study of molecular basis of essential biological processes, drug design and engineering of novel biocatalysts will be introduced.
Bi7410 Protein Engineering
The aim of this course is to introduce methods and strategies commonly used in protein engineering. At the end of the course, students should be able to understand and explain differences between rational design and directed evolution, and have general knowledge about miscellaneous topics such as searches in bioinformatics databases, isolation, expression or purification of novel proteins. Students will also get an overview of several biophysical techniques used for the analysis of secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure, as well as of screening methods used for the selection of novel protein variants with improved properties.
Bi7171 Biotechnological excursions
The objective of the educational field trips is to provide the students of biology and biochemistry with practical experience with workplaces and awareness of job opportunities in companies, which use microbiological and molecular biotechnological methods in the working processes. During the four day tours, the students will visit: (i) the biotechnological centre JIC INBIT in Brno, (ii) R&D laboratories and a production plant in the company Bioveta, (iii) a production plant in the company BioVendor, and (iv) R&D laboratories and production plant in the biotechnology company Contipro in Dolni Dobrouc. The course graduates will be able to describe the processes employed during the preparation of drugs, biopharmaceuticals and vaccines.
Bi6161 Microbiological excursions
The objective of the educational field trips is to provide the students of biology and biochemistry with practical experience with workplaces and awareness of job opportunities in companies which use microbiological and biotechnological methods in processes and technologies. During four half-day tours, the students will visit the following plants and companies : (i) the production plant of the brewery Starobrno, (ii) a sewage treatment and composting plant in Blansko, (iii) R&D laboratories of Erba Lachema in Brno, and (iv) Institute for State Control of Veterinary Biologicals and Medicines (USKVBL) in Brno. Upon a successful completion of the course, the students will be able to describe various processes using microorganisms for the production of beer and composting. They will be able to describe the processes for the production of diagnostic kits and their usage.
Bi7893 Seminar of Loschmidt Laboratories
At the end of the course, students should be able to independently: (i) design experiments, (ii) carry out laboratory work, (iii) interpret the results and (iv) present them to the scientific community by a lecture or a paper.
Bi7894 Seminar of Research Teams of Loschmidt Laboratories
At the end of the course, the students should be able to independently: (i) design experiments, (ii) carry out laboratory work, (iii) interpret the results and (iv) present them to the scientific community by a lecture or a paper.
Bi9280 Summer School of Protein Engineering
The aim of protein engineering is to understand the functioning of molecular machines and construction of proteins for biomedical and biotechnological applications. The Summer on Protein Engineering is organized for secondary school and university students interested in biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, biomedicine and biotechnology. The program consists of theoretical introductory lectures and laboratory practicals. Students will learn basics of protein design, construction and characterization. Topics to be covered are: search in bioinformatics databases, computer design of biomolecules, construction of mutants using molecular biology techniques, structural and biophysical determination of protein properties.