Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

MODEL ORGANISMS AND HUMAN DISEASES

Pre-clinical models for human diseases: from the bench to the bed !

Descriptive details concerning the subject

Name of the subject: Model Organisms and Human Diseases, MOHD

Type of subject: Optional

3 ECTS: 55 hours of student work (8h lectures, 8h seminars).

Coordination: Ana Janic and Cristina Pujades, Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, cristina.pujades@upf.edu

Teaching details

Language: English

Lecturers: Ana Janic and Cristina Pujades

Presentation

In ways that were not predictable many years ago, model organisms have changed the study of human biology. A great number of developmental regulators discovered in Drosophila and C. elegans are important factors in human genetic disease, and with complete genome sequences available in many organisms, we have the dictionary to translate among organisms. Because of the evolutionary conservation of developmental regulators, we have learned about the molecular basis of a number of human birth defects.

The scope of this course is to give you a glim of the applicability of different model systems to study and model human diseases. Applications of genetic recombination and modified organisms to biomedicine will be discussed as well as emergent developments in gene therapy and regenerative medicine.

Associated skills

General competences

1. To develop skills for critical analyses and synthesis of acquired information.
2. To acquire abilities for communication of scientific information.
3. To acquire basic abilities to outline and design experimental approaches to solve specific questions.

Specific competences

1. Basic concepts in tissue biology.
2. Basic concepts on worm, fly, fish and mice genetics. Knowledge of mutant collections.
3. Knowledge of complete genome sequences now available, in vivo techniques and the ability to express any gene at any time or place in whole organisms.
4. Knowledge of the different organisms used nowadays to model human diseases: advantages and disadvantages.

Learning outcomes

1. To understand the concept of model organism and how they are used as avatars for human diseases.

2. To get basic user knowledge of some of the most popular experimental tools to model diseases.

3. To understand the importance of the choice of in vivo models for studying human disease.

4. To know the basics of model organisms as useful systems for human diseases.

Sustainable Development Goals

#Good health and wellbeing

#Quality education

#Gender equality

Prerequisites

The course will be entirely in English, as well as the articles and class materials. Students are expected to have an English level sufficient to understand scientific articles, and basic conversational and writing skills to discuss and do oral and written presentations of scientific literature.

Contents

PROGRAM

Block 1: The use of invertebrate models: the elegant worm and the flatworm (2h).

The transformation of the model organism:

From worms to flies: triumphs of forward genetics.

The elegant worm (C elegans): MicroRNAs and developmental timing genes in life-span regulation: the breakthrough for gene-silencing. The discovery of apoptosis through cell lineage analyses.

The flatworm as a model for stem-cell biology: learning how to regenerate tissues!

Block 2: From worms to flies (2h).

Why the fly?  Drosophila have often provided the first insights into the mechanism of action of human disease-related proteins, thus making a substantial contribution to elucidating the molecular basis of the disease. More recently, Drosophila strains that are engineered to recapitulate key aspects of specific types of human diseases, (e.g. neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, diabetes) are now serving as a powerful platforms for therapeutic drug discovery and pre-clinical testing of new drug candidates.

Block 3: Let’s fish! Why fish are so useful in biomedical research? (2h)

The power of genetics: genetic screenings and the new genome-editing systems —CRISPR/Cas9 and TALEN.

The fish as a cancer patient: xenografts and cancer transgenic models.

Can we use zebrafish for cardiovascular analyses and modelling ictus?

The fish as an avatar of human neuronal disorders and tissue regeneration.

Block 4: Heading to an anthropocentric view: the use of the mouse as a model (2h).

Using mice to model cancer: recapitulating polygenic defects.

The mouse as a useful tool to study the mechanisms of memory encoding in health and disease.

Understanding development provides insights into developmental disorders and the other way around: the role of mice as the closest (?) experimental model to humans.

Teaching Methods

Format and methodology

The course will be divided into blocks attending to the main model organisms used, starting with the less complex systems and ending with mammals.

The format and distribution of the classes will be: i) lectures will be used to present an overview of current topics, ii) seminar sessions will get deeper in some of the studied questions; scientific articles will be analysed in depth.

Students’ oral communications (4h)

Students will work on an article proposed by the teacher. The article will be studied, summarized and prepared for oral presentation. They must submit an abstract of the article at most of one page indicating the title of the article, the names of the authors and the names of the students who will submit it. The abstract should explain the purpose of the work, the results and the conclusion. It is important to put the study in context and discuss it.

Oral presentations will be 8 min (if students did not finish on time, they will not be allowed to proceed), followed by 3-5 min of questions. Students will prepare a powerpoint with a maximum of 7-8 slides, containing an introduction/state of the art, the objectives of the work, the main results and a discussion. All members of the group must prepare the talk as the person in charge of doing so will be assigned randomly at the time of the presentation. All students will be required to participate in the question-and-answer session, and the grade will be the same for the whole group. So, all of you need to do it right.

Seminars (4h)

In the seminar’s session, we will work on problems addressing some questions dealing with human diseases and P4 medicine (Predictive, Preventive, Personalized and Participatory).

Evaluation

The evaluation will consist in four parts, with percentages of the total grade indicated in the following list:

1. Students’ oral presentations: pwp, oral presentation and response to questions (20% of the total grade). See below for more information.

2. Multiple choice exam (25% of the total grade).

3. Short questions exam (short questions) (35% of the total grade).

4. Active participation in the seminars (20% of the total grade)

To pass the course, you have to score in the multiple choice AND the short questions exams at least 4.5/10.

Bibliography and information resources

1. Animal Models for the Study of Human Disease 2nd Edition - June 20, 2017, Editor: P. Michael Conn.

2. Inflammation and Cancer, 1st ed. 2018, Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology Series, Vol. 1725, Editor: Jenkins Brendan J. (book)

3. Drosophila Models for Human Diseases (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 1076) 1st ed. 2018, Editor: Masamitsu Yamaguchi.

Información del Plan Docente

Presentación

MODEL ORGANISMS AND HUMAN DISEASES

Pre-clinical models for human diseases: from the bench to the bed !

Descriptive details concerning the subject

Name of the subject: Model Organisms and Human Diseases, MOHD

Type of subject: Optional

3 ECTS: 55 hours of student work (8h lectures, 8h seminars).

Coordination: Ana Janic and Cristina Pujades, Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, cristina.pujades@upf.edu

Teaching details

Language: English

Lecturers: Ana Janic and Cristina Pujades

Presentation

In ways that were not predictable many years ago, model organisms have changed the study of human biology. A great number of developmental regulators discovered in Drosophila and C. elegans are important factors in human genetic disease, and with complete genome sequences available in many organisms, we have the dictionary to translate among organisms. Because of the evolutionary conservation of developmental regulators, we have learned about the molecular basis of a number of human birth defects.

The scope of this course is to give you a glim of the applicability of different model systems to study and model human diseases. Applications of genetic recombination and modified organisms to biomedicine will be discussed as well as emergent developments in gene therapy and regenerative medicine.

Competencias asociadas

General competences

1. To develop skills for critical analyses and synthesis of acquired information.
2. To acquire abilities for communication of scientific information.
3. To acquire basic abilities to outline and design experimental approaches to solve specific questions.

Specific competences

1. Basic concepts in tissue biology.
2. Basic concepts on worm, fly, fish and mice genetics. Knowledge of mutant collections.
3. Knowledge of complete genome sequences now available, in vivo techniques and the ability to express any gene at any time or place in whole organisms.
4. Knowledge of the different organisms used nowadays to model human diseases: advantages and disadvantages.

Resultados del aprendizaje

1. To understand the concept of model organism and how they are used as avatars for human diseases.

2. To get basic user knowledge of some of the most popular experimental tools to model diseases.

3. To understand the importance of the choice of in vivo models for studying human disease.

4. To know the basics of model organisms as useful systems for human diseases.

Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible

#Good health and wellbeing

#Quality education

#Gender equality

Prerrequisitos

The course will be entirely in English, as well as the articles and class materials. Students are expected to have an English level sufficient to understand scientific articles, and basic conversational and writing skills to discuss and do oral and written presentations of scientific literature.

Contenidos

PROGRAM

Block 1: The use of invertebrate models: the elegant worm and the flatworm (2h).

The transformation of the model organism:

From worms to flies: triumphs of forward genetics.

The elegant worm (C elegans): MicroRNAs and developmental timing genes in life-span regulation: the breakthrough for gene-silencing. The discovery of apoptosis through cell lineage analyses.

The flatworm as a model for stem-cell biology: learning how to regenerate tissues!

Block 2: Froms worms to flies (2h).

Why the fly?  Drosophila have often provided the first insights into the mechanism of action of human disease-related proteins, thus making a substantial contribution to elucidating the molecular basis of the disease. More recently, Drosophila strains that are engineered to recapitulate key aspects of specific types of human diseases, (e.g. neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, diabetes) are now serving as a powerful platforms for therapeutic drug discovery and pre-clinical testing of new drug candidates.

Block 3: Let’s fish! Why fish are so useful in biomedical research? (2h)

The power of genetics: genetic screenings and the new genome-editing systems —CRISPR/Cas9 and TALEN.

The fish as a cancer patient: xenografts and cancer transgenic models.

Can we use zebrafish for cardiovascular analyses and modelling ictus?

The fish as an avatar of human neuronal disorders and tissue regeneration.

Block 4: Heading to an anthropocentric view: the use of the mouse as a model (2h).

Using mice to model cancer: recapitulating polygenic defects.

The mouse as a useful tool to study the mechanisms of memory encoding in health and disease.

Understanding development provides insights into developmental disorders and the other way around: the role of mice as the closest (?) experimental model to humans.

Metodología docente

Format and methodology

The course will be divided into blocks attending to the main model organisms used, starting with the less complex systems and ending with mammals.

The format and distribution of the classes will be: i) lectures will be used to present an overview of current topics, ii) seminar sessions will get deeper in some of the studied questions; scientific articles will be analysed in depth.

Students’ oral communications (4h)

Students will work on an article proposed by the teacher. The article will be studied, summarized and prepared for oral presentation. They must submit an abstract of the article at most of one page indicating the title of the article, the names of the authors and the names of the students who will submit it. The abstract should explain the purpose of the work, the results and the conclusion. It is important to put the study in context and discuss it.

Oral presentations will be 8 min (if students did not finish on time, they will not be allowed to proceed), followed by 3-5 min of questions. Students will prepare a powerpoint with a maximum of 7-8 slides, containing an introduction/state of the art, the objectives of the work, the main results and a discussion. All members of the group must prepare the talk as the person in charge of doing so will be assigned randomly at the time of the presentation. All students will be required to participate in the question-and-answer session, and the grade will be the same for the whole group. So, all of you need to do it right.

Seminars (4h)

In the seminar’s session, we will work on problems addressing some questions dealing with human diseases and P4 medicine (Predictive, Preventive, Personalized and Participatory).

Evaluación

The evaluation will consist in four parts, with percentages of the total grade indicated in the following list:

1. Students’ oral presentations: pwp, oral presentation and response to questions (20% of the total grade). See below for more information.

2. Multiple choice exam (25% of the total grade).

3. Short questions exam (short questions) (35% of the total grade).

4. Active participation in the seminars (20% of the total grade)

To pass the course, you have to score in the multiple choice AND the short questions exams at least 4.5/10.

Bibliografía y recursos de información

1. Animal Models for the Study of Human Disease 2nd Edition - June 20, 2017, Editor: P. Michael Conn.

2. Inflammation and Cancer, 1st ed. 2018, Methods and Protocols, Methods in Molecular Biology Series, Vol. 1725, Editor: Jenkins Brendan J. (book)

3. Drosophila Models for Human Diseases (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 1076) 1st ed. 2018, Editor: Masamitsu Yamaguchi.