Ateneo - UPO

For consultation: Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine - 17th edition - New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.
References on specific topics will be provided during the course.

The aim of the course is to give notions of methodology relating to the main biotechnological applications in Internal Medicine. In particular, the course will transmit skills on the growing role of biotechnology applications both in the diagnostic and in the therapeutic approach to different acute and chronic diseases.

The topics that will be object of the lessons have been selected to give examples of diseases characterized by educational relevance in the description of the diagnostic approach strategies (genetic diseases on one hand but also the development of diagnostic strategies in the fight against doping in sport) in the study of pathophysiology (diabetes mellitus, hypercalcemia) and in the therapeutic approach (evolution of the treatment of diabetes mellitus, viral hepatitis and autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis).

The course will also show some examples of the development of drugs obtained by recombinant DNA techniques and the development of innovative therapeutic strategies such as stem cell transplantation and gene therapy in different conditions.

The student should possess basic knowledge about the Human Anatomy, Biochemistry, Physiology, Pharmacology and General Pathology.

Lectures with supporting slides

The student may request to attend the laboratory of Emergency Medicine, with targets to be agreed with the teacher.

The final test will consist of multiple choice quiz or oral exam at the discretion of the teacher based on the number of candidates.

Cystic fibrosis: clinical diagnosis and principles of gene therapy
The lung cancer (overview of gene therapy and targeted-therapy)
Biotechnological aspects in the study of neuro-degenerative diseases
Biotechnological aspects in the study of neuro-inflammatory diseases
Aspects of the biotechnological treatment of viral hepatitis
The biological basis of treatment of autoimmune diseases
The biological basis of treatment of diabetes mellitus
Pathophysiological aspects of paraneoplastic hypercalcemia
Strategies for the use of biotechnology against doping in sport
Use of new biomarkers in emergency medicine