Advanced Biotechnology

This is one of the final courses in a series of three courses in molecular cell biology. In the first introductory course (UCSCIBIO11), you gained a lot of basic knowledge about the major characteristics of life on Earth. In the intermediate UCSCIBIO21 course, we explored the molecular world of the cell in more detail and learned to apply the knowledge to designing, interpreting, and presenting real-world data and scientific literature. This third course, Advanced Biotechnology (UCSCIBIO32), will focus on the implications of this knowledge; the course will cover theoretical and practical aspects of modern biotechnology, its large-scale applications, and its impact on society.

The highlights of UCSCIBIO32 are lectures and discussions with invited speakers from academia or industry in biotechnology. We will also debate on the topic of ethics in biotechnology, and at the end, you will try to develop your business idea to solve societally relevant issues in the second part of the course.

The course is divided into thematic parts devoted to general cloning methods and methods related to plant, animal, microbial, and biomedical biotechnology. Assignments are designed to help understand the practical aspects of the theoretical knowledge learned in lectures. You will get peer or teacher feedback on the first version of some of your assignments; this is meant to deepen your understanding of the lecture materials. In the second part of the course, where you work on the business idea, we will have lectures with invited speakers from industry and research fields related to biotechnology to help you get insight into how innovation works in biotechnology and how one could protect intellectual property.

 

Format
The course covers approximately 200 hours and consists of two parts
Part I (approximately 110 hours)
During the class meetings, which are held twice a week, the theory and concepts of several selected topics of biotechnology are presented through introductory lectures and lectures given by experts in the field. In the remaining time, students perform self-study, including reading and presenting research papers and other assignments related to a certain topic. This part is followed by a written exam.
Part II (approximately 90 hours)
In the second part, other aspects of biotechnology are introduced, such as intellectual property rights, impact on society, and the marketability of biotechnological product. The students have to work in groups to write a business idea. To be able to do so, they have to find and critically read and analyze literature. They finally have to present their biotechnological invention and to review the business ideas of the other students.