Details

Lecture contents

Darwinian evolution, creationism and intelligent design. Driving forces and mechanisms of evolution, population genetics, phylogeny and formation of species. Physical and chemical basis of life and energy requirements. History of life on our planet and milestones of evolution: origin of life, oxygen, eukaryotes, sexual reproduction and multicellular organisms. Features of pro- and eukrayotic cells and the phylogeny of life. Kingdoms of life: eubacteria, archaea, protists, fungi, plants and animals. Human evolution and the scientific method.

Assessment methods

a written exam at the end of the lectures

Teaching methods

Oral presentations

Lecture contents

Fundamental principles of signal processing by cells in single and multicellular organisms.
Organization of genes and gene regulation.
Illustrative discussion of some pathways (e.g. MAP kinase, GPCR, nuclear hormone receptor, NF-kB, Jak/Stat, Wnt, apoptosis and stress pathways).
Effects of pathways on gene regulation, cell cycle, cytoskeleton and metabolism.
Networking with other pathways - signal networks.
Techniques for analyzing signaling pathways.
Biological and medical aspects of signaling pathways.

Assessment methods

Written exam

Teaching methods

Presentation & Activating Methods

Language

German

Lecture contents

Principles of development (differentiation, growth, pattern formation, induction, morphogenes, cytoplasmic determinants, regulative development, cell fate, cell movement, differential cell adhesion)
Stages of development (early cell division, gastrulation, neurulation, organ development)
Development of important model systems (Drosophila, C. elegans, zebrafish, Xenopus, chick, mouse, evolutionary comparison)
Methods of developmental biology (transplantation, analysis of gene expression, gain-of-function and loss-of-function methods)
Axis determination (organizer, anteroposterior axis - hox genes, dorsoventral axis – Bmp/chordin, left/right axis)
Blood circulation (angiogenesis, hematopoietic system)
Regulation of growth and cancer development
Germ cells and reproduction (gametogenesis, fertilization, in vitro fertilization, cloning)
Regeneration (stem cells, models for regeneration, tissue engineering, aging)

Assessment methods

written exam in the last lecture

Teaching methods

lectures
Powerpoint presentations and down-loads

Language

German

Lecture contents

Almost all knowledge on the molecular details of biological pathways originates from research on biomodels. Biomodels have different advantages and strengths and have to be carefully selected depending on the questions asked. In this lecture animal model systems will be discussed in detail. First unicellular, fungal and plant models will be discussed. Then the main animal model systems are presented: vertebrates (fish, frog, chick and mouse) and invertebrates (Drosophila and C. elegans). Various molecular and genetic methods for the analysis of animal models are presented and principles of animal experiments are discussed.

Assessment methods

written exam in the last lecture

Teaching methods

lectures
Powerpoint presentations and downloads

Language

German

Lecture contents

- Fundamental features of genetics and genetic engineering
- Different levels of regulation of gene expression in pro- and eukaryotes
- Transcriptional regulation (transcription in eukaryotes, transcriptional activation, properties of transcription factors)
- Posttranscriptional regulation (splicing, transport, stability of mRNA, translational control)
- Effects of chromatin (composition, histone modifications, regulation, epigenetics)
- Examples from signalling pathways

Assessment methods

Final exam
Written exams

Teaching methods

Lectures with Powerpoint presentations

Language

English

Lecture contents

Important signalling pathways of the cell (e.g. MAP kinase-, GPCR-, Nuclear Hormone Receptor-, NF-kB-, Jak/Stat-, Wnt-, Hedgehog-, Tgfß-, Apoptosis-, PI3K/Akt- and stress pathways) are presented together with their effects on gene expression and other functions of the cell. In addition the crosslinks with other pathways are discussed. Techniques for the analysis of signalling pathways are also presented.

Assessment methods

Final exam
Written Exam

Teaching methods

Lectures with Powerpoint presentations, Discussion of selected chapters

Language

English

Lecture contents

In this course research papers from internationally respected high-quality journals from the field of Drug Discovery are distributed to the students who read them on their own. The seminar itself then takes the format of a peer-group discussion, where students present the background, the most important findings and the conclusion of the publications. Furthermore, they discuss the strengths and the weaknesses of the publications and make suggestions for improvements.

Assessment methods

Final exam
Participation in discussion (Seminar paper)

Teaching methods

Seminar

Language

English

Lecture contents

In this course the students learn strategies of scientific research. In a small group they develop a strategy for a given topic (in Drug Discovery), by designing experiments and work packages which they evaluate according to different criteria like costs, effort, efficiency, Finally each group presents its research project.

Assessment methods

Final exam
Presentation and discussion of the developed strategy

Teaching methods

Seminar

Language

English