Biomedical Technology / Red Biotechnology

The course will introduce students to the basic concepts of Red Biotechnology which includes all those biotechnology applications connected to medicine, such as design and development of new drugs, vaccines, antibiotics, molecular diagnostics and new therapeutic strategies. Relevant examples of cell and gene therapies, regenerative therapies and medicines based on biological molecules such as therapeutic antibodies will be presented. Furthermore the course will cover the principles of modern methodologies used in the field, including genetic engineering to cure diseases through genetic manipulation, -omics technologies (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics) and metagenomics. Finally, recent advances on the role of microbiota in health and disease in relation to particular applications will be discussed.