Coordination: Margarida Serra and Ana Azevedo

 

 

Objectives

 

Provide students with an integrated education in Animal Cell Technology, based on fundamental concepts of cell biology, cell line engineering, cell culture and bioprocess engineering, integrated using systems biotechnology with applications in regenerative medicine. The following objectives should be attained: 1. Learning the fundamental concepts of cellular biology and bioengineering; 2. Learning the most commonly used methods to characterize cell and tissues. 3. Identification of the main strategies used in the production and purification of recombinant therapeutic proteins, vaccines and viral vectors.

 

Program

 

1. Methods to study cell and tissue organization. Organelles and cytoskeleton. Cell-cell and matrix-cell adhesion and communication. Cell-cell signaling. Intracellular transport of proteins and secretion. Regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. Transcriptional control. Epithelial, connective tissue, nervous and muscle tissues. 2. Cell line Engineering. Antibodies and hybridomas. Constitutive versus transient expression. Transgenic animals for the production of therapeutic proteins. 3. Growth and cellular metabolism: nutrients and metabolites. Animal cell culture: media development and optimization, preservation (cryopreservation, vitrification, lyophilization, among others) and cell banks, contaminants, kinetics of cell growth and product formation. Culture systems: static versus dynamics. 4. Bioreactors for animal cell culture: suspension versus anchorage-dependent cells. Culture with microcarriers, 3D aggregates and encapsulation. Cell growth parameters. Modes of operation: batch, fed-batch and continue with perfusion. Monitoring and modeling of animal cell culture. Process analytical technologies, integrating control and automation. Systems biotechnology: Metabolic engineering, proteomics, fluxomics and secretomics. 5. Downstream processing: of recombinant proteins: capture, purification and polishing. Bioprocess integration. 6. Biomedical applications. Molecular therapy. Vaccines. Human recombinant proteins. Monoclonal antibodies.

 

Evaluation Methodology

 

70% - Presentation of a seminar comprising the critical analysis of a scientific article published in specialized journals.
30% - Writing of an Abstract Essay.