ECTS credits ECTS credits: 6
ECTS Hours Rules/Memories Hours of tutorials: 3 Expository Class: 27 Interactive Classroom: 21 Total: 51
Use languages Spanish, Galician
Type: Ordinary Degree Subject RD 1393/2007 - 822/2021
Departments: Microbiology and Parasitology
Areas: Microbiology
Center Faculty of Biology
Call: First Semester
Teaching: With teaching
Enrolment: Enrollable
To acquire knowledge on the main metabolic activities of microorganisms and their biotechnological applications.
To acquire knowledge on the basic mechanisms involved in generic regulation in prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms.
To acquire knowledge on the mechanisms of evolution and exchange of genetic information in regulation in prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms.
To acquire knowledge of the biotechnological applications of viruses.
To learn how to evaluate and summarise critically scientific publications in the field of microbial biotechnology, applying the acquired theoretical knowledge.
To understand the basic methodologies for the selection of microorganisms and viruses of biotechnological interest.
THEORETICAL CONTENTS (28 hours, face to face)
Section I. Fundamental aspects of microbial biotechnology (8 hours)
Unit 1. Microbial metabolism and biotechnological applications: Aerobic metabolism. Anaerobic metabolism: fermentations and anaerobic respiration. Chemolitotrophy. Anoxygenic photosynthesis.
Section II. Microbial genetics (13 hours)
Unit 2: Fundamentals of bacterial genetics.
Unit 3: Regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes.
Unit 4: Eukaryotic microorganisms in Biotechnology: Genetic aspects of yeasts of biotechnological relevance. Biotechnological applications of microalgae.
Section III Biotechnological applications of microorganisms (7 hours)
Unit 5. Identification of novel strains and compounds of biotechnological interest. Phases in the development of new compounds.
Unit 6: Introduction to Environmental and Health Microbial Biotechnological applications
SEMINARS (12 hours, face to face)
In the first seminar, the Professor will review the concept of the Scientific methods and will explain the structure of scientific publications and scientific presentations.
In seminars 2-12, Scientific publications selected by the Professor will be presented individually by the students. The publications that will be analyzed will be related to some of the theoretical contents (mainly those present in Units 5 and 6) including some of the following applied aspects: Biotechnological applications of microalgae, Microbial degradation of polymers and plastics, Microbial Biodegradation and corrosion, Microbial biofuels and biorefineries: production of biodiesel, bioethanol, and methane, Bio-batteries, Biopolymers of microbial origin, Probiotics, Bioterrorism, Synthetic biology, vaccines, novel antimicrobials, Waste Water Technology, etc.
LABORATORY PRACTICES (10 hours, face to face)
Bacterial conjugation
Functional screening techniques: selection of bacteria with Quorum Quenching activity
Selection and quantification of bacteriophages
TUTORIAL SESSIONS (1 hour)
Group tutorial sessions (face to face) will be programmed in order to supervise the preparation of the work that will be presented in the seminars. Individual tutorial sessions will be programmed on demand for solving questions and could be held remotely.
WRITTEN EXAM (2 hours)
The written exam will include short questions and multiple-answer test questions on the theoretical contents. Questions on the contents of the laboratory practices could be also included.
Basic bibliography
- Madigan, M.T., J.M. Martinko, y col . 2015. Brock Biología de los Microorganismos. 14ª ed. Pearson, Madrid.
- Martín, A., V. Béjar, J.C. Gutiérrez, M. Llagostera y E. Quesada. 2019. Microbiología esencial. Ed. Médica- Panamericana. Madrid.
- Willey, J.M. Sherwood, L.M. & Woolverton, C.J. 2009. Microbiología de Prescott, Harley Y Klein. 7ª ed. McGraw-Hill Interamericana. Madrid.
- Thieman, W.J., & M.A. Palladino. Introducción a la Biotecnología. 2010. 2ª ed. Editorial Pearson. Madrid.
Complementary Bibliography
- Atlas, R.M.& R. Bartha. 2001. Ecología Microbiana y microbiología ambiental. 4ª ed. Addison-Wesley. Madrid.
- Tortora, G.J., B.R. Funke, & C.L. Case. Introducción a la Microbiología. 2017. 12ª ed. Editorial Médica-Panamericana. Buenos Aires.
Scientific articles from the following journals will be used:
Trends in Biotechnology; Current Opinion in Biotechnology; Journal of Biotechnology; Nature Biotechnology; The Scientist
Bibliography for the laboratory practices
- Gamazo, C., Sánchez, S. y Camacho, A.I. eds., 2013. Microbiología Basada en la Experimentación. Barcelona: Elsevier.
- Gamazo, C., Lopez-Goñi, I. y Díaz, R. eds., 2005. Manual práctico de microbiología. 3ª ed. Barcelona: Masson.
Contents, Skills and competences are those stated in the description of the Degree in Biotechnology.
Knowledge/Contents: Con01, Con02, Con05
Skills: H/D01, H/D02, H/D04, H/D012
Competences: Comp01, Comp02, Comp03
- Classroom lectures: 28h. The contents of the theory program will be explained as classroom lectures with the use of graphical support. Graphical support will be available in the e-learning platform (Aula Virtual). The attendance to the classroom will not be evaluated.
- Seminars. 12 seminars of 1 hour. Scientific papers will be presented by the students. The papers will be selected and assigned by the Professor and will be related to the subjects of the Theory Program (Mainly Unit 6). Students will prepare the presentations individually. After every seminar session, a questionnaire will be available in the e-learning platform (Aula Virtual) on the contents explained in the seminar. The questionnaires will be answered individually in the next 48 hours after the seminar. The attendance to the seminars, the preparation of the works, and answering the questionnaires are not obligatory tasks, but they are necessary to achieve the maximal score.
- Laboratory practices: 10 laboratory hours, distributed in 5 sessions of 2 hours, that will be organized consecutively in the same week. Attendance to the laboratory practices is compulsory and needed in order to be able to pass the course. The achievements will be evaluated by a written exam at the end of the practice period.
-Tutorial sessions: The group tutorial session will be used to supervise the individual work of preparation of the seminars. They will be programmed individually, preferentially in groups of 2 students, since the same research paper will be presented in the seminar by 2 students, each belonging to a different seminar group. The students will be evaluated individually and therefore they do not need to work together in the preparation of the seminar. The active attendance to this tutorial sessions is compulsory and necessary to be allowed to participate in the Seminar activity.
Alternative, voluntary activities related to the contents of the theoretical program or the laboratory exercises could be proposed by the Professor. The scoring and timing of these tasks will be announced by the Professor and the score will be added to the final score.
Final exam: It will account for 60% of the final mark. The final exam will be complementary to the continuous evaluation. The written exam will include short questions and multiple-answer test questions on the theoretical contents. Questions on the contents of the laboratory practices could be also included. A minimum score of 5 is required in order to add the points of the other activities.
Continuous evaluation: It will account for 40% of the final mark. It will be calculated as:
- Seminar work. 20% of the final mark. The individual work of students for the preparation of the presentations will be evaluated. This activity is not compulsory.
- Seminars: Evaluable questionnaires on the content of the seminars will be available in the e-learning platform (Aula Virtual) after each seminar session. This activity is not compulsory and will account for 5% of the final mark.
- Laboratory practices: 15% of the final mark. The attendance to all the laboratory practices is compulsory in order to be able to pass the course. A written test will be done at the end of the practices week. Students should reach at least a 40% of the total score in these activities in order to pass the course. This test can be repeated with the final exam in case that the minimum mark is not reached.
For students failing to pass the subject, the mark of the practice test will be maintained for 2 academic. The score obtained in the presentation of the scientific work (seminar) will be maintained for 2 academic courses.
In the second evaluation period, besides the theory exam, the students that did not reach the minimum score in the laboratory practice activities will be allowed to take a dedicated exam.
The results of the learning process will be evaluated as follows:
Final exam: Con01, Con02, Con05, H/D01, Comp02
Laboratory exercises: Con05, H/D02, H/D04, H/D12
Seminars: H/D01, H/D02, H/D04, Comp01, Comp03.
Classroom and laboratory hours: 53
- Classroom lectures: 28 hours
- Seminars: 12 hours
- Laboratory Practices: 10 hours
- Tutorial sessions: 1 hour
- Evaluation: 2 hours
Personal student work: 97 hours, distributed as: preparation of the seminar: 10-17 hours; study of the theoretical program: 80-87 hours.
Total number of hours: 150 hours
- For a better assimilation of the contents of the Block I, students are recommended to review, during the first week of the course, the basic concepts on Biochemistry acquired during high-school.
- Attendance to lectures and seminars is highly recommended to facilitate the assimilation of the contents.
- The materials provided by the Professor should be completed with other bibliographic support.
- It is recommended that the contents of the course Genetics I are prepared in parallel in order to facilitate the comprehension of the contents related to Microbial Genetics.
- The use of tutorial sessions for the preparation of the work that will be presented in the seminars is highly recommended.
- The use of individual, non-programmed tutorial sessions is highly recommended.
All the PwP presentations and materials of the different activities will be available in the online learning platform (Aula Virtual).
Doubts will not be solved by e-mail.
In the case of fraudulent behaviour in exercises or exams, the terms stated by the “Normativa de evaluación del rendimiento académico de los estudiantes y de revision de calificaciones” will be applied.
Ana Maria Otero Casal
Coordinador/a- Department
- Microbiology and Parasitology
- Area
- Microbiology
- Phone
- 881816913
- anamaria.otero [at] usc.es
- Category
- Professor: University Professor
| Tuesday | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Classroom 08. Louis Pasteur |
| Wednesday | |||
| 18:00-19:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Spanish | Classroom 08. Louis Pasteur |
| 01.21.2025 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 04: James Watson and Francis Crick |
| 06.23.2025 16:00-20:00 | Grupo /CLE_01 | Classroom 03. Carl Linnaeus |