Biotechnology in Pharmacology and Biochemistry of Informational Macromolecules

Biotechnology has generated a real revolution in drug discovery by providing new therapeutic molecules and innovative research tools, the aim of the course is to provide students with the basis for understanding biotechnological methodologies and their use for the development of new biotechnological drugs. To this end, the Pharmacological Biotechnology module aims to review the changes that have occurred in the strategies applied to drug research and development over the last twenty years, describe the current methodologies for the definition of drug targets and the identification of therapeutic compounds, and analyse the strategies currently applied and applicable in the near future for the generation of new drugs. In addition, the course aims to provide the tools to understand next generation strategies and approaches associated with the use of oligonucleotides, gene therapy and cell therapy.
The Biochemistry of Informational Macromolecules module aims to deepen the knowledge of the chemistry and biological functions of informational macromolecules and the molecular mechanisms involved in the transmission of information; to analyse and discuss innovative biochemical approaches for the manipulation of nucleic acids and the isolation of genes for the study of their organisation, expression and function; and to describe the biochemical basis for the development and therapeutic use of biological and biotechnological drugs.

At the end of the course, the student should have acquired knowledge of innovative biochemistry and molecular biology methodologies applied to the search for new pharmacological targets and to the development of new generation biological drugs. In addition, with the knowledge developed in this course, the student will have developed the necessary critical sense to be able to increase his or her knowledge by moving in the ever-widening world of biotechnologies in the pharmacological field and will acquire the ability to engineer experimental designs to manipulate informational macromolecules in order to alter their expression and function. The student will also acquire the ability to analyse and discuss experimental data in appropriate scientific language.