Methods in Chemical Biology

The aim of this course is to illustrate the modern methodologies applied at the chemistry/biology interface to observe, probe or interfere with relevant biological processes. The application of such methodologies to pre-clinical drug discovery will also be discussed.
The course will allow the students to: adapt to the ever-evolving chemistry field, especially in synergy with physics and biology; individually study and critically evaluate frontier research from primary literature; understand how to interfere with complex biological processes via small molecular probes or biorthogonal chemistry; improve their written and oral communication skills by means of individual or group presentation of selected case studies.

At the end of the course, successful students will be able to explain how chemical and biophysical methods are used to study the regulation and function of biomolecules and to discuss the use of chemical biology in biomedical research and pre-clinical drug discovery.
In particular, they will be able: 1) to describe the chemical basis of replication, transcription, translation, post-translational modifications (PTMs) and how each of these central processes can be expanded to include new chemical matter; 2) to critically read and evaluate the literature and effectively communicate research in a peer setting; 3) to describe the substance and importance of chemical biology.