Cell population dynamics
A.A. 2024/2025
Obiettivi formativi
The course will endow the students with theoretical as well as practical knowledge of cell population dynamics in animal biology. I will focus on examples of concerted cell behaviors that have been biophysically-characterized and/or mathematically modeled. Several aspects of cell populations will be considered and covered: movements, rearrangements, concerted signaling and gene expression. Hands-on activities in the teaching lab will focus on examples of cell polarization and migration in tissue culture, as well as cell rearrangements in vivo using Drosophila melanogaster as a model.
Risultati apprendimento attesi
Students will acquire understanding of the state of the art in studying behaviors of cell populations. In particular:
-they will learn the techniques utilized to visualize cell changes, both those involving averaging and those describing single cells.
- they will be able to select the appropriate system and apply the correct set of descriptors to answer typical quantitative questions in the field of cell and tissue biology.
-they will develop a critical capacity to evaluate relevant experimental examples provided by published studies.
-they will practice communication of the qualitative and quantitative aspects of relevant studies keeping in mind different target audiences.
-they will learn the techniques utilized to visualize cell changes, both those involving averaging and those describing single cells.
- they will be able to select the appropriate system and apply the correct set of descriptors to answer typical quantitative questions in the field of cell and tissue biology.
-they will develop a critical capacity to evaluate relevant experimental examples provided by published studies.
-they will practice communication of the qualitative and quantitative aspects of relevant studies keeping in mind different target audiences.
Periodo: Secondo semestre
Modalità di valutazione: Esame
Giudizio di valutazione: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Corso singolo
Questo insegnamento può essere seguito come corso singolo.
Programma e organizzazione didattica
Edizione unica
Responsabile
Periodo
Secondo semestre
Programma
-modeling of cell movements in cell culture: examples of cell migration.
-modeling of cell population changes in cell culture: density/contact
-related changes (contact-inhibition etc), signaling-related examples
(i.e. epithelial to mesenchymal
transition, growth of spheroids and organoids, etc).
-descriptions of cell behaviors in tissue culture (i.e single cell tracking, cell population heterogenicity, molecular markers and reporters of cell population changes, etc).
-aspects of bioengineering that can be modeled.
-modeling of concerted cell behavior in vivo (i.e cell migration/cell
intercalation/cell organization in Drosophila, cell organization and behavior in organoids, ex-vivo section etc)
- methods for advanced data extraction from live and fixed cells and associated biophysical descriptions (i.e. Examples of imaging and description of tumor-related cell behaviors, single cell sequencing, spatial proteomics, etc)
-modeling of cell population changes in cell culture: density/contact
-related changes (contact-inhibition etc), signaling-related examples
(i.e. epithelial to mesenchymal
transition, growth of spheroids and organoids, etc).
-descriptions of cell behaviors in tissue culture (i.e single cell tracking, cell population heterogenicity, molecular markers and reporters of cell population changes, etc).
-aspects of bioengineering that can be modeled.
-modeling of concerted cell behavior in vivo (i.e cell migration/cell
intercalation/cell organization in Drosophila, cell organization and behavior in organoids, ex-vivo section etc)
- methods for advanced data extraction from live and fixed cells and associated biophysical descriptions (i.e. Examples of imaging and description of tumor-related cell behaviors, single cell sequencing, spatial proteomics, etc)
Prerequisiti
Bachelor knowledge of cell biology, tissue and tumor biology and
developmental biology, rudiments of genetics and molecular biology.
developmental biology, rudiments of genetics and molecular biology.
Metodi didattici
The course is organized as a lecture series provided by expert in the field of quantitative cell and tissue biology complemented by few introductory lectures. There will be ample question time and case study discussion. Lectures will require student participation. Practical activities will include hands on analysis of quantitative experiments. Given the exceptional nature of the course as lecture serie and the unicity of the speakers, students not chosing the optional course attending 9 of the 16 lectures are eligible to receive 3 credits. Details of this possibility will be clearly communicated at the beginning of the course.
Materiale di riferimento
The slide presentation and additional material will be made available. In addition, students are encouraged to consider the most recent paper available in pubmed in which the author is listed as last author as backgound material. The list of the 2024 invited speakers and titles of the lectures is listed below. Please note that the 2025 rooster of speakers may vary. Erika Donà (CNR - Institute of Neuroscience, Milan, Italy) "The fly brain: from genes to circuits"; Veronica Krenn (University of Milan - Bicocca, Milan, Italy) -"Engineering organoid systems for the study of neurobiology of disease - a quantitative view"; Elena Taverna (Human Technopole, Milan, Italy) - "Choosing to be different: Cell identity"; Matteo Moretti (Ospedale Galeazzi, Milan, Italy) - "Cell and tissue engineering"; José Davila (Human Technopole, Milan, Italy) - "Modeling the molecular states of brain cells"; Antonio Zippo (University of Milan - Bicocca, Italy) - "Characterization of the neurovascular architecture by nano-scale computed tomography"; Fernanda Pinheiro (Human Technopole, Milan, Italy) - "Modeling and predicting antibiotic resistance evolution"; Giorgio Scita (IFOM/Unimi, Milan, Italy) "Tissue Fluidification in Pathophysiology"; Fabio Giavazzi (BIOMETRA, Unimi, Milan, Italy) "Random walks and how to catch them"; Andrew Smith (University of Milan - Bicocca, Monza, Italy) - "An introduction to MS-driven spatial omics for mapping the spatial arrangement of cells in pathological tissue"; Andrea Bassi (Polimi, Milan, Italy) - "Advanced microscopy for cell biology"; Sara Lovisa (Humanitas, Milan, Italy) - "Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in development and disease"; Darren Gilmour (University of Zurich, CH) "Role of tissue architecture in regulating differentiation".
Modalità di verifica dell’apprendimento e criteri di valutazione
I will assess the students using a multiple choice test (MCT) and an oral exam (OE) after the end of the course. The multiple choice part is based on 22 questions relevant to themes of the lectures. 1 point is assigned for each correct answer, 0 points for blank, -0,2 for each incorrect answer, yielding a maximum of 22 points. Each question has 5 possible answers of which only one is correct. The oral part consist in a 15 minutes power point presentation by the student about a task assigned at the end of the course. The presentation is evaluated to a maximum of 10 points.
I will also evaluate attendance/participation to the lectures and performance in the teaching lab activities. These additional maximum 2 potential "pedigree" points (PP). The final mark is the sum of the MCT, OE and PP points. Whoever exceeds 30.5 points is awarded 30/30 and lode as a final mark.
I will also evaluate attendance/participation to the lectures and performance in the teaching lab activities. These additional maximum 2 potential "pedigree" points (PP). The final mark is the sum of the MCT, OE and PP points. Whoever exceeds 30.5 points is awarded 30/30 and lode as a final mark.
BIO/06 - ANATOMIA COMPARATA E CITOLOGIA - CFU: 1
BIO/13 - BIOLOGIA APPLICATA - CFU: 4
BIO/17 - ISTOLOGIA - CFU: 1
BIO/13 - BIOLOGIA APPLICATA - CFU: 4
BIO/17 - ISTOLOGIA - CFU: 1
Esercitazioni: 32 ore
Lezioni: 32 ore
Lezioni: 32 ore
Docente:
Vaccari Thomas
Docente/i