Pharmacogenetics and epigenetics in toxicology

The course aims to provide the basic knowledge to understand the genetic basis of the differences in metabolic processes that influence individual responses to xenobiotic.
Furthermore, it will set the theoretical basis for understanding how these individual responses might be influenced by the epigenoma.
The concepts of genetic and epigenetic mutations will be developed to understand how these mutations contribute to the inter-individual susceptibility to xenobiotic. The course will also provides the principles of pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics with the goal to show when and how the genetic factors, defined at different levels from chromosomes to single nucleotide, plays a role in the variability of Mendelian and complex diseases, and in the variability of drug-response.

At the end of the course the student will know the basics of the genetic and epigenetic processes that regulate the physiological mechanisms in living organisms and how xenobiotics are able to interfere with these processes by altering the cellular phenotype; students will also be provided with the basics of the main methods and laboratory techniques useful for evaluating genetic and epigenetic modifications. At the end of the course the student will have acquired the necessary knowledge to evaluate the complexity of the interaction between xenobiotics and higher organisms as a result of processes, interconnected with each other, that occur at the molecular, genetic and epigenetic level. Students will also be able to critically review the scientific literature devoted to the genetic and epigenetic aspects of the exposure of organisms above xenobiotics.