- Responsible person:
Associated Professor Andrzej Hendrich

·  Lectures: 30 hours

·  Practicals: 15 hours

·  Seminars: 25 hours

Written exam at the end of the semester.

The aim of the teaching subject and the effect of education- skills and competence.

Provide students with knowledge of the fundamentals of modern genetics as well as its experimental methods and prepare them for the course of clinical genetics.  Educate the students on the principals of medical parasitology.

Comprehending the mechanisms responsible for the integrity of the gene pool of the organism and the passage of this pool to descendant cells (organisms), with a primitive (prokaryote) and complex (eukaryote) construction of the genome. Understanding the impact of environment polluted with mutagenic and carcinogenic agents on the human body. Obtaining knowledge of molecular biology methods and their possible applications in genetic research.  Knowledge of construction and developmental cycles of human parasites and the ability to recognize the basic signs of disease caused by parasites.

The essential issues of the subject:

To familiarize students with the fundamental ideas of genetics, which are necessary for understanding the issues of clinical genetics. Expand understanding of the classical and molecular genetics. Expression and regulation of genes in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Familiarizing students with the most dangerous human mutagens and carcinogenic agents and the mechanisms for their interaction with the human genome. Phenotypic effects of mutagenesis - selected genetic diseases and how they are inherited. Familiarization with the methods used in molecular biology and biotechnology. Students are also acquainted with the inheritance of blood groups, human sex determination and the fundamental mechanisms of disorders of this process, the genetic foundations of the functioning of the immune system. Information is also conveyed about the biology of human parasites (protozoa, flatworms, roundworms) and issues related to the parasite-host relationship.

The course detailed program (lectures, practicals, seminars):

Lectures:

1.      Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic cells, molecular components, structure of DNA.

2.      Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic DNA replication.

3.      Prokaryotic and Eukaryotic transcription and translation.

4.      Regulation of gene expression.

5.      Human genome, mitochondrial genome.

6.      Cell cycle and its regulation.

7.      Genetic basis of immune system.

8.      DNA diversity, mutations, mutagenic factors: drugs, chemicals, physical, environmental, mechanisms of DNA repair.

9.      Examples of gene related diseases.

10.  Populational genetics.

11.  Methods of molecular biology and their basic applications.

12.  Pharmacogenetics.

Practicals:

Parasitology course content: diagnostic features, life cycles, symptoms of diseases caused by the human parasites, epidemiology, geographical distribution, diagnosis, prevention of human parasites.

I. Parasitilogy

1.   Flagellates: Trichomonas  vaginalis,  Giardia  intestinalis, Trypanosoma  brucei gambiense, Leishmania  tropica, L.  donovani 

 II. Parasitilogy

1.    Amoebae: Entamoeba  histolytica/dispar

2.    Apicomplexans: Plasmodium spp., Toxoplasma  gondii, Cryptosporidium parvum

III. Parasitilogy

1.   Colloquium – Protozoa

2.   Trematoda: Fasciola hepatica, Dicrocoelium  dendriticum, Schistosoma spp., Paragonimus westermani, Clonorchis sinensis

IV. Parasitilogy

1.   Cestoda: Diphyllobothrium  latum, Taenia  saginata, T.  solium, T. saginata asiatica, Hymenolepis nana, Echinococcus  granulosus, E.  multilocularis

V. Parasitilogy

1.  Nematoda: Ascaris  lumbricoides  hominis, Enterobius  vermicularis, Trichuris trichiura, Trichinella  spiralis, Loa loa, Strongyloides stercoralis

Seminars:

VI. Transmission Genetics

1.      Colloquium – Worms

2.      Mendelian genetics. Mendel’s Laws of inheritance (monohybrid, dihybrid crosses); test cross.

3.      Incomplete dominance, codominance, multiple alleles, lethal genes, gene interactions, pleiotropy.

VII. Transmission Genetics

1.   Human life cycle, mitosis and meiosis.

2.   Gametogenesis.

VIII. Transmission Genetics

1.   The Chromosome theory of heredity.

2.   Extrachromosomal inheritance.

IX. Transmission Genetics

1.   Sex determination.

2.   Lyon hypothesis.

X. Molecular Genetics

1. Colloquium – transmission genetics

         2. Nucleic acids – types and functions. The genetic code. Structure of the eukaryotic          genome. Replication of DNA.

XI. Molecular Genetics

1.   Gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. The control of gene expression.

XII. Genetic Diseases     

1.   Colloquium – molecular genetics

2.   Inheritance of diseases caused by point mutations.

XIII. Genetic Diseases

1.   Inheritance of diseases caused by structural and numerical mutations.

XIV. Genetic Diseases

1. Colloquium – genetic diseases

References:

1.  A. Cisowska, D. Tichaczek-Goska, M. Wesołowska, D. Wojnicz ”Medical biology for students faculty of medicine and faculty of dentistry”University of Medicine in Wrocław 2006, 2007, 2010

2.  W.S. Klug, Cummings M.R. “Genetics: a molecular perspective” Prentice Hall 2003

3.  Connor M., Ferguson-Smith M. “Essential medical genetics” Blackwell Science Ltd 1997

4.  B.J. Bogitsch, T.C. Cheng „Human parasitology“ Second edition, Academic Press 1998

5.  R. Muller “Worms and human disease” Second edition, CABI Publishing 2002