Learning objectives
The objective of this course is to give students notions on the origin of sexual reproduction, sex determination and on the cytological and molecular aspects of oogenesis, spermatogenesis, fertilisation, premplantation development and of the embryonic stem cells.
Also, the course will allow the acquisition of competences on the techniques for farm animal transgenesis and cloning. Biomedical applications: animals as bioreactors, animals as model for human diseases. Functional foods and animal biotechnology. Agricultural applications: modification of milk and meat composition; improvement of farm animal growth curve and resistance to diseases. Animal transgenesis and reproduction. Cloned and transgenic animals welfare. Genetically modified animals and food production.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
Italian
The objective of this course is to give students notions on the origin of sexual reproduction, sex determination and on the cytological and molecular aspects of oogenesis, spermatogenesis, fertilisation, preimplantation development and of the embryonic stem cells. Frontal lessons will be followed by practical insights. The course will also address two main areas of cell/animal manipulation and their implications in veterinary medicine. One main objective of the course is the acquisition of a solid knowledge about transgenesis and cloning of farm animal. With this aim the different approaches to animal genome modification will be evaluated both from the methodological and the scientific point of view. Finally, biomedical and agricultural applications of transgenic and cloned livestock, animal welfare, and food safety and quality issues will be addressed.
In the second part of the course, the basic principles of regenerative medicine and its application in veterinary medicine will be described. In particular, the biological characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells and of induced pluripotent cells will be focussed. Furthermore, examples of their applications in veterinary medicine will be illustrated with a critical discussion of the clinical outcomes.
Full programme
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Bibliography
The students will be given articles and the slides used by the teachers.
Teaching methods
Before each new lesson, the teacher will first summarise then check whether the previous topics have been well understood through an interactive discussion with the students.
Assessment methods and criteria
At the end of the course, the students must be capable of discussing critically and with the appropriate language on the molecular bases of mammalian reproduction, preimplantation development and on the biology of the embryonic stem cells. Also, they will have understood how the manipulation of the genome and the use of stem cells may impact on both fields of medicine and animal production. The students will have to be able to discuss the advantages, but also the limits of the technologies, including the ethycal and the animal well-being issues. Furthermore, the students must be capable of making links between these knowledges and those complementary of the veterinarian.
Other information
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