CHIMICA FISICA DEI SISTEMI BIOLOGICI E DELLE BIOINTERFACCE

Learning Objectives

• Mathematical Models

  The course aims to provide a vision not merely descriptive of chemical and biological phenomena, but try to identify the main forces that are at their base and determine their existence and manifestation.

  Specific training objectives of the course are: to provide the necessary tools to understand central aspects of biophysical chemistry through the laws of thermodynamics and kinetics and their applications to chemical reactions and physical processes. The examples and problems will concern biochemical and biological systems. As an example, after defining the work as a force multiplied by displacement, we discuss the experimental measure of work needed to stretch a single DNA molecule from its random-coil form to the extended form, introduction of the intuitive and accessible concept of molecular force microscopy. Another training objective of the course is to apply the statistical treatment of molecular motion and interactions to the conformation of proteins and DNA and binding of ligands, as well as surface and membrane effects.

  Furthermore, concerning the so-called Dublin Descriptors, this course helps to acquire the following transversal skills:

  • Knowledge and understanding: get to know the essential characteristics of biomolecular systems and be able to solve in a qualitative and quantitative simple problems related to biological and biochemical systems.
  • Applying knowledge and understanding: application of the acquired theoretical knowledge for the comparison of experimental results with those of calculation to case studies of biochemical and biological systems.
  • Making judgments: gathering and interpreting relevant data, critical reasoning skills, ability to identify the predictions of a theory or a model.
  • Communication skills: ability to describe a scientific topic in oral form, with properties of language and terminological rigor, explaining the reasons and results.
  • Learning skills: to have developed the necessary skills to undertake subsequent studies with a high degree of autonomy.
• Theranostics and Nanomedicine

  The course aims to provide insights into the chemical and physical concepts already covered in other disciplines of the B.D. and M.D. courses, such as physics of biological systems, chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry. The course contents relate to the basic principles and properties of surfaces, especially the solid-liquid interface, and of nano-bio-interfaces. Specific goals of this course are: to provide the tools necessary to the understanding of the various types of interactions that take place between cells and tissues and their natural or artificial environment, thermodynamic and kinetic aspects of protein-biomaterial interface, with emphasis on the fundamental role of water at the biointerfaces. Another training objective of the course is to explain how cellular processes such as adhesion, differentiation and proliferation may be influenced by mechanical (viscoelasticity), physical (topography) and chemical (surface free energy, composition and structure) properties of the surfaces and how these can be modulated through the surface tailoring, even on the nanometer scale, and / or the change of the environmental conditions (chemical stimulus, physical and / or biological). In the laboratory the student will take awareness not only of the fundamental role carried out by this discipline in various scientific and technological fields (of drug transport and release, biosensors, imaging, theranostics), but also will make practice with processes of chemical synthesis of nanoparticles and spectroscopic and microscopic characterization techniques of biointerfaces.

  Furthermore, in reference to the so-called Dublin Descriptors, this course helps to acquire the following transversal skills:

  • Knowledge and understanding: getting to know the essential characteristics of biointerfaces and be able to solve, both qualitatively and quantitatively, simple problems about the biomolecule-material interaction.
  • Applying knowledge and understanding: application of the acquired theoretical knowledge for the comparison of experimental results with those of calculation, relative to case studies of biointerfaces between cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM) and between cells, ECM and medical devices.
  • Making judgments: gathering and interpreting relevant data, critical reasoning skills, ability to identify the predictions of a theory or a model.
  • Communication skills: ability to describe a scientific topic in oral form, with properties of language and terminological rigor, explaining the reasons and results.
  • Learning skills: to have developed the necessary skills to undertake subsequent studies with a high degree of autonomy.

Course Structure

• Mathematical Models

  Frontal lessons delivered in the classroom with the aid of the blackboard and suitable projection of slides. Classroom solution of problems and answers to exercises relevant to the main topics of the course.

  Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

• Theranostics and Nanomedicine

  Frontal lessons delivered in the classroom with the aid of the blackboard and suitable projection of slides. Classroom solution of problems and answers to exercises relevant to the main topics of the course. The participation of the students in the laboratory experiences and in related introductory lessons is mandatory. In the laboratory, there are working places with suitable equipment to perform the considered experiences; students will work in group. The results of each laboratory experience must be accurately reported by each student in their laboratory notebook.The aim of the writing of this notebook is a self-assessment by the student of the degree of understanding of the experimental activities and the ability to describe them in a scientific and reproducible way.

  Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

Detailed Course Content

• Mathematical Models

  Use of the concepts and techniques of Thermodynamics for the study of complex molecular systems. Molecules electrically charged in Solution. Self-assembling phenomena: formation of micelles, membranes, aggregates. Equilibria in Cooperative Systems. Physics of Polymers, Polyelectrolytes and Gel. Biophysics of Membranes. Description of Dynamic Processes by Thermodynamics of Processes Out of Equilibrium. Theory of the State of Transition. Transport Phenomena, Diffusion Equation, applications to biological membranes. Nucleation and growth of new phases. Complex kinetic equations. Applications to some techniques of biochemical use (electrophoresis, centrifugation, chromatography). Radiation-Matter Interaction.

• Theranostics and Nanomedicine

  Physical chemistry of interfaces. Introduction to the concept of biointerface. Definitions and properties of surfaces. Nano-bio-interfaces.

  Theoretical and applied aspects of biointerfaces. Biomaterials. Biosensors. Bioelectronics. Tissue engineering. Nanomedicine and theranostics.

  Intermolecular forces and self-assembling processes. Structural aspects of dry and wet surfaces (double layer), energy aspects (interface energies, superhydrophobicity). Charged surface and colloid surface chemistry. Elasticity and viscoelasticity of biomolecular systems. Case studies of biomolecular self-assembling systems.

  Biomaterials. Preparation of biomaterials and biomedical implants; physico-chemical characterization of their surface properties. The reaction of the outer body and encapsulation system.

  Microfabrication and nanofabrication applied to biointerfaces. Structuring of surfaces; Molecular imprinting; self-assembling monolayers; techniques of micro- and nanomaterials synthesis. Influence of topography, mechanical properties and chemical groups on the cellular response.

  Examples of biological characterization of surfaces and interfaces. Supported lipid bilayer membranes (SLB). Comparison between acoustic (quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring, QCM-D), optical (surface plasmon resonance SPR; oprical waveguide light spectroscopy, OWLS) and microscopic (atomic force microscopy, AFM; laser scanning confocal microscopy, LSM) techniques

  Biointerfaces at the nanoscale. Interaction between cells and their biological environment, cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interaction. Adsorption of proteins from a biological medium. Interaction between proteins and a solid surface. The role of water in the biomolecule adsorption onto a solid surface. The 'Goldilocks' surface. Effects of protein surface concentration, kinetics and conformation on cell behavior.

  Laboratory exercises on model biointerface systems of interest in drug delivery, biosensors and imaging.

Textbook Information

• Mathematical Models

  1. Handouts and lecture slides provided by the teacher

  2. Physical Chemistry Principles and Applications in Biological Sciences. 5th edition by Ignacio Tinoco Jr., Kenneth Sauer, James C. Wang, Joseph D. Puglisi, Gerard Harbison, David Rovnyak, Ed. Pearson Advanced Chemistry Series, 2014.

  3. Physical chemistry for the life sciences. 2nd ed. By Atkins, P. W.; De Paula, J.; Ed. W.H. Freeman and Co., Oxford University Press: New York; Oxford, 2011; p xxvi, 590 p.

  3. Intermolecular and Surface Forces. (third edition) J.N. Israelachvili, Academic Press, NY, 2011

  4. Modelli Matematici in Biologia, G. Gaeta, Springer, 2007

  5. H. Ohshima - Biophysical Chemistry of Biointerfaces - Wiley

  6. http://studium.unict.it

• Theranostics and Nanomedicine

  1. Handouts and lecture slides provided by the teacher

  2. P. W. Atkins, J. de Paula- Chimica fisica biologica - Zanichelli

  3. W. Pauli - Physical Chemistry in the Service of Medicine - Wiley &Sons

  4. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Nanomedicine and Nanobiotechnology - John Wiley & Sons

  5. H. Ohshima - Biophysical Chemistry of Biointerfaces - Wiley

  6. B.D. Ratner, A.S. Hoffman - BIOMATERIALS SCIENCE: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine - Elsevier

  7. NANOMATERIALS INTERFACES IN BIOLOGY - METHODS AND PROTOCOLS, Editors: Bergese, Paolo, Hamad-Schifferli, Kimberly (Eds.) SPRINGER

  8. http://studium.unict.it/dokeos/2018/