Lectures, practices and laboratory courses for students
Lectures realized by our laboratory
Bi4010 Essential molecular biology
This lecture is conceived as an introduction into molecular biology and it provides explanation of basic cell processes on molecular level. Structure of genome, principles of gene expression, internal cell organization and its behaviour in the context of multicellular organisms are the main topics of the lecture. At the end of the course, the student will be able understand and discuss molecular principles driving cellular behaviour on basic level.
Bi6400 Methods of molecular biology
The course is focused on basic techniques commonly used for study of proteins, nucleic acids and their interactions in living cells and in vitro. It is recommended to all biology students who intend to work in laboratories of basic or applied research. Understanding of principle and practical use of molecular biology methods is emphasized. At the end of the course, students should be able to understand principles of the methods and manage to choose the right methodological approaches to address specific biological phenomena.
Bi7120 Molecular biology of prokaryotes
The aim of the course is to provide students with information on the storage of genetic information for prokaryotes, its implementation, changes and vertical and horizontal transmission. Students should understand the basic terminology of bacterial genetics, genome structure, chromosome replication and plasmids, the use of transposons to analyze genomes and create mutations and mechanisms of evolution of bacteria.
Bi7140 Molecular biology of viruses
The course is focused on the structure, type and function of genomes of
bacterial, animal and plant viruses. Next, the morphology of their virions,
types of viral infection, mutual coexistence of viruses and cells are defined.
The principles of viral parasitism, mechanisms of their reproduction including
the strategy of genome replication and expression, and the life cycle in the
host cell are explained. Methods of spreading viruses among hosts, adaptation
to environmental changes, molecular mechanisms of persistence and latency,
onkovirus genetics, virus evolution and host-virus co-evolution are described.
Prion functions and metabolism are also part of the course.
Bi8090 Gene engineering
At the end of this course students will be able to explain the basic principles of gene engineering, preparation of transgenic organisms and their use in the research and in industry, medicine and agriculture.
Bi8360 Molecular diagnostics of microorganisms
The course is focused on basic techniques commonly used for molecular diagnostics of microorganisms. It is recommended to all biology students who intend to work in laboratories of basic or applied research. Understanding of principle and practical use of molecular diagnostics methods is emphasized.
Bi5000 Bioinformatics
The aim of this course is to understand principles of the computational tools for analysis of nucleic acids and protein sequences. Students should be able to exploit information resources for molecular biology available on internet, i.e. molecular biology databases and different computational tools for their analysis.
Practical courses realized by our laboratory
Bi4020c and Bi4030c Molecular biology - Practical Course
These practical courses belong to the basic practical course Molecular Biology and contain practical tasks for students of the bachelor program Experimental Biology or Biochemistry. It serves to acquire basic methodological procedures in molecular biology, especially isolation and manipulation with nucleic acids and preparation of solutions used in molecular biology. Solved tasks are focused on isolation of plasmid DNA, determination of its purity and concentration, digestion of DNA by restriction endonucleases.
Information about subject Bi4020c in IS MUNI
Information about subject Bi4030c in IS MUNI
Bi5000c Bioinformatics – Practical Course
Students will gain practical understanding of several bioinformatic databases and tools commonly used in biological and biochemical research. The main objective of this course is to providee students with hands-on experience with various bioinformatic databases and software tools. The practicals follow the theory presented during the lectures of Bioinformatics I - nucleic acids and Bioinformatics II- proteins. We will cover various topics from sequence to structural bioinformatics. The students are expected to learn, how to set up bioinformatic analysis and how to properly interpret the results of their analysis. The bioinformatics practice course uses own teaching webside.
Bi7311 Molecular Biology of Procaryotes - Laboratory Course
The aim of the practice is to acquire knowledge about basic molecular biology methods used for prokaryotic genome analysis, bacterial genetics methods and to understand of principles of horizontal gene transfer. Students will be introduced to identification of changes in prokaryotic genomes due to mutations, horizontal gene transfer via transduction, conjugation and transformation. The practice practically completes the content of lectures from Molecular Biology of Prokaryotes (Bi7120). Students will comprehend the mechanisms of prokaryotic evolution in practice and understand the techniques that can be used to manipulate bacterial genomes.
Bi8312 Practical Course in Molecular Biology of Viruses
The course is focused on cultivation and purification techniques of bacterial
viruses, determination of virus growth properties, isolation of induced
temperate phages, isolation of spontaneous virus mutants on resistant strains
and comparative analysis of their altered host range-associated genes.
Introduction into 3rd generation sequencing and bioinformatics is also part of
this course. After graduation this course, students should be able to conduct
and fully understand experiments, from the acquisition of input material to the
analysis and interpretation of experimental data.
Bi8313 Genetic Engineering - Laboratory Course
At the end of this course, students should be able to perform methods of DNA cloning, choose suitable vectors and restriction endonucleases for DNA cloning, preparation of molecular probes, design primers and use polymerase chain reaction for modification of DNA ends and prepare DNA samples for sequencing.