Class Cell Biology

The discipline of Cellular Biology aims to provide an overview about the main characteristics of the animal and plant cell, and explain the importance of cellular architecture in cell functioning as a structuring entity of all living beings.

Moreover, the student will be able to understand the different lab techniques of cell biology and its application in scientific research.

1. The living cell, prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Constitution of the cell and cellular transport. Exocytosis and endocytosis.

2. Organelles and cellular structures:

- Cytoskeleton: cytoplasmic organization.

- Cell membrane: Biological barrier. Membrane transport.

- System endomembranous: processing and distribution of biomolecules.

- Endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus.

- Lysosome: cell's digestion of macromolecules. Nutrition, defense, autophagy, autolysis and extracellular digestion.

- Peroxisomes: catabolic center.

- Mitochondria and Chloroplast: bioenergy. Respiratory and photosynthetic function.

- Biology of the Nucleus and Chromatin. Organization levels of chromatin. Functional and structural compartmentalization

3. Cell Cycle. Main processes and regulation. Cell death: necrosis and apoptosis.

The students will be challenged with the reading of scientific studies, participation in scientific debates, and the use of interactive tools to understand molecular phemena about the cellular function. 

Alberts, B., Jonhson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K., Walter, P. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 6th Edition. 2015. Garland Publishing.
Lodish, H., Berk, A., Zipursky, S. L., Matsudaira, P., Baltimore, D., Darnel, J. Molecular Cell Biology, 5o Edição. 2004. W. H. Freeman and Company.
Cooper, G.M. The Cell, a molecular approach, 6th Edition. 2019. Sinauer Associates.