Course Overview

In this course, the students will get an overview about achievements and current trends in the field of biohybrid systems for innovative applications in Life Science. The biohybrid systems discussed are conjugates and molecular assemblies consisting of biogenic molecules (biomolecules such as proteins or lipids) and abiogenic compounds and materials (e.g., synthetic polymers, amphiphiles or inorganic particles). Methods of biohybrid preparation and characterization will be presented with a critical evaluation of current and possible future applications, for example in medicine and biotechnology. The focus will be mainly on peptide- and protein-polymer conjugates due to the diverse functionalities of peptides and proteins for a broad range of applications.

Learning Achievement

The students are expected to become capable of providing a critical overview about the different types of biohybrid systems, how they are prepared, characterized and for which type of applications they are (or might be) useful. Not only the key concepts should be understood, but also some of the details about the ways the biomolecules can be linked to (or assembled with) abiogenic molecules and materials (different possible chemical modifications) and how the biohybrid formation may influence the activity (function) of the biomolecules. At the end of the course, the students should be able to understand, critically evaluate and summarize recent research papers published in scientific journals on the preparation and applications of biohybrid systems.

Competence

Expertise, English language proficiency

Course prerequisites

Grading Philosophy

The “paper summary report” (approximately two or three A4 pages long) has to be sent to the teacher electronically (as doc file and as PDF) until not later than three weeks after the course finished, together with a PDF of the paper summarized (including Supplementary Information, if applicable).
The “paper summary report” will be evaluated (100 %) according to the following grades: A+ (achieved the goal with excellence); A (achieved the goal with good results); B (achieved the goal); C (achieved the minimum goal); D (did not achieve the goal).

Course schedule

The course consists of 10 lectures, each 75 min. The topics presented and discussed in the lectures are scheduled as follows.
Introduction
Overview about the field of biomaterials, with particular focus on the motivation of preparing and applying biohybrid systems. Conceptual classification and presentation of a few selected examples of biohybrid systems from recent literature.
Topic 1: Protein-polymer conjugates, with particular focus on proteins which are catalytically active (enzymes). Discussions involving (i) considerations about the selection of the type of polymers depending on the application (biocompatibility, temperatu
Topic 2: Nucleic acid-polymer systems for applications in the field of gene delivery. Limitations and current challenges.
Topic 3: Conjugates and molecular assemblies consisting of iron protoporphyrin IX (FePPIX) and synthetic polymers or amphiphiles. FePPIX is an essential biogenic prosthetic group present in a large number of proteins (e.g., hemoglobin or horseradish perox
Topic 4: Lipid-polymer and protein-polymer systems, with particular focus on their use for the preparation of vesicles towards applications as drug delivery systems and synthetic organelles. Discussion of challenges for the preparation of cell-like vesicu
Topic 5: Conjugates between biomolecules and inorganic nanoparticles or surfaces, with special focus on enzymes as the biomolecules. Motivation for such enzyme immobilization and recent examples and challenges for preparing flexible biosensors and enzymat
Summary
Group discussion 1
Group discussion 2
During or at the end of the course, each student has to choose a recently published scientific paper in which investigations about a biohybrid system are described, read this paper critically and provide a “paper summary report” ？ containing chemical structures, figures, tables, schemes (if appropriate) ？ with the following information. (a) The title and authors of the paper summarized and the information about where the paper was published (journal name, volume, page numbers, year); (b) the type of biohybrid system prepared (chemical structure, scheme); (c) why it was prepared and investigated by the authors; (d) how it was prepared (key steps of the chemical synthesis or assembly procedure); (e) how it was analyzed to make sure that the biohybrid prepared is the one described (methods used); and (f) the key results obtained. Finally, the student should (g) critically comment on strong and weak points of the paper and possibly provide suggestions for improvements or a follow-up work.

Course type

Lectures

Online Course Requirement

Instructor

Walde Peter Johann,Ichikawa Sosaku

Other information

Students are expected to be interested in the course topic and willing to learn something about an exciting field in which understanding of basic chemical, physical and engineering aspects are the basis for successful applications as well as for ideas about the development of novel, innovative and sustainable biohybrid systems.

Site for Inquiry

Link to the syllabus provided by the university