This
course will introduce students to the structure and development of flowers,
with a focus on floral diversity and evolution and the significance of flowers
for systematics. Major plant families will be identified within the framework
of the main lineages of seed plants to understand their evolution and
diversification. Additionally, students will learn to analyse, describe, and
study the structure of inflorescences and flowers and based on their
observations, to identify the main evolutionary patterns underlying their
tremendous morphological diversity, as well as their potential pollination and
dispersal mechanisms.
- Преподаватель: Constantin Fomichev
Chemistry is a fundamental science that studies the composition, structure, properties, and transformations of substances. The course covers the main branches of chemistry: inorganic, organic, analytical, and physical chemistry. Students will learn about various types of chemical reactions, methods of substance analysis, and principles of thermodynamics and kinetics. Special attention is given to practical skills, including laboratory work and experiments, which help reinforce theoretical knowledge. The course also examines biochemical processes, highlighting the connection between chemistry and biology and the importance of chemical reactions in living organisms. This helps students develop a systematic approach to studying chemical and biological processes, preparing them to solve applied problems in science and industry.
- Преподаватель: Mikhail Chivarzin
The course is aimed at strengthening the students’ knowledge in fundamental laws of physics and their applications in the area of biology. Furthermore, the course builds problem solving skills, develops students’ skills of using fundamental knowledge in the field of physics to study biological objects.
Course is dedicated for bachelor students at the department of biology, whose specializing in “Chemistry”, “Physics”, “Chemical origins of life”, and “Biophysics”. The course will help develop the knowledge in the following areas of physics: Mechanics, Waves and Optics, Thermodynamics, Electricity and Magnetism, and Modern Physics. This course will help students develop fundamental understanding in physics, solving relevant problems, and apply this knowledge in areas of biology.
- Преподаватель: Oleg Popov
The Cell Biology and Histology course provides a detailed understanding of the structure and function of cells and tissues, emphasizing the molecular mechanisms that govern cellular activities. The lecture component will cover essential topics such as cell structure, organelles, the cell cycle, cell signaling pathways, and tissue organization. Students will learn how these systems interact to maintain cellular homeostasis. Additionally, the course will explore the histological characteristics of various tissue types, including epithelial, connective, muscular, and nervous tissues.
In the practical component, students will develop skills focused exclusively on the analysis of microscopic slides. Through guided sessions, students will examine pre-prepared histological slides to observe cellular and tissue structures. They will learn to identify different cell types and tissue classifications by analyzing the morphological characteristics visible under the microscope. The focus will be on understanding how histological features relate to the function of tissues in different organs, enhancing students' diagnostic and analytical capabilities.
By the end of the course, students will have a solid foundation in both the theoretical concepts and practical skills necessary for analyzing tissue samples. The course aims to equip students with the ability to interpret microscopic images effectively and relate cellular structures to their biological functions. This knowledge will be valuable for advanced studies in biology, medicine, and related fields, as well as for careers in biomedical research, diagnostics, and healthcare
- Преподаватель: Elena Smirnova
- Преподаватель: Мария Вильданова
- Преподаватель: Алина Саидова
Bioinformatics is the
management and analysis of data for the life sciences. It is inherently
interdisciplinary, drawing on techniques from Computer Science, Statistics, and
Mathematics and bringing them to bear on problems in Biology. Users and
developers of Bioinformatics methods come from all of these fields. Molecular
biologists are some of the major users of Bioinformatics, but its techniques
are applicable across a range of life sciences. Other users include
geneticists, microbiologists, biochemists, plant and agricultural scientists,
medical researchers, and evolution researchers. The ongoing exponential
expansion of data for the life sciences is both the major challenge and the
rationale for twenty-first century Bioinformatics.
The teaching course deals with methods for studying sequences and structures of nucleic acids and proteins. First, the comprehensive review of biological databases is given. Then, algorithms of sequence comparison (pairwise alignment, local similarity) and, later, structural superposition (matrices, Euler angles) and various metrics of similarity are considered. Distance matrices and phylogenetic trees construction are discussed. Multiple sequence alignment based on phylogenetic trees and on hidden Markov models are compared. Algorithms for a sequence search (FASTA, BLAST) are examined carefully.
Protein structures present a great value for functional genomics and rational drug design. Experimental methods of structure determination are discussed. Prediction of protein structure is necessary in the absence of experimental one and this is true for the vast majority of proteins. For this reason a lot of methods for protein structure prediction were suggested for the years and basic of them are discussed.
Chemical substances are often interacting with proteins like receptors and enzymes, so it is necessary to estimate or even predict such interactions. Methods of comparison of small molecules are discussed. Quantitative Structure-Activity Relations are considered in details.
The course combines presentation of theoretical material and practices on the aforementioned topics. During classes, the students solve typical problems involving pairwise and multiple sequence alignment, homology search, phylogenetic reconstruction, protein structure investigation and modeling, similarity search for low-molecule substances and so on.
In parallel, a lot of attention is paid for Python programming. This course introduces students to the fundamental concepts of Python programming and its applications in the field of bioinformatics. Students will gain proficiency in Python programming, enabling them to analyze biological data, perform sequence analysis, explore genomic information, analyze gene expression data, delve into structural bioinformatics, and understand evolutionary relationships through phylogenetic trees.- Преподаватель: Valery Novoseletsky
- Преподаватель: Валерий Новоселецкий