Light Biomolecule Behavior In Health Disease

AY2021/2022 Semester 1

In health and disease, the state of cells and organisms depends on their smallest components, i.e., biomolecules. In this course, you will learn how light can be used to enquire about biomolecule behavior and misbehavior. This will be approached using examples of biomedical interest and from different points of view, such as conformational change, protein-protein interaction and dynamics, size and shape, kinetics, identification, protein stabilization, and aggregation. By doing this, you will become conversant in some of the most important spectroscopic techniques used in the biomedical field. Overall, the aim of this course is that you become familiar with their applications, limitations and complementarity. From a professional perspective, each of these techniques is a world in itself, and familiarity with their applications will also be useful in your future potential links with industry. In a wider biological context, spectroscopy has key roles in fields such as disease diagnostics, drug discovery, antibody and vaccine development, tissue/organism classification and identification and food science.