BIO-2009 Green Biotechnology and Bioenergy - 10 stp

Theoretical and practical course. The course is held every second spring semester.

This course is open for Bachelor and Master students with interest in Molecular Biology, Biotechnology, Microbial or Plant Biology.

The course will give an introduction into techniques and applications of "green" biotechnology, i.e. biotechnology with photosynthetic land plants and algae.

The lectures will cover techniques to genetically modify plants and algae and to identify genetically modified organisms (GMOs), applications of GMOs in agriculture, horticulture or aquaculture, risk assessment of plant GMOs, safety measures when working with plant GMOs, bioreactor and photobioreactor technology, current and future modell plants, high value plant compounds and bioenergy (first, second and third generation of biofuels, biomass recalcitrance, etc.).

These aspects will be deepened by reading original publications on selected themes, whereby each student will be required to give a presentation of one paper that will be discussed with the group.

The lab part will cover plant transformation and regeneration techniques, identification of transgenic plants by PCR-based techniques, and plant tissue culture. Transient plant transformation experiments will be done using fluorescent proteins.

Students who have completed this course

•  know the theoretical background concerning biotechnology
• can define what a "GMO" is
• are familiar with genetic modification techniques
• are familiar with applications of plant GMOs
• can apply safety measures when working with plant GMOs
• are knowledgeable about the challenges within plant biotechnology and its rewards
• can critically assess the pros and cons of plant Biotechnology
• have practical expertise concerning expression of foreign proteins in photosynthetic organisms

can discuss the contents of publications with fellow students and teachers