Plants as Biofactories

General aim of the course is to acquire the knowledge necessary to apply the biotechniques to the metabolic engineering of plants. This general objective is achieved through the analysis of the processes used in plant metabolic engineering: the identification of the metabolism; the identification of the molecular targets; the choice of appropriate molecular methods and techniques; the analysis of the results. Moreover, the objective is to focus on market-ready applications.

The student will develop the capability to plan and implement biotechnological experiments for the exploitation of plants in metabolic engineering related projects. The range of possible projects will span from vaccines production to metabolic pathways modification. The student will learn to set up experiments in plant biotech, from the design of the constructs to the choice of the experimental system. The students will learn to frame the experiments into an industrial/productive context.