COURSE UNIT TITLE

: MARINE TOXINS

DEGREE PROGRAMMES

Description of Individual Course Units

Course Unit Code Course Unit Title Type Of Course D U L ECTS
BYT 6011 MARINE TOXINS ELECTIVE 3 0 0 8

Offered By

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences

Level of Course Unit

Third Cycle Programmes (Doctorate Degree)

Course Coordinator

PROFESSOR DOCTOR LEVENT ÇAVAŞ

Offered to

Ph.D. in Biotechnology
Ph.D. in Biotechnology
BIOTECHNOLOGY

Course Objective

Marine toxins are of great importance in the marine ecosystems because of their variations and highly differentiated structures. After intensive researches on the marine toxins, now it is clear that these toxins can be used or mimicked in many industrial areas such as pharmacy, medicine and cosmetics.
The present course will begin with brief introduction of the marine toxins and then details will be given on the conotoxins, sodium channel inhibitors, toxins from sea anemones, ionotropic glutamat receptors, neurotransmitter release inhibitors, actine-microtubule affecting inhibitors, and carcinogenic aspects of protein phosphatase1 and 2A inhibitors, secondary metabolites from Caulerpales and marine toxin analysis. The course will be mainly based on the book of Fusetani and Kem (2009). However, in the first week of the course, students will select a newly published paper on marine toxins and then they will present their papers at the end of the course.

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

1   This course is expected to help the student to understand the structures of the toxins from marine living organisms.
2   To help the student to understand the metabolic effects of the toxins from marine living organisms.
3   To give students further examples how these toxins play important roles in the ecosystems.
4   To develop the students analytical abilities and arguments on marine toxins.
5   To develop the students ability to present and criticise on marine toxins.

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Week Subject Description
1 Marine Toxins: An Overview 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Toxins from marine cyanobacteria and dinoflagellata 1.3. Toxins from macroalgae and sponge 1.4. Worm and cnidarian toxins
2 Conotoxins: Molecular and therapeutic targets 2.1. Calcium channel inhibitors and sodium channel modulators 2.2. Potassium channel inhibitors 2.3. Antagonists of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors 2.4. NMDA Receptor Antagonists
3 Sodium Channel Inhibiting Marine Toxins-1 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Sodium Channels and Their Evolutionary Origin 3.3. The Sodium Channel Inhibitors Saxitoxin and Tetrodotoxin
4 Sodium Channel Inhibiting Marine Toxins-1 4.1. Interaction Between the Na Channel and the Toxins 4.2. Other Marine Toxins that Inhibit Sodium Channel Function 4.3. Biomedical Potential of These Toxins
5 Sea Anemone Toxins Affecting Potassium Channels 5.1. Introduction 5.2. K+ Channel Structures 5.4. Sea Anemone K+ Channel Toxin Structures 5.3. Purification and Synthesis of Sea Anemone K Channel Toxins
6 Ligands for Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors 6.1. Introduction 6.2. Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors 6.3. AMPA/Kainate Receptor Ligands: Kainoids 6.4. NMDA Receptor Ligands: Amino Acids 6.5. NMDA Receptor Ligands: Conantokins
7 Marine Toxins Potently Affecting Neurotransmitter Release 7.1. Introduction 7.2. Neurotoxins with Pore-Forming Activity 7.3. Neurotoxins Acting on Na+ Channels 7.4. Neurotoxins Acting on Lipid Metabolism
8 General Revision before Midterm Exam
9 Toxins Affecting Actin Filaments and Microtubules 9.1. Introduction 9.2. Toxins Affecting Actin Filaments 9.3. Toxins Affecting Microtubules
10 Carcinogenic Aspects of Protein Phosphatase1 and 2A Inhibitors 10.1. Introduction 10.2. Historical Perspectives 10.3. Inhibitors of PP1 and PP2A 10.4. Tumor Promotion and Carcinogenic Activities
11 Secondary metabolites from invasive Caulerpa spp 11.1. Caulerpenyne 11.2. Caulerpin 11.3. Caulersin 11.4. Ecological effects
12 Marine toxin analysis 12.1. Instruments used in marine toxin analysis 12.2. Methods in marine toxin analysis 12.3. Toxicities of marine toxins on targetted and non-targetted organisms
13 Presentation of new papers on marine toxins by students
14 Homework and Presentations

Recomended or Required Reading

Textbook(s): Fusetani, N., Kem W., Marine Toxins as Research Tools, Springer, USA, 2009.

Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

1. Presentation
2. Question-answer technique
3. Homework

Assessment Methods

SORTING NUMBER SHORT CODE LONG CODE FORMULA
1 MTE MIDTERM EXAM
2 ASG ASSIGNMENT
3 PRS PRESENTATION
4 FIN FINAL EXAM
5 FCG FINAL COURSE GRADE MTE* 0.30 + ASG * 0.20 + PRS * 0.10 + FIN * 0.40
6 RST RESIT
7 FCGR FINAL COURSE GRADE (RESIT) MTE* 0.30 + ASG * 0.20 + PRS * 0.10 + RST * 0.40


Further Notes About Assessment Methods

None

Assessment Criteria

Meaningful learning of the basic concepts given in presentations, association of concepts with each other, establishing the cause-result relationships and making comments by using the information available for problems and evaluating idea generation are carried out with mid-term and final exams, homework and presentations.

Language of Instruction

English

Course Policies and Rules

To be announced.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry
lcavas@deu.edu.tr

Office Hours

Wednesday 13.30 - 15.30

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Activities Number Time (hours) Total Work Load (hours)
Lectures 14 3 42
Preparations before/after weekly lectures 12 3 36
Preparation for midterm exam 1 35 35
Preparation for final exam 1 40 40
Preparing Homework and Presentations 1 35 35
Midterm 1 2 2
Final 1 2 2
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours) 192

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

PO/LOPO.1PO.2PO.3PO.4PO.5PO.6
LO.1554454
LO.2535445
LO.3543444
LO.4554453
LO.5545453

CONTACT INFORMATION
Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi Cumhuriyet Bulvarı No: 144 35210 Alsancak / İZMİR
Phone: +90(232) 412 12 12 - Fax: +90 (232) 464 81 35

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