The Goal of this course is to provide PhD students with the knowledge on oxidative stress and redox signaling to enable the understanding of related health and disease outcomes and to create opportunities for the design and development of novel therapeutic strategies.

Coordinator:

Professor Vasco Rui Veloso Neves Branco

PhD students from FFUL and other institutions. The course will also be open to other participants, namely professionals in the fields of pharmaceutical sciences, medicine, biology and other related areas, master’s and doctoral students or PhD researchers working in related areas.

This course will run from September 16, 2024 to September 20, 2024 and has a total of 28 hours of training.

Number of ECTS: 6 ECTS

Training hours are distributed as follows:

• Theory hours: 28h
• Practical Hours :0h
• Lab Hours: 0h
• Tutorial Hours: 0h

The course will run from 09:00-12:30 and 14:00-16:00.

Study regime: Face-to-face

Course location: Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lisbon

PROGRAMME

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Redox signaling achieved by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a key aspect of signal transduction in various cellular processes such as cell death, differentiation, and inflammation.

However, the line separating redox signaling from oxidative stress is a thin one and redox homeostasis is reliant on the action of redox active systems. These systems are complex arrays of enzymes controlling ROS levels but also the oxidation-reduction cycle of critical protein residues (e.g. cysteines) that enable signal transduction.

Disruption of redox signaling has been implicated in the etiology of several pathologies including cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Moreover, redox enzymes have very reactive residues (cysteines and selenocysteines) and are, therefore, candidate targets for inhibition by electrophilic compounds, creating opportunities for therapeutic strategies. This Advanced Course will approach these aspects in detail which are of widespread interest for many PhD candidates in Pharmacy.

Teaching methodology: Teaching methods will encompass Lectures with experts in the field of redox biology, Flipped Classroomson specific topics and peer review assessment of student proposals (see assessment for details).

Learning and the skills to be acquired by the student:

By the end of the course students are expected to:

• Acknowledge the biological significance of redox reactions;
• Understand the process of oxidative species formation and distinguish between redox signaling and oxidative stress;
• Recognize existing therapeutic opportunities to modulate the activity of redox elements;
• Comprehend the functional redundancy and backups between redox elements and the implications for disease progression and treatment;
• Conceive a research plan using acquired knowledge to address a relevant issue in their PhD work;

Evaluation methodology:

Students will be required to conceive a mini project aiming to integrate ROS and redox signaling related topics in their PhD work. Prior to submission students will present and discuss their project indea with their peers and teaching staff to receive feedback on their proposal. The idea is to foster student learning. Following project submission, these will be randomly distributed to other students for anonymous peerreview. The reviewer should identify the strong points of the proposal and highlight parts where there is room for improvement. The review will be sent back to the author which may or may not include the suggestions of the reviewer. In either case a response to reviewer comments must be submitted with the final version of the proposal.

The final evaluation (by the course coordinator) will encompass assessment of the written proposal including the response to reviewers (70%) and the relevance of the written feedback given to colleagues during the peer review stage (30%).

Applications and Registration:

From June 1, 2024 to September 11, 2024

Course Start and Finish Date: September 16, 2024 to September 20, 2024

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Entry qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree or Integrated Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Medicine, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biology and related areas.

Selection and ranking criteria:

• Filling of places in order of enrollment.

Minimum number of trainees for operation: 8
Maximum number of trainees: 20

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Registration Fee:

• 150€ for general student enrollment

Note: FFUL doctoral students who wish to take the course as part of their 1st year compulsory component are exempt from paying the registration fee.

• School Insurance: 2.10

By application of paragraph e) of point 2 of Article 42 of the University of Lisbon’s Statutes, and taking into account the terms for the attribution of PRR funding under the “Impulso Adultos” program, the Organic Unit responsible for the coordination of each course may award academic performance prizes.

Access to the FenixEdu Platform:

• If you have never been a student at FFULisboa you must pre-register on the FenixEdu Platform.
• If you are a former student of FFULisboa and have already had an account campus@ulisboa or @edu.ulisboa.pt you should access the FenixEdu Platform and authenticate yourself with your account data.
• If you have lost access to your account, you can recover your password in the ULisboa users area.
• If you are a former student of FFULisboa and have never had an account campus@ulisboa or @edu.ulisboa.pt you must send an email to doutoramentos@ff.ulisboa.pt indicating your full name and ID document number.

Access the FenixEdu Platform.

• On the “Applicant” tab, choose the type of application “Advanced Training Course – Redox signaling and redox systems in Health and Disease: Implications fordrug design and development”
• Fill out the online form and attach all documents in digital format.
• Select the option “Submit”.

For information regarding the organization of the course, please contact the Academic Services: doutoramentos@ff.ulisboa.pt

For scientific information regarding the teaching of the course, please contact the Course Coordination.

Regulamento n.º 638/2016 – Regulamento dos Cursos Não Conferentes de Grau da Faculdade de Farmácia da ULisboa