Methods: from disease models to therapy

The first part of the course will cover methods for developing disease models, using examples from SV labs. It will introduce key techniques for model characterisation, focusing on imaging methods, and outline approaches for therapeutic applications, discussing their rationale, uses and limits. In the second part, students will take part in hands-on rotations at technological platforms to apply the theory in a lab environment.

Topics covered:

Animal models

- Basis of the legal and ethical framework of research with animals in Switzerland

- Generation and phenotyping of mouse models

- In vivo imaging techniques

Histology

- General introduction into diverse techniques used to prepare samples for bright field microscopy

- Procedures for standard histology stains

- Detection of proteins and mRNA, multiplexing, spatial omics

Light-microscopy

- Introduction into light-microscopy

- Types of microscopes used to assess histological samples in a fast and reliable manner

- Image analysis, strategies to classify tissue samples

Transmission and scanning electron microscopy

- Basic principles of electron microscopy

- Sample preparation and imaging

- Image interpretation

Biomolecular integrative structural biology

- 3D high-resolution characterization of biological macromolecules

- X-Ray crystallography, single-particle Cryo-EM and Bio-NMR

- Introduction to 3D protein structure software and modeling tools as well as data interpretation

Academic drug discovery

- Introduction to the early drug discovery process: Basics of chemical libraries, medicinal chemistry and hits to leads

- High-thoughput molecular screening assays

- Advanced cellular models (3D formats and organoids)

Gene therapy

- Principles of gene delivery and its therapeutic applications

- Introduction to vector technologies and production methods

- Introduction to genetic manipulations in the context of gene therapy