Programme | Blended Intensive Programme: Technology applied to biological systems

Monday 17 March 2025 - Stadscampus

9:00-9:15 - Welcome with coffee
9:15-9:30 - Opening session
9:30-11:00 - Ms Kristel Sniegowski, KU Leuven (BE), on ‘Basic molecular techniques to identify wild yeast isolates and the search for POF genes'
11:00-11:15 - Break
11:15-12:45 - Ms Vesna Jerkovic/Charlotte Saussez/Aurélie Semoulin, HELHa (BE), on ‘Bacterial transformation: theorical and practical aspects'
12:45-13:45 - Lunch break
13:45-15:00 - Ms Paulien Leemans, UAntwerp (BE) – ‘Gene regulation in prokaryotes’
15:00-15:15 - Break
15:15 -16:30 - Ms Iris Cornet, UAntwerp (BE)– ‘Process optimization in industrial biotechnology using recombinant microorganisms.'
16:30-17:30 - Break
17:30-19:00 - Guided city tour Antwerp
19:00-21:00 - Welcome’s drink @Stadscampus

8:30-12:30:
- Workshop I - Ms Julia Weiss, UPCT (ES), on ‘Binary plasmid isolation and analysis‘- laboratory
- Workshop II - Ms Kristel Sniegowski, KU Leuven (BE), on ‘Detecting POF genes in yeast isolates with PCR and gel electrophoresis‘- laboratory
- Workshop III – Mr Boris Gilis, University of Antwerp, on ‘Production of microbial oil in a 25L scale bioreactor’ part 1: reactor-set up
12:30-14:00 - Lunch break
14:00-18:00:
- Workshop I - Ms Vesna Jerkovic/Charlotte Saussez/Aurélie Semoulin, HELHa (BE) on ‘Bacterial transformation‘- laboratory
- Workshop II - Ms Kristel Sniegowski, KU Leuven (BE), on ’ Evaluating the quality of a Sanger sequence, database search with sequences for identifying Fungi’ - informatic lab
- Workshop III - M Rita Pacheco - ‘Inhibition of Acetylcholinesterase activity- Dose- Response relationships‘ – laboratory

9:00-10:30 - Rita Pacheco, ISEL (PT) – “Small molecule drugs- Design and Drug Discovery“
10:30-11:00 - Lecture (TBD)
11:00-11:15 - Break
11:15 -12:45 - Mr Vuk Savković, Hochschule Merseburg (DE), on ‘Directed evolution and rational design as powerful tools in protein engineering’
12:45-14:00 - Lunch break
14:15-16:15 - Company visit: Antwerp Brewing Company

8:30-12:30
- Workshop I - Marcos Egea Gutiérrez-Cortines UPCT (ES), on ‘Usage of publicly available tools: sequence data bases and construct design for CRISP/Cas’ – informatic lab
- Workshop II - Ms Paulien Leemans/Iris Cornet, UAntwerp on ‘Investigation of heat shock effects on the gene expression in E. coli – Part 1: RNA extraction (RNA integrity and purity) and reversed transcription‘– laboratory
- Workshop III – Mr Boris Gilis, University of Antwerp, on ‘Production of microbial oil in a 25L scale bioreactor’ part 2: analysis
12:30-14:00 - Lunch break
14:00-18:00
- Workshop I – Mr Boris Gilis, University of Antwerp, on ‘Production of microbial oil in a 25L scale bioreactor’ part 2: analysis'
- Workshop II - Ms Paulien Leemans/Iris Cornet, UAntwerp on ‘Investigation of heat shock effects on the gene expression in E. coli – Part 2: Bioinformatical analysis of RT-qPCR data.'
- Workshop III - Mr Vuk Savković , Hochschule Merseburg (DE), on‘Searching for the most efficient enzyme variant (known so far) for a particular biochemical transformation’

9:00 -10:30 - Ms Julia Weiss, UPCT (ES), on ‘Plant genetic engineering‘
10:30-11:15 - From oil to acid – Boris Gilis (PhD student, University of Antwerp)
11:15-11:30 - Break
11:30-13:00 - Mr Marcos Egea Gutiérrez-Cortines and Ms Julia Weiss, UPCT (ES), on ‘Molecular pharming strategies‘ (TBD)
13:00-14:00 - Break
14:00 - Group work (optional)