Biophysics Programme code: W4-S2BFA21.2022

During the first term in the University of Pisa, all students will have to complete a set of common courses devoted to a broad spectrum of materials science topics. During the second term, all students will move to Barcelona. The second term actually marks the first differentiation from teaching general knowledge in the materials science fields towards more specialized courses. It will offer the possibility to students to discover new concepts and approaches topics in a very flexible way based on a selection of optional courses. During the third term, students engaged in the “Track 1: soft-matter and biopharmaceuticals” track will move to Katowice to develop their skills on soft-matter (polymers, colloids, gels) as well as biological materials (peptides, proteins, biomaterials) of therapeutical interest and their specificities. In the meantime, students of the “Track 2: condensed-matter and pharmaceuticals” track will go to Lille.The “soft-matter and biopharmaceuticals track” (track 1) (Pisa-Barcelona-Katowice) will provide a training focusing on understanding at the molecular level of the physicochemical and biological properties of small and macromolecules, lipid membrane systems and macromolecular drugs. Biopharmaceuticals are among the most sophisticated medicines and are becoming increasingly prominent in the pharmaceutical industry. Some companies are already spending 40% or more of their R&D budget on biopharmaceuticals and they are expected to dominate product use and sales of the future. However, compared to conventional chemical drugs, therapeutic proteins suffer from intrinsic instability. Changes due to chemical or physical instability can alter protein folding and the protein 3-dimensional structure. It is a major problem because denatured or aggregated protein species will not only be therapeutically inactive, but also may cause unpredictable side effects, such as immunogenicity or toxicity. A strong awareness to attempt for highly stable biopharmaceutical products has thus emerged. Because of their highly limited stability in liquid form, many of these protein-based therapeutics would be unusable within a few days. Solid dosage forms are thus usually preferred. Industries are particularly highly demanding of training with a high fundamental knowledge in biophysics science to face many challenges of protein-based therapeutics because of their intrinsic physical and chemical instability and specific mode of formulation in the solid forms using different techniques of drying (freeze drying, spray drying, supercritical fluid drying). This problematic includes very important fundamental knowledge of materials science such as freezing, thawing, interfacial stress, interaction with specific solvents (water, sugars), mechanism of stabilization (glassy state, water replacement, interfacial adsorption) and know-how of very specific experimental techniques (microcalorimetry, Infra-Red, Raman scattering, Scanning electron micrographs).

§1 The diploma procedure has been specified at the University level in the Study Regulations and in the Ordinance No. 16 of the Rector of the University of Silesia in Katowice of 28 January 2015 on the procedure for submitting and archiving written diploma theses, as amended. §2 1. The student enrolls in a selected MA seminar, on the date set by the Dean. 2. The student chooses the topic of his master's thesis from the topics given by the Coordinator of a given field of study, simultaneously choosing the Promoter who proposed the topic. 3. The supervisor clarifies the subject of the master's thesis with the student, taking into account the conditions set out in §30, section 5 of the Study Regulations. 4. The student submits the diploma dissertation, archives its electronic version and submits a printed copy of his dissertation in the manner announced in the Ordinance of the Rector of the University of Silesia in Katowice of January 28, 2015 on the introduction of the procedure for submitting and archiving written diploma theses in accordance with, respectively, §2 clause 1, 2, 3, §3 section 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and §6 sec. 1, 2. §3 Reviews are made available to the graduate student in the APD system no later than 3 days before the scheduled date of the master's examination. § 4 1. The master's examination consists of two parts: (a) defense of the thesis, (b) answers to questions. 2. The defense of the master's thesis begins with the master's dissertation. Then the graduate student responds to the comments on the thesis contained in the reviews; then members of the commission formulate additional questions and comments about the work. The graduate student's answers end the defense of the thesis. 3. In the second part of the examination, the graduate student receives examination questions. The questions concern subjects in the field of biophysics (depending on the specialization: molecular biophysics, molecular spectroscopy, basics of drug action, optometry, science of biological and pharmaceutical materials). The scope of the exam in a given subject corresponds to the curriculum of the relevant lectures included in the Course Card. 4. At the end of the exam: a) Members of the commission evaluate the course of the diploma examination b) The committee determines partial marks for answers to particular examination questions. c) The examination committee determines the final grade for the thesis and the final grade for the diploma according to the rules adopted in the Study Regulations at the University of Silesia. 5. Immediately after determining the grades, the commission announces them to the graduate student.

A field of study in line with the development strategy of the Institute of Physics and the mission of the University.