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The PhD course in Pharmaceutical and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Torino is embedded in the PhD School of Natural Sciences and Innovative Technologies, which includes eight PhD streams ranging from Physics to Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and Computer Science. The PhD course involves five different departments of the University: The PhD programme aims at training highly qualified researchers in the field of pharmaceutical, chemical and biological sciences, with particular reference to overlaps between these disciplines. The theoretical and practical training covers both a chemical and a biochemical/biotechnological approach. The former extends from the design and development of new drugs to the study of their mechanism of action, the study of their chemical and physical-chemical properties and structure-function relationship, the development of analytical methodologies for the identification of new active compounds from natural sources, to the identification of new pharmacological targets. The latter covers proteomics, functional and structural characterization of proteins and genomic and protein engineering approaches for both fundamental studies and biotechnological applications such as biosensors and green energy production. Regarding the seventh European Framework Programme the projects fall in priority areas of Health and Life Sciences, Energy and Environment. The projects are also related to many of the priority themes of the European Research Council (ERC), covering topics ranging from the Molecular and Structural Biology and Biochemistry (in particular General biochemistry and metabolism, Protein synthesis, modification and turnover, Biophysics, Structural Biology (Crystallography, NMR, EM), Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (in particular Proteomics and Bioinformatics), Neurosciences, Immunity and infection, Diagnostic tools, therapies and public health, Pharmacology, pharmacogenomics, drug discovery and design, drug therapy, Applied life sciences and biotechnology (food sciences; biotechnology, chemical biology, genetic engineering, synthetic biology, industrial biosciences; environmental biotechnology and remediation, Genetic engineering, transgenic organisms, recombinant proteins, biosensors, Synthetic biology and new bio-engineering concepts. The doctoral training is primarily within the research laboratories of the PhD tutors and their collaborators both within the doctoral network and also international collaborators that aim to encourage a level of independence in the design of experiments, analysis of the results and independent research. This gives the PhD student a broad, systematic and deep knowledge of the undertaken research field, as expected from the first point of the Dublin descriptors. The tutors and the school as a whole aid in the scientific development of the PhD students by organizing seminars, courses and workshops. This is the second important aspect advocated in the Dublin descriptors, along with authorship of scientific papers and presentation of results at international conferences. The integration in the work world should be a priority of research, both academic and industrial. The considerable number of collaborations with industry provides a diversified doctoral training and an opening for a future integration into the world of research and industrial development. |
