by Natalia Wilke
National University of Córdoba, Argentina
As professors at the National University of Córdoba, we have to teach courses for PhD students. This is our “obligation;” a strange word that does not apply to the 2018 edition of our short course, which was a 2018 Biophysics Week affiliate event. This event was exciting for the students and professors alike!
During April 2018, the course “Molecular Biophysics of Membranes” was taught at the School of Chemistry, from the National University of Cordoba, Argentina. It was aimed at PhD students, with the objective of giving them knowledge regarding the structure, dynamics, and topology of biomembranes, and the fundamentals of the techniques used for the research in this area.
The course includds not only lectures, but also laboratory practices, problem resolutions and discussions of relevant papers on the topic. The laboratory activities included giant unilamellar vesicles generation and observation with confocal microscopy, preparation of Langmuir monolayers and observation with Brewster angle microscopy and with fluorescence microscopy and discussion about x-ray data treatment.
The teaching staff included Dr. M. Laura Fanani, Dr. Rafael G. Oliveira, Dr. Ernesto E. Ambroggio, Dr. Carla M. Rosetti, Dr. Graciela Borioli, Dr. Agustín Mangiarotti and me, Dr. Natalia Wilke, course director.
We received 15 students from different parts of Argentina. They were a very active audience, attending lectures with great interest and asking questions continuously! The topics varied from the very origin of membrane existence proposal by Pfeffer, to the important experiments performed by Overton, by Pockels, and by Gortel and Grendel, as well as Danielli’s, Singel’s models and the current view. This historical overview allowed us to question the current accepted model for membranes. And so, from the very first class, we tried to keep in mind with regard to each topic discussed that models and our own dogmas shape our interpretation of the experimental results.
We had a very intensive week of inspiring discussion on membrane biophysics. Many questions arose, sometimes without a definitive answer, and other times without even a single answer! The course allowed us to pause our everyday routine and dedicate time to enriching our own relationships with biophysics, while teaching at the same time. In this way, we simultaneously fulfilled our duty to teach, while we opened our minds and strengthened interdisciplinary networks with researchers from around Argentina, all in one activity.
We are very satisfied with the results, as well as with the students’ feedback obtained from anonymous surveys. We are already planning a new edition of the course, taking into consideration all the suggestions and with great expectations of receiving students from other countries!
Interested in hosting your own event for 2019? Submit your plans here.