Overall objectives:

1 - Application of the knowledge acquired in the curricular units Biochemistry of Natural Products and Food Biochemistry at the laboratory level
2 - Development of the capacity of understanding and solving problems in new situations and/or multi and interdisciplinary settings
3 - Development of capacities at the laboratory level, including in the use of advanced scientific equipment. Development of the capacity to search and interpret the scientific information
4 - Development of the ability to design study/experimental strategies, interpret results and communicate those results in written and oral forms. Development of capacities for working in an autonomous way, in a team and towards the achievement of pre-set objectives. Development of the capacity of critical thinking

Syllabus:

1 - This curricular unit comprises the development of laboratory mini-projects in articulation with the courses Biochemistry of Natural Products and Food Biochemistry. The work to be done may involve the determination of phytochemical profile of extract with antioxidant activity of medicinal plants, as well as the determination of the metabolic, proteic and lipid profile of natural and industrial/processed foods. The execution of these works will allow the student to explore several techniques, such as gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography (HPLC), spectrophotometry UV-Vis, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), MALDI-TOFMS. It is also intended that students gain experience in using statistical tools for processing experimental data.

Literature/Sources:

Varios , Artigos científicos relacionados com os miniprojectos a desenvolver. ,

Assesssment methods and criteria:

Classification Type: Quantitativa (0-20)

Evaluation Methodology:
This course comprises the development of mini-projects of experimental nature. These works will be done in groups and involve several activities such as bibliographic research, programming of experimental work, execution of experiments, analysis of data and results, writing of reports and their oral presentation/discussion. Students develop work towards a pre-defined goal by the teacher. Students' work is closely supervised by the teacher who also teach them extraction procedures (e.g., SPME, MEPS, QuEChERS), characterization techniques (e.g., GC-MS, HPLC, MALDI-TOFMS) and statistical tools (e.g., SPSS, MetaboAnalyst). The assessment of the curricular unit has the following components: a) Student/group performance evaluation in the laboratory (continuous assessment) - 30% for the final grade; b) Written reports - 40% for the final grade; c) Oral presentations and discussion of the reports - 30% for the final grade.