(610)TEACHING BIOCHEMISTRY ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS TOBIOCHEMISTRY GRADE STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITYCOMPLUTENSE OF MADRID

摘要

Acting as an interface between chemistry, chemical engineering, biology and medicine, biochemistsseek to explore and understand the molecular underpinnings of living organisms and of disease.Biochemistry aims to explore and comprehend every aspect of the structure and function of livingthings. A biochemical approach forms the basis for understanding the function and properties ofmolecules, cells, tissues and whole organisms, under normal and abnormal conditions and inresponse to their changing environment. In fact, biochemistry will have a major impact on many of theproblems that the mankind has to face today, particularly in the areas of medicine, agriculture andenvironmental issues. The main objective of the Biochemical degree is to prepare professionals for thepharmaceutical industry, as well as future researchers and teachers. To have success, it is requiredthat students acquire scientific knowledge, but also that they are trained to make use of itappropriately, to think, and to assume responsibilities in the world of drugs.Teaching and learning methods are changing considerably because they have to be continuously inresponse to social and technological advances. Of course, conventional lectures with exercises(calculations) will always exist, although the use of Information and Communication Technologies(ICTs) is increasing. However practical work in the laboratory (chemical analysis, microbiology, and soon) and in pilot plants (unit operations in chemical engineering, drugs production) is usually requiredand demanded by the pharmaceutical industry to improve practical knowledge of the graduates and,as a consequence other educational tools such as the Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach andthe development of projects prepared by groups of students are becoming important. The maindrawback is that this kind of practical teaching is only partial as industry and university do notcollaborate as much as it should be, and close relations between industry people and university areessential for the implementation of modern training programs. The actions presented in this article arein the context of the global curriculum of the Biochemistry degree in the Complutense University ofMadrid, Spain. It presents an analysis of a teaching innovation project, with the students of the thirdcourse of this degree, conducted during the academic year 2011-12 in the asignature BiochemistryEngineering Fundamentals;;this project includes visits to several pharmaceutical industries fromMadrid (Spain).University professors, students and professionals from different pharmaceutical industries haveworked together to help our students to increase their competitiveness and skilfulness in team work,analysis of real industrial situations, and communication abilities. Also, this project include a new formof teaching the basics operations in biochemical engineering, as filtration, sedimentation,centrifugation, reology, heat transfer, etc. At this point, we would like to present how interactiveprocess visualization software can be used as a common platform to integrate modular teaching. Wehypothesize that such an integrated approach will help students to better appreciate theinterconnectedness of knowledge acquired in different modules, which in turn will also stimulate theirinterest in the modules. Following this approach, the students were motivated to develop the forgoingcompetences and to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of the teaching/learning process. Themain objective of this experience was to facilitate the students to make a bridge from the theoreticalconcepts to their application to the reality of the pharmaceutical.