Institute of Medical Genetics and Genomics, Faculty of Medicine of the Masaryk University

This teaching material is intended for students of Dentistry registered for the subject Research Activities in Dentistry. The aim of that subject is to improve the students' knowledge of the scientific advancements in dentistry and closely related fields, to motivate students to participate in research activities, to augment their scientific ambitions and, therefore, to lay grounds for their postgraduate studies and scientific career.

This educational material is intended for students of Dentistry who signed for the subject Research Activities in Dentistry. In this lab seminar, students will acquire practical experience with molecular-biological analyses that are routinely used in the field of Dentistry, both for research purposes and for diagnosis of diseases (not only) of the oral cavity. Students will be tasked with the detection of two single nucleotide polymorphisms in the gene for methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), an enzyme playing an important role in the folic acid metabolism. Within the scope of this seminar, students will also learn to predict the phenotype (i.e., to predict the ability to metabolize the folic acid) based on the analyzed MTHFR haplogenotype.