Giulia teaches two undergraduate level courses on medicinal plants, which she developed in 2015, prerequisite for the Plant and Human Health concentration of the Plant Science major and one course for master and undergraduate students on the chemistry and pharmacology of cannabis. Giulia is committed to providing an atmosphere for learning that respects diversity and inclusion. Giulia uses various active learning strategies aiming to maintain student concentration, to train skills such as critical thinking, and to engage students who might otherwise not perform at their highest potential.
1) Medical Ethnobotany (PLBIO2100): 3 credits course, 2000 level. This course exposes students to the relationship between plants, native people and their culture. Plants have always played a key role in the history of life on Earth and have served as medicinal agents in all societies since the beginning of civilization. This course explores past and current plant-based natural remedies, their effect on the human health and their mechanism of action in the human bodies. The course emphasizes the importance of preservation of biological and cultural diversity, traditional medicine, indigenous knowledge, native culture and languages. Students will be able to distinguish bioprospecting from biopiracy and define intellectual property rights for plants. This course is designed for students with an interest in the natural world, in traditional medicine and human diversity.
2) Medicinal Botany and Drug Discovery (PLBIO3100): 2 credits, 3000 level. Medicinal plants are either critical constituents of many modern drugs or provide templates for synthetic analogue molecules. In this course, we explore the biochemical and pharmacological properties of isolated bioactive compounds found in plants as source of medicines, sold by pharmaceutical companies. The course covers the distribution of plant secondary metabolites, the use of techniques in the isolation and structure elucidation of natural products, their physical/chemical and pharmacokinetic properties and the steps involved in drug production and approval in western medicine.
3) Chemistry and Pharmacology of Cannabis (PLSCI5045): This is a 1 credit, 5000 level module on medical cannabis chemistry and pharmacology, developed for the CALS Master of Professional Studies and open to undergraduate students. Cannabis is a psychoactive plant used for medical/recreational/personal purposes. In this course, students will learn past and current uses of cannabis in different cultures. They will recognize politicization of cannabis (such as bias’, naming, political use, racial discrimination, and legalization) and be guided to critically evaluate resources and literature. Students will examine differences in cannabis cultivars or chemo-varieties with respect to their chemical composition, and how this influences cannabis’s overall pharmacological effect in humans and animals. They will get familiar with the chemistry, pharmacology including bioavailability and mode of action, potency, efficacy, toxicology, and safety of cannabis bioactive compounds. Furthermore, they will review the function and components of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in the human body, the biosynthesis and distribution of cannabis bioactive compounds, including terpenoids, flavonoids and cannabinoids, the techniques used in their isolation and structure elucidation, the value of biological assays, and the steps involved in drug production and approval. Students will be able to make the distinction between whole plant, plant extracts in different medium, and cannabis isolated single compounds, sold as prescription drugs and the difference between recreational and medical cannabis.
As a Senior Lecturer in Plant Biology, Giulia is fulfilling an important role in the Plants and Human Health Concentration within the Plant Sciences Major (see Current Teaching Experiences).
