51³Ô¹ÏÍø

McGill.CA / Bioresource Engineering / Faculty and Staff / Academic Staff

Fernando Altamura, M.Sc., D.M.

Fernando Altamura

Faculty Lecturer; Director, Freshman Program; Academic Advisor

T: 514-398-7783  |  fernando.altamura [at] mcgill.ca (Email)  |  Macdonald-Stewart Building, MS1-023

Degrees

D.M. Université de Montréal, Canada
M.Sc. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, Canada
M.M. Yale University, USA
B.Sc. (AgEnvSc), 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, Canada
B.M. & M.M. Rotterdam Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, The Netherlands
B.A. Conservatorio Piccinni, Italy

Short Bio

Fernando Altamura’s diverse background features a true mosaic of scientific and artistic facets. His love for the arts motivated him to pursue studies in classical music, culminating in a master and doctorate from Yale University and Université de Montréal, respectively.

Dr. Altamura pursued his scientific studies at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø in both the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, specializing in life sciences, and in the Faculty of Medicine, where he conducted graduate research in the field of pharmacology and therapeutics of infectious diseases. More specifically, his research applied biochemical and genetic technologies to develop new therapeutic strategies to fight bacterial infections (C. difficile), and parasitic diseases (trypanosomiasis).

Dr. Altamura joins the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø in 2020, where he serves as Faculty Lecturer in the Freshman Program.

Awards and Recognitions

  • Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence (2022)

  • Postgraduate Scholarship, Doctoral Program – NSERC (2020)

  • Bourse de Doctorat – FRQNT (2020)

  • CSPC Scholarship – Canadian Glycomics Network (2019)

  • Graduate Excellence Award – 51³Ô¹ÏÍø(2019)

  • Alexander Graham Bell Canada, Graduate Scholarship – NSERC (2017)

  • Dean's Honors List – 51³Ô¹ÏÍø(2017)

  • Tomlinson Award – 51³Ô¹ÏÍø(2017)

  • Bieler Internship Award – 51³Ô¹ÏÍø(2016)

  • Robert S. Broughton Internship – 51³Ô¹ÏÍø(2016)

  • E. Parisot Award – Yale (2010)

  • Nuffic Huygens Scholarship – Dutch Government (2007)

Research Interests

  1. Target-based drug discovery of infectious diseases.
  2. Modulation of host-microbiota interaction as a therapeutic strategy.
  3. Innovation in STEM teaching with special focus on mathematics and science communication.

Courses

AEMA 101. Calculus 1 with Precalculus.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 4
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Fall 2025
View offerings for in Visual Schedule Builder.

Description

A review of precalculus: functions, graphs,polynomials and rational functions, exponentialand logarithmic functions, and trigonometry.Limits, continuity, and derivatives. Differentiationof elementary functions. Anti-differentiation. Applications.
  • Fall
  • 3 lectures
  • Prerequisite: a course in functions

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


AEMA 102. Calculus 2.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 4
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Winter 2026
View offerings for in Visual Schedule Builder.

Description

Integration, the indefinite and definite integral. Trapezoidal and Simpson's Rule approximations for the integral. Applications to areas between curves, distance, volume, length of a curve, work, area of a surface of revolution, average values, moments, etc. Improper integrals and infinite series.
  • Winter
  • 3 lectures
  • Prerequisite: Calculus 1 or equivalent

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


AEMA 105. Precalculus Lab.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 1
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
This course is not offered this catalogue year.

Description

Problem-solving: foundational material in algebra concepts, functions and graphs, polynomials and rational functions, exponential and logarithmic functions, graphs and equations, trigonometry, analytic trigonometry, systems of linear equations, sequences & series.
  • (1.0 credit) (2 lab hours per week; normally taken concurrently with AEMA 101 Calculus 1)
  • Restrictions: Open only to students in FAES whose background is deficient in Precalculus mathematics. Not open to students who have taken CEGEP competency OOUP, AEMA 102, or equivalent. Not open to students who have taken AEMA 100 or MATH 112. Permission of instructor required.

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


AEMA 202. Intermediate Calculus.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Fall 2025
View offerings for in Visual Schedule Builder.

Description

Methods of differential and integral calculus forthe study of multivariable functions. Calculus of parametric and polar curves, vectors and geometry of space, vector functions, partial derivatives, multiple integrals, and their applications.
  • Fall
  • 3 lectures and 1 conference
  • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken MATH 222
  • Prerequisites: BREE 103 and AEMA 102 or equivalent CEGEP objectives 00UP and 00UQ or permission of instructor

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


AEBI 120. General Biology.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Natural Resource Sciences (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Fall 2025
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Description

An introduction to core themes in biological sciences, including cell structure and function, cell replication, gene expression, genetic inheritance, biodiversity, evolution, and ecological interactions.
  • Fall
  • 2 lectures and one 3-hour lab per week
  • Restriction: Not open to students who have obtained CEGEP competency 00UK.

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


AEBI 122. Cell Biology.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Winter 2026
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Description

Introduction to key topics in cell biology, including chemical biology, cell membranes, enzymes in biological reactions, cellular energetics, cell signaling, DNA synthesis and repair, gene expression and regulatory mechanisms. Connections between cell biology and animal physiology.
  • Restriction(s): Open only to Freshman students in FAES; not equivalent to LSCI 202; not open to students who have taken CEGEP competency OOXU or equivalent, or BIOL 112.
  • Provides a basis for later courses in cell biology.
  • Restriction(s): Not open to students who have passed BIOL 112 or obtained CEGEP competency 00XU; not equivalent to LSCI 202.

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


LSCI 202. Molecular Cell Biology.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Parasitology (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Winter 2026
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Description

Organization and function of intracellular organelles in eukaryotic cells. Mechanisms of membrane transport. Protein sorting and vesicular transport. Cytoskeleton. DNA and chromosome structure. DNA replication. Mechanisms of RNA and protein synthesis. Control of gene expression. Cell cycle and the control of cell division. Mechanisms of cell communication and signal transduction. Apoptosis. Neuronal signaling.
  • Restriction(s): Not open to students who have taken AEBI 202
  • Prerequisites: LSCI 211 and FDSC 230 or equivalent, or permission of instructor.

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


ANSC 400. Eukaryotic Cells and Viruses.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Animal Science (Faculty of Agric Environ Sci)
Terms Offered: Winter 2026
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Description

The basic principles of molecular biology and the underlying molecular basis for various methodologies in molecular biology are covered. The molecular genetic basis for viral infections and tumorigenesis will be covered as examples of the use of molecular genetic approaches to address biological problems.
  • Prerequisites: CELL 204 or LSCI 204
  • Restrictions: Not open to students who have taken PARA 400
  • Prerequisite: LSCI 204

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.


ANSC 600. Advanced Eukaryotic Cells and Viruses.

Note: For information about Fall 2025 and Winter 2026 course offerings, please check back on May 8, 2025. Until then, the "Terms offered" field will appear blank for most courses while the class schedule is being finalized.

Credits: 3
Offered by: Animal Science (Graduate Studies)
Terms Offered: Winter 2026
View offerings for in Visual Schedule Builder.

Description

Underlying molecular basis for various methodologies in molecular biology, including the genetic basis for viral infections and tumorigenesis, and the use of molecular genetic approaches to address biological problems.
  • Winter
  • Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
  • Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ANSC 400.

Most students use Visual Schedule Builder (VSB) to organize their schedules. VSB helps you plan class schedules, travel time, and more.

Publications

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