Biology
111 introduces students to important concepts and techniqes used in
modern molecular biology labs. The course follows Biology 109
in the introductory laboratory sequence as an alternative to Biology
110. After technical training through planned laboratory exercises
during the first two-thirds of the course, students will design, conduct,
and present the results of an independent research project.
Students will gain
extensive experience in many important molecular biology techniques,
including (but not limited to):
- Isolation, quantitation,
and manipulation of distinct DNA molecules.
- Amplification
of specific DNA sequences using the polymerase chain reaction
(PCR).
- Electrophoresis
of nucleic acids.
- Overexpression
of proteins in bacterial hosts.
- Electrophoresis
of proteins.
- Detection and
quantitation of protein expression using western blots.
- Bioinformatics:
The use of computers and public databases to obtain and analyze
DNA and protein sequence information.
- The arts-and-crafts
of presenting scientific data.
- Scientific writing
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