Course Description
Laboratory instruction in the methods for manipulation of plants, microbes, and animals for biotechnological purposes.
Athena Title
Methods in Biotechnology
Prerequisite
BCMB 3100 or BCMB 3100E or BCMB 3100H
Pre or Corequisite
BIOL 3110L or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The student will have a theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the biotechnological manipulations of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Students will have experience in the application of molecular biological techniques including gene cloning, gene amplification, construction of vectors, manipulation of transgenic systems and analysis of gene and gene product expression. Students will also gain a theoretical and working knowledge of basic principles in bioinformatics including the use of genomic databases for experimental design and analysis.
Topical Outline
Topical Outline I. Tools of the trade a. Scientific method, ethics and note taking b. Equipment c. Reagents d. Computer databases for genomes and gene analysis II. Plant Biotechnology a. Plant transformation and regeneration b. Plant growth and genetic analysis c. DNA isolation from plants d. PCR and cloning from plant DNA e. In situ analysis of gene expression in plant (GUS staining) III. Microbial Biotechnology a. Bacterial transformation b. Bacterial plasmid isolation c. General molecular biology techniques, restriction digests d. Vector construction, gene cloning e. Fungal growth and culturing f. Plant pathogen inoculation g. Fungal mutagenesis (Ultraviolet light) h. Fungal transformation and mutant complementation i. Fungal DNA extraction and gene isolation IV. Animal Biotechnology a. Transfection of Insect Cell Lines with Inducible Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) Constructs b. Induction of Gene Expression in Transfected Cells c. Analysis of Transfected Cells using Flow Cytometry d. Analysis of Transfected Cells using RT-PCR, Western Immunoblot Analysis and Northern Analysis e. Purification of Transfected Gene Products using Metal Chelation Chromatography
Syllabus