Biotechnology I

*This course was previously approved in 2003, the course title has changed (but not course prefix).*

Course Description:
This course introduces students to the exciting field of biotechnology. Students will engage in topics such as biochemistry, DNA structure, gene expression, protein synthesis, recombinant DNA strategies, as well as forensics and bioethics. Students perform experiments similar to those presently done in modern research settings such as micropipetting, spectrophotometry, electrophoresis, PCR, and cell culturing. This course emphasizes standard laboratory operations, instrumentation and good laboratory safety practices and procedures.

Laboratories done in class:
Legal Scientific Notebook Maintenance
Aseptic Technique
Enzymes (Cheese Making)
Model Organism Propagation
Solution preparation (% m/v, m/v, M, x)
Making a Bacterial Culture: Preparing Bacterial Cultures, Glycerol Stocks, and Culture Log
Gram Stain
The Chemistry Connection Between Electrolysis and Electrophoresis
Testing for Macromolecules
DNA extraction
DNA spooling
Making Agarose Gels and Running Buffer
Gel Electrophoresis
DNA Restriction Enzymes
Ouchterlony Lab
Using ELISA for Disease Detection
Bacterial Transformation
Extracting Plasmid DNA
PCR of pGLO DNA from Transformed E. coli
Rainbow Plasmids Transformation
Rainbow Protein Purification
DNA Quantification
Preparation of Chemi-Competent E. coli
Bioinformatics
Microarray
Soil Bacteria Speciation through PCR and sequence of the gene coding for 16s rRNA