Course title

4381 Biotechnology H

Pre-requisite

Students are required to have completed Biology and Chemistry and have an overal math science GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Course description

Course Description:
Biotechnology Honors is a hands-on project based course in which teamwork; cooperative learning; and 21st Century Learning Skills are used to explore the history; skill set; and the potential of biotechnology to answer critical questions and solve problems. This integrated laboratory course incorporates Next Generation Science Standards to model scientific inquiry to solve problems and promote critical thinking. Technical applications such as DNA/RNA isolation; DNA restriction enzyme analysis; polymerase chain reaction analysis; DNA gel electrophoresis; RNA/DNA hybridization will be used in conjunction with basic protein analysis techniques to perform a variety of tasks. Basic microbiology; virology and cell tissue culture technology will be studied and used; in conjunction with the other techniques; to allow students to explore the use of biotechnology. Bioinformatics; National Center for Biotechnology and associated data bases; will be utilized to compare results from investigations to current data. This class will encourage students to design and pursue their own projects as an extracurricular activity.

Course and Laboratory syllabus

Biotechnology Honors
Biotechnology Honors is a project based course. Each unit is built around laboratory projects that increase in the level of complexity and student direction.
Semester I
Unit I: Introduction of Biotechnology and Laboratory Procedures
A. Define Biotechnology
B. Careers in Biotechnology
C. Cheese-Making as example of Biotech use in our everyday lives (Lab Project)
D. Lab Safety: Review Safety protocols- personal safety; environmental safety
E. Experimental Design-design a bioassay for detecting alleopathic compounds (Lab Project)
a. Review what goes in a lab notebook
b. Design and collect data
F. Data Presentation
a. Present and draw conclusions on allelopathic compound experiment
G. Descriptive statistics and Metric System
a. Draw graphs with error bars
H. Develop new question to investigate on allelopathic experiment
I. Introduce Bioethics: Falsifying data

Unit II: Microbiology
A. Biohazards and classification of biological organisms
B. Aseptic Technique and media production
C. Model Organisms
D. Cellular structure of bacteria
E. Microscopy and staining techniques – simple stains and differential stains
F. Measurement of Bacteria Growth (Laboratory Project)
G. Counting Bacteria – serial dilutions (Laboratory Project)
H. Examples of eukaryotic cell culture
a. Yeast in fermentation
b. Hela Cells
I. Bioethics: Should animals be used in research

Unit III: Microbes and Health
A. What causes an infectious disease
B. Epidemiology
a. How are infectious diseases spread
b. What causes an epidemic?
c. Strategies for resolving the Epidemic
C. Agents of Disease –Bacteria; Viruses; and Parasites
D. Identification of infectious disease agent
a. Koch’s postulates
E. Immune System
a. Non-Specific Defense
b. Specific defense mechanisms
F. Diagnosing Diseases
G. Antimicrobial Agents and the development of resistance (Laboratory Project)
H. Vaccines
a. Definition of Vaccine
b. Debate on whether vaccine should be given to young children
c. “Get Vaccinated” Public Service Announcement
I. Role of Biotechnology in construction of designer drugs and antibodies
J. Bioterriorism
K. Bioethics: Genetically Engineer organisms to be more pathogenic –Who should have access to the data?

Unit IV: DNA isolation and analysis
A. Structure and function of DNA
B. DNA isolation
C. Horizontal Electrophoresis – How it works
D. Restriction Digests-creation of restriction map
a. Use computer to create restriction map
b. Lab activity- complete restriction digests and analyze by horizontal electrophoresis
c. Calculating Size of DNA fragments
E. Restriction length polymorphisms and its use in forensics; DNA barcoding; identifying human diseases
F. Creation of Radioactive DNA probes
G. Bioethics: Who should have access to your DNA

Unit V: Production of Recombinant DNA molecules
A. Creating recombinant DNA molecules
a. Case Study looking at the cloning of insulin into bacteria
b. Paper Plasmid Activity
B. Transformation
a. Green fluorescent Protein Lab
C. DNA Microarrays
D. Cloning of Eukaryotic Organisms
E. Risk assessment of Cloning
F. Bioethical Issue: Pros and Cons of Human cloning
a. Form Groups and discuss pros and cons of human cloning
b. Homework: Read article on Gene therapy and complete Gist Strategy

Semester II
Unit VI: PCR and Bioinformatics
A. PCR
B. Designing primers
C. Identification of GMOS using PCR or Participation in the Wallbachia Project (Laboratory projects)
D. Introduction to Bioinformatics- data bases for finding and identifying DNA and amino acid sequences
E. Identification of Mystery Diseases using Blast
F. Bioethics: Should genetically modified foods be labeled

Unit VII Plant Tissue Culture
A. Plant Growth; Structure and Function
B. Artificial Selection – Fast Plants
C. Asexual Plant Propagation
D. Tissue culture medium and growing conditions
a. Embryo tissue culture (laboratory activity)
b. Carrot tissue culture (laboratory activity)

Unit VIII: DNA Barcode-Identification of new species
A. DNA Barcode – What is it?
a. Isolation of DNA from sushi (Laboratory Activity)
b. PCR amplification of isolated DNA (laboratory activity)
B. Using Bioinformatics in species identification
C. DNA Sequencing
a. Having the sushi DNA sequenced
b. Analysis of DNA Sequence for species identification through Bioinformatics
D. Apply technique to the identification of new species

Unit IX Protein Isolation and Analysis
A. Review of protein structure and function including enzymes
a. Development of Amylase Assay (Laboratory Activity)
b. Identification of Best Source of Amylase (Laboratory Activity)
B. Use of Chromatography to separate and isolate Proteins
a. Purification of Amylase Protein using DEAE Sepharose (Laboratory Activity)
C. Principles of SDS Gel Electrophoresis
a. SDS Page Gel of different fractions
D. Product Quality Control
a. Production of Proteins made by recombinant DNA technology
E. Application of Enzymes to creations of Biosensors
a. Research biosensors
b. Creation of cholesterol biosensors
Unit X: Using Antibodies as tolls in Protein Identification
A. Immune System and the Production of Antibodies
B. Antibodies as Tools
a. Polyclonal Antibodies
b. Monoclonal Antibodies
C. Immunoassays
c. ELISA
d. Western Blots (laboratory Activity)
i. Western Blot of Fish Muscle Proteins
ii. Probing Western Blot using antibodies against MLC1
iii. Creating phylogenetic tree from western blot results
D. Using Antibodies to Diagnose and Treat Cancer

Students will be encouraged to conduct an Independent Research Project as an Extracurricular Activity via a Science Research Club or as an internship at the University of Arizona.
A. Identification of Biological Question
B. Design Experiment(s) to address the question
C. Write a Research Proposal
D. Maintain of legal scientific notebook of the research conducted
E. Creation of Poster Presentation of Research
F. Presentation of Research

Standards that are met with this Course:
Next Generation Science Standards require that Students who demonstrate understanding can:

HS-LS1-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells.
HS-LS3-1. Ask questions to clarify relationships about the role of DNA and chromosomes in coding the instructions for characteristic traits passed from parents to offspring.
HS-LS3-2. Make and defend a claim based on evidence that inheritable genetic variations may result from: (1) new genetic combinations through meiosis; (2) viable errors occurring during replication; and/or (3) mutations caused by environmental factors.
HS-LS1-4. Use a model to illustrate the role of cellular division (mitosis) and differentiation in producing and maintaining complex organisms.
HS-LS3-3. Apply concepts of statistics and probability to explain the variation and distribution of expressed traits in a population.
Arizona CTE Standards
STANDARD 1.0 ─ MAINTAIN A SAFE WORK ENVIRONMENT
STANDARD 2.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING AND RELEVANCE OF STANDARD LABORATORY
OPERATING PROCEDURES
STANDARD 3.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE CRITICAL THINKING AND SCIENTIFIC PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS IN
SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY
STANDARD 4.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE RESEARCH AND INVESTIGATIVE SKILLS
STANDARD 5.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE ETHICAL AND LEGAL CONDUCT IN JOB-RELATED ACTIVITIES
STANDARD 8.0 ─ UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF LIVING ORGANISMS IN BIOSCIENCE RESEARCH
STANDARD 8.0 ─ UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF LIVING ORGANISMS IN BIOSCIENCE RESEARCH
STANDARD 10.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF CELL BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES
STANDARD 11.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF MICROBIOLOGY SKILLS
STANDARD 12.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF PROTEIN TECHNIQUES
STANDARD 13.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE KNOWLEDGE OF MATERIAL PREPARATION AND STORAGE
STANDARD 14.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE USE OF BIOINFORMATIC RESOURCES
STANDARD 15.0 ─ DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING AND KNOWLEDGE OF NUCLEIC ACID TECHNIQUES
STANDARD 17.0 ─ ENGAGE IN OCCUPATIONAL-SPECIFIC WORK-BASED LEARNING EXPERIENCE IN
CHOSEN CAREER FIELD (E.G.; BIOMEDICAL; BIOENVIRONMENTAL; BIO-INNOVATIONS)

School country

United States

School state

Arizona

School city

Tucson

High school

Salpointe Catholic High School

School / district Address

1545 E. Copper St.

School zip code

85719

Requested competency code

Lab Science

Date submitted

03/11/2015

Approved

Yes

Approved competency code

• CTE
• Career and technical education

• LBIO
• Biology

Approved date

04/10/2015

Online / Virtual

No