The following survey will provide input to the committee currently working on the new second year lab course. The course will replace the laboratory components of BIOL 2020, 2021, 2040.
1. What courses do you currently teach?
2. What additional courses have you taught since 2005?
Please consider the following lab techniques/practical skills in cell biology, biochemistry and molecular genetics in terms of necessity (at all, and by year level). Please choose the *earliest* level at which you would expect students to gain the particular skill.
**Please note: for the purposes of this survey, we haven’t narrowly defined the skills (e.g., mentions skill with agarose gels, but we haven’t listed: making the gel, setting up the gel, loading it, taking pictures, etc.) Once we have a better idea of what are the basic skills necessary, we can proceed to define the learning objectives in more detail.**
3. Use of micropipettor
4. Use of glass pipettes (10 ml, 5 ml 1 ml)
5. Use of restriction enzymes
6. Use of a spectrophotometer
7. Use of a pH meter
8. Preparation of a buffer
9. Determination of optimal pH, concentration, etc., in optimization of various techniques
10. Working with radioactivity
11. Working with model organisms (e.g., E. coli, yeast, Neurospora crassa, C. elegans)
12. Electrophoresis (preparation of gels, running gels, gel analysis) – DNA agarose
13. Southern Blots
14. Northern Blots
15. Electrophoresis – protein SDS Page
16. Western Blots
17. Molecular weight analysis from gels
18. PCR
19. PCR optimization
20. Simple primer design
21. Mutagenesis (e.g., transposon, UV, chemical mutagenesis)
22. Double mutant analysis (e.g., in yeast)
23. Genetic mapping
24. Genetically modified organisms
25. Cell counting techniques
26. Organelle isolation
27. Centrifugation
28. Enzyme kinetics (enzyme assay)
29. Protein analysis: Bradford assay
30. Preparation of a standard curve (required of many techniques – e.g., Bradford, phosphate, RT-PCR)
31. Purifying fusion proteins
32. Chromatography - ion-exchange
33. Chromatography - affinity
34. Cloning (transformation, etc.)
35. Preparation of paraffin sections in slide preparation
36. Staining for microscopy
37. Light microscopy (Kohler)
38. Light microscopy (Fluorescence)
39. Light microscopy (Phase contrast)
40. RNA expression
41. Simple microbiological/aseptic techniques (e.g., inoculating a broth culture; spreading an inoculum on agar plate).
42. Preparation of solutions, media, etc.
43. Other laboratory technical skills (please list and indicate the lowest year level at which this skill is necessary)
44. Concentration/Dilution calculations
45. Unit conversions
46. Proper maintenance of laboratory records (lab books)
47. Experimental design
48. Observational skills
49. Data collection
50. Simple statistical analysis of data
51. Problem solving/optimization
52. Information literacy
53. Use of web-based databases
54. Results presentation (written, and with figures, tables)
55. Interpreting results
56. Familiarity and knowledge of scientific terminology
57. Written communication – writing a lab report
58. Written communication – writing a scientific paper (This may involve scaffolding through the process. Focus on how to approach the write-up. Peer review, and other types of formative feedback.)
59. Verbal communication – presenting results
60. Verbal communication - explaining a technique
61. Literature Research skills – i.e., locating primary references, etc.
62. Proper citation of reference sources
63. Critical thinking/reading
64. Teamwork
65. Other skills (please list indicate the lowest year level at which this skill is necessary)
66. Are the students who arrive to your 3000/4000 level course/s well prepared in terms of their practical knowledge of lab techniques?
67. If you answered disagree or strongly disagree in the question above, please list the skills/knowledge that you would expect/assume/want them to have upon entrance to 3000/4000 level courses.
68. Are the students who arrive to your 3000/4000 level course/s well prepared in terms of their theoretical knowledge of lab techniques (and underlying scientific principles)?
69. We would like to develop laboratory exercises that integrate a variety of cell/ biochemical/molecular techniques, giving students a more realistic research experience. Suggestions for experiments that might be suitable are welcomed here. (Please feel free to contact Tamara or Paula offline, too.)
70. We would also like to introduce students to model organisms (e.g., E. coli, yeast, Neurospora crassa, C. elegans). Do you have any additional suggestions for model organisms that would be economically feasible, relatively easy to handle, and appropriate for a large second year course? If so, please list below.
71. Please provide any other comments/advice/suggestions you have regarding this effort.
72. What conceptual knowledge, related to laboratory work, should all students have upon completion of 2nd year (and entering into 3rd year)?
73. In terms of future trends in biochemistry, cell biology and molecular genetics, do you have any suggestions of techniques/skills that our students should be prepared with?