Course Description for Students

In this laboratory you will carry out a series of interrelated experiments employing both routine and advanced techniques in molecular biology. The first set of laboratory exercises is designed to simulate a project that might be carried out in an actual research laboratory. You will use a set of techniques that are used routinely in molecular biology and genetics and you will apply them to a single research problem. Techniques covered will include: isolation of genomic and plasmid DNA, isolation of RNA, acrylamide and agarose gel electrophoresis, recombinant DNA techniques, characterization of mutants by Southern and Northern analysis, construction and screening of a cDNA library, PCR, DNA sequencing and database analysis, protein isolation and characterization by Western analysis and immunocytochemical methods. For this first set of exercises, the sequence of experiments as well as all of the procedural details have been worked out in advance by the instructor. In addition, all of the expected results are known by the instructor. You may also work on an independent research problem which uses the same system and tools but for which the results are not known in advance