Spring '08 BTEC 110 section #2228
T/Th 5:45PM to 9:35 PM OC4050
Starts Tuesday, January 22
Enroll now....
Space is limited to 20 students

Course Description: [return to top]

BTEC110 focuses on the basic laboratory skills needed for employment in the bioscience/biotechnology industry. Students learn laboratory safety and documentation while acquiring skills in the maintenance and calibration of basic lab equipment, calculation and preparation of lab solutions and media, and routine handling of both bacterial and mammalian cell cultures (tissue culture). Fundamental skills in spectroscopy, centrifugation, performance of assays, gel electrophoresis, and the purification and handling of biological molecules such as proteins and DNA, are developed.

Course Objectives: [return to top]

1) Read and follow instructions for laboratory procedures as described in Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and other written documents.
2) Maintain written records of laboratory work, including maintaining a lab notebook documenting lab procedures, calculations, measurements, observations, and analysis of results
3) Safely, efficiently and effectively prepare chemical solutions, including the performance of calculations necessary to the preparation of solutions described by molarity, weight per volume and percentage.
4) Calibrate and use a variety of basic laboratory equipment to include pipettors, balances, pH meters, autoclaves.
5) Demonstrate understanding of the principles of aseptic technique and how they apply to the manipulation and maintenance of both bacterial and eukaryotic cell cultures.
6) Recognize, and be able to appropriately manipulate and quantify, bacterial cultures of E. coli, various common bacteriophage, and eukaryotic (mammalian) cell cultures, using terms such as titer, generation time, and confluency.
7) Explain the process of using assays to determine unknown quantities, demonstrate an understanding of the underlying principles of visible and UV spectroscopy in this task, and be able to accurately perform both endpoint and kinetic rate assays, demonstrating understanding of the principles of range, limitations, linearity, interference and reproducibility in the collection and analysis of valid data.
8) Demonstrate understanding of the principles of electrophoresis as they relate to the separation of various biomolecules by their physical properties and be able to prepare a variety of gels and use them effectively to separate these molecules.
9) Apply basic knowledge of a biomolecule’s properties, such as cellular localization, size, charge, and function to achieve purification of the molecule from complex mixtures using column chromatography and calculate yield, specific activity and fold-purification.
10) Accurately follow procedures to isolate DNA from biological sources, assess the yield and integrity of the product, introduce the foreign DNA into cultured cells, and perform protocols (ELISA/Western) using antibody reagents to detect the presence and quantity of specific proteins produced as the result of the inserted DNA.

Student Profiles : [return to top]

Program graduates are successfully employed at a wide variety of local companies and research institutions that include, but are not limited to: