Molecular Biology Course Based on Study of Transcriptional Control

University Of Guam, Mangilao GU

Investigators

Abstract

Biological Sciences (61) The aim of this project is to establish a basic molecular biology lab that, in the context of a new course in Molecular Biology, will implement research-based experiments into the curriculum. The project intends to adapt the NSF-supported "Classroom Guide to Yeast Experiments" to an interesting, unknown research question that serves as a starting point for molecular biology students. The experimental approaches provide students with hands-on training in key molecular biology protocols that are applied to a research problem regarding transcriptional control and the evolutionary conservation of important molecules. The Molecular Biology lab is designed in a manner that enables students to analyze genes at three fundamental levels, namely, DNA, RNA, and Proteins, using both in vitro and in vivo approaches, as well as produce student learning outcomes. The course emphasizes the importance of understanding methodologies, molecular approaches, and instrumentation that have revolutionized biology and are key to diagnosis and prevention of disease, as well as allow the students to debate the ethical considerations that some of these new technologies pose. The equipment being acquired is also being used to improve the laboratory component of other biology courses, namely Genetics, Cell Physiology, and Biochemistry, thereby modernizing the Biology curriculum at UOG. Specific equipment like the PCR Thermal Cycler and gel electrophoresis apparatus is being used for the non-major Human Biology course offered as a general education requirement, in order to demonstrate applications of molecular biology in forensic sciences, paternity cases, anthropological and archaeological investigations.