Advanced Biochemistry Laboratory
- Textbook: There is no textbook for this course. An online laboratory manual outlining all experimental procedures, safety practices, report formats, and data treatment is provided.
This lab course is appropriate for students having completed or concurrently taking CHEM 331 and CHEM 357. It is designed to complement the content of the associated lecture courses through a series of experiments emphasizing the role and chemical mechanisms of enzymes and the use of various techniques to characterize and quantify them. In addition to the illustration of theory and principles, the lab focuses on (i) protein purification, (ii) protein research, and (iii) optimizing protein characterization, with an overall focus on experimental design, data analysis, and interpretation. The overall goal of this laboratory course is to ensure that students gain exposure to and experience in biochemistry lab techniques and instrumentation, alongside lab protocol development; this includes (i) methods for accurate volume transfer; (ii) the operation of high speed, refrigerated and micro centrifuges; (iii) basic and advanced operation of Ultraviolet–Visible Spectroscopy (UV-VIS), including the use of a 96-well microplate reader; (iv) the use of various chromatographic methods for protein purification and separation; (v) the set up and operation of electrophoresis; (vi) the planning and execution of various protein and enzyme assays; and finally, (vii) proper treatment and analysis of experimental data.
Please remember that the Undergraduate Calendar is always the official source for all course descriptions.