Biochemistry 410- Laboratory Information
Spring 2013

Meeting Time:
Section 01- 2:30-5:20 pm M
Section 02- 8:00-10:50 am T
Section 03- 2:10-5:00 pm T
Section 04- 2:30-5:20 W

Meeting Place: Ulmer 304
Instructor: Dr. Jackie Whitling (section 01 and 02)
Professor of Chemistry
Office: 304B Ulmer Hall or Honors 23
Phone: 570-484-3045
e-mail: jwhitlin@lhup.edu
URL:
http://www.lhup.edu/jwhitlin/home.htm

Dr. Whitling's Office Hours:
Monday: 9:30 - 11:00 am Honors 23
Thursday: 10:00 - 11:00 am Honors 23; 3:00 - 4:00 pm Ulmer 304B
Friday: 10:30 am - 12:00 pm Ulmer 304B

Instructor: Dr. Martin Maresch (sections 03 and 04)
Office: 205B Ulmer Hall
Phone: 570-484-2055
email: mmaresch@lhup.edu

Dr. Maresch's Office Hours:
Tuesday and Wednesday: 10:00 - 11:00 am; 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Thursday: 10:00 - 11:00 am

(Office Hours also available by appointment)

Prep time for laboratory: Dr. Maresch and I will not be available for assistance one to two hours before each lab as there are time sensitive reagents that must prepared during this time. Thanks for your understanding.

Required Materials:

  • Lab Manual- Experiments in Biochemistry: A Hands-on-Approach by Farrell and Taylor, 2nd ed., Brooks/Cole, 2006.
    ISBN: 9780495013174
  • Lab Pack (provided in lab, you must purchase a small 3-ring binder to hold pages)
  • Laboratory Notebook (carbonless copy with numbered pages)
  • Safety glasses or safety goggles (regular eyeglasses are NOT acceptable)
  • Combination or key lock (give copy of combination to instructor or copy of key)
  • Disposable latex gloves (not the yellow Playtex gloves)
  • Black Sharpie marker (ultrafine point)
  • LHU e-mail account
Tentative Laboratory Schedule*
*Note: there are two Saturdays on the Academic Calendar that may be used as make-up days

Note: Some experiments are in the lab pack distributed at the beginning of the semester, some may be handouts given by the instructor prior to the experiment, while others are found in the laboratory manual. The basic principles and theories for the majority of experiments are included in the laboratory manual. Therefore, experiment numbers do not correspond to those in the laboratory manual. The page numbers of assigned readings (from lab manual) for each experiment is listed along with the title of the experiment and if the experiment is in the lab pack, a handout, or an experiment from the laboratory manual (page numbers are listed). You are expected to read all materials before your laboratory session and complete any pre-lab material assigned by the instructor. Any questions about a particular experiment, feel free to contact the instructor.

Date:

Experiment #/Title

Required Readings

Format of Expt.

Jan 28-30

Lab basics and Check-in

 

 

Jan 30

MLK, Jr. Celebration- Classes follow compressed schedule. Wed. lab meets 3:15 - 5:35 pm

 

 

Feb 4-6

Ex 1- Using pipettors & Use of PC's to Prepare Lab Reports (MS Excel & Word, ChemDraw)

pages 1-28

Lab pack; collecting notebook copy pages

Feb 11-13

Ex 2- Spectrophotometry
(Beers Law, Determination of vitamin C in every day products)

pages 63-73

Lab pack

Feb 18-20

Ex 3- Electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE)*

pages 239-250

pp. 263-268**

Feb 25-27

Ex 4- Week 1: Preparation of Standard Curves (BSA and PNP)

pages 67-73

Lab pack & pg 76-77

Mar 4-6

Ex 4- Week 2: Partial Purification of Wheat Germ Acid Phosphatase (Gel filtration)

pages 181-188

Lab pack

Mar 11-13

Ex 4- Week 3 Data Analysis

 

Lab pack

Mar 18-20

NO LABS- Spring Break

 

 

Mar 25-27

Ex 5- Week 1: Enzyme Kinetics of Tyrosinase including Inhibitor Studies

pages 211-220

 

Apr 1-3

Ex 5- Week 2: continued

pages 211-220

pp. 221-229 & lab pack

Apr 8-10

Ex 6- Week 1: Western Blot of Serum Proteins*

pages 277-280

pp. 281-283**

Apr 15-17

Ex 6- Week 2: continued

pages 277-280

pp. 281-283**

Apr 22-24

COS alternate assignment. Do not schedule work or other events for April 24.

 

No labs this week.

Apr 29-May 1

Lab Assessment

 Lab practical details TBA

 

May 6-8

Biochemical modeling lab & clean up/checkout, All Reports Due

Web MO, Protopedia, BioOra

 Handout

*- Experiment may need to be completed the following day or results may need to be recorded. Instructor will notify you with further instructions.

**- Instructions will be given on how to assemble apparatus in the lab pack.

Expectations: Before You Enter Lab
Please be sure to read the experiment you will be performing including any assigned readings on theory or technique. If pre-laboratory questions have been assigned, please have these completed as well. You do not have to include a detailed procedure or safety/data tables in your notebook. However, you should have an outline of the procedure written on loose-leaf paper that allows you to better utilize your time in the laboratory and complete the experiment in the allotted time unit. Since you will be working with a partner, it would be wise to decide how to divide up the work evenly prior to the experiment. You should also list what chemicals and equipment you will be using and the best method for dispensing these chemicals, if not specified in the experiment (i.e. automatic pipet, pipet pump, graduated cylinder, etc.) on your looseleaf pages. In your notebook, you may fill in the date, title, and purpose of the experiment to be performed. No other information should be in the notebook.

Recording and Reporting Data
Please refer to the Department of Chemistry laboratory notebook guidelines found in the Lab Pack. The laboratory notebook may be used when instructor assigns technique points, i.e. carbon copies may be collected upon request of the instructor. Since you will be working with a partner, it is best that each person records their own observations and that both of you have all data and results in your notebook before you leave the lab. This will save time when writing your lab report later. Late lab reports will not be accepted due to not obtaining the information from your partner.

Laboratory Reports
All lab reports writing style must follow a peer-reviewed scientific journal article format. Please refer to the two journal articles posted on the D2L site for examples. When writing your lab reports, keep in mind that I will be looking for quality rather than quantity. I am more interested in the number of good thoughts that you express rather than the number of pages that you turn in. Demonstrate to me that you are thinking about your experiments, rather than rewriting things that I have already told you. Each lab report is to be typed and double spaced. All graphs and figures should be generated with a computer. The following sections are typical of a journal article. The instructor will assign which sections are to be completed for each experiment. Majority of report should be written in full paragraph form, past tense, and third person. For example, do not use I, we, you etc. Exceptions to when you can use first person is when stating your goals/purpose in the introduction and in the discussion when you are specifically making reference to your results i.e. "the data we obtained indicates that the sample contained ...." or "our results imply that ... ". First person should NOT be used at any time in the methods or results. Remember, scientific writing is different from literary writing. The style is more factual and less personal. Proper scientific formatting should also be used i.e. correct use of units, significant figures, captions for figures and graphs.

1. Title Page (This is one exception to the journal article style and will always appear as a separate page.)

a. Title of experiment

b. Name

c. Course name

d. Due date of experiment

2. Abstract (150 - 250 words)

3. Introduction

a. Background (i.e. theory on techniques used; biochemical significance of analyte; background on the reaction assay; other relevant material)

b. Objective (purpose and importance of experiment)

4. Experimental

a. Materials (list of pertinent reagents including concentration and pH; name, model and manufacturer of major equipment)

b. Methods (summary of procedure in your own words; should be written in paragraph form, past tense, third person)

5. Results*

This section will contain all figures, tables, graphs, sample calculations and experimental results.

6. Discussion*

a. Overall summary statement about the experiment and results obtained

b. Critical evaluation of data presented in results including conclusions based on results

c. Significance of your results (i.e. comparison to the literature)

d. Future directions (i.e. additional experiments/trials)

7. Acknowledgements (always acknowledge contribution of partner)

8. References (citation numbers must be included in document; format of references should follow that of a scientific journal article**; you should cite at least two references from a scholarly peer-reviewed publications)

* Specific information for each experiment will be given mainly in the lab notebook. Mistakes/errors that occurred should NOT be included in your discussion but should be documented in your notebook.

** Two example journal articles from peer-reviewed biochemical journals are found on the course D2L site.

Deadlines: Typically, laboratory reports will be due one week after the date the experiment was completed unless instructed otherwise. Points will be deducted for late lab reports. (minus 10% of total points for each week late)

Grading Policy: The laboratory grade is not a separate grade from the course. The total points from the laboratory have been incorporated into the total points for the course.

Lab reports*:

Experiments 2, 3, 6, modeling lab, COS assignment

15 points ea

75 pts

Experiments 4, 5

25 points ea

50 pts

Technique:

20 pts

Lab Assessment:

20 pts

Writing Emphasis:

10 pts

Total:

175 pts

*A portion of each laboratory score will be allotted to writing emphasis. A maximum of 10 points will also be allotted to the total point score for the laboratory. Articles from two biochemical journals are provided in the lab pack. Critique will be provided by the instructor on each report submitted. A grading rubric for writing assessment is also provided in the lab pack. Assistance in improving writing skills is available by the instructor and the LHUP Writing Center located on the 2nd floor of the Stevenson Library, 484-3598. Students will also have the opportunity to rewrite one report designated by the instructor.

Attendance: ATTENDANCE is MANDANTORY!! This includes arriving to the laboratory on time! Important information regarding the experiment is typically given during the first 15-20 minutes. Therefore, it is not wise to be late. You must come to the section that you are assigned. There is limited space in lab and it is not fair to other students to allow a student to make up a missed lab during another section. Please notify me if you know in advance that you will miss a laboratory or as soon as possible after you miss a lab. It is your responsibility to notify me. A valid University approved excuse must be provided for all missed laboratories. All unexcused absences will result in a zero for that experiment!

Academic Dishonesty Policy: Although you are working in pairs, and I want you to discuss your experiments with each other, I expect you to write your reports individually. Thus, you should be the only author of your report. Assistance from your lab partners, the writing center, etc. can be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section. Submission of a plagiarized report will receive a zero. Refer to the University Student Handbook on academic dishonesty policies.

Students with Disabilities Reasonable Accommodations: Students with disabilities are encouraged to discuss requests for reasonable accommodations with the professor at the beginning of the semester. In order for accommodations to be provided, your disability must be verified and documented. Please contact Dr. Heather Fowler (484-2926, Russell 104, hfowler@lhup.edu) and the secretary for Disability Services for Students, Jean Mason (484-2665, Russell 112, jmason@lhup.edu) for assistance.

Electronic Device Policy: Out of courtesy, students are not permitted to use cell phones, headsets, or other electronic devices at any time during the class unless authorized by the instructor or disability services. Please turn off all devices and remove headsets prior to the start of class.

Incement Weather Schedule: Please refer to the University website for inclement weather information and compressed schedule. http://www.lhup.edu/weather.htm

Emergency: In the event of an emergency, please dial 9-911.