Department of Biological Sciences

Session Offered:

Prerequisites:

Description:

Techniques in Molecular Biology will introduce graduate students to the theory and practice of many commonly used methods.  Emphasis will be placed on understanding the theoretical basis for these techniques, their utility in various circumstances, and their limitations.  Although taught as a lecture, students should be able to take this knowledge back to the laboratory to help them in their research efforts.  The course will be as close as possible to a laboratory experience without being in an actual laboratory setting.  This course is designed to prepare students for other in-depth 600-level scientific courses, for their rotations, and for future laboratory work.  Exams will be "experimental" in nature (e.g., "design an experiment to do something..." or "in this type of situation, which technique/vector/etc. would best be used, and why...").

Biology 69500 is NOT intended to be a first course in molecular biology.  Students should have taken an upper-level undergraduate molecular biology course.  If not, please get the permission of the instructor before taking Biology 69500.

Topics to be covered will include:

1. Renaturation kinetics (including how to set stringency to look at gene
2. families, setting PCR primers, etc.)
3. Blotting strategies (Southern, Northern, Western, South-western, far
4. western, etc.)
5. Recombinant DNA (how to choose the right type of vector to get the job
   1. done, differences between selection and screening, different types of marker
   2. systems, etc.)
6. Nuclear run-on transcription (to look at rates of RNA synthesis) vs. Northerns
7. and RT-PCR.
8. Protein-DNA interaction systems (gel mobility shift, DNAse protection,
9. methylation interference)
10. Protein-protein interaction systems (in vivo and in vitro)

Instructor(s):

Stanton Gelvin

E-mail:

Textbook(s):

~No textbook required for this course~

Notes:

Exam information is available on-line via:
https://roomschedule.mypurdue.purdue.edu/Timetabling/exams.do

Course Format: