Bio 181
Molecular Biology Lab Presentations
Spring 2008
Each student will give an oral presentation on May
7th or 12th.
This presentation is worth 40
points, or 7% of your grade in
the class. Presentations will be
done individually, and you will sign up for a time. Presentations should last about 20
minutes, with additional time permitted for questions. A computer & projector will be
available; PowerPoint presentations are strongly recommended but not required.
Your audience is your
fellow Bio 181 students; try to teach us all something interesting or
useful. (This means do NOT read
a protocol (“Add reagent A.
Incubate 45 minutes at 37 degrees…”). Don’t be afraid to “go deep”. The discussion should not be
superficial. Attempts to tackle
difficult subject matter will be graded favorably.
On the final exam, a few easy questions based on the
content of the oral presentations will be included as an incentive to
everyone to pay attention.
A wide range of topics is acceptable. However, all topics must be approved by me
absolutely no later than 2 weeks before you are scheduled to
present. I would be happy to look over an outline of
your talk ahead of time if you have questions or concerns. The same topic cannot be
presented by two people in the class, so commit early for your first
choice!
Topics should fall into one of two broad
categories:
- Molecular biology
technology: Find a molecular
biology product or procedure used in research and explain in
detail what it is used for, and how it works. For example,
- a specialized DNA
polymerase enzyme (other than ordinary Taq) used for certain PCR
applications;
- specialized
technologies for cloning (vectors/plasmids with special features for easy
screening of transformants, or to allow production of RNA; protein
expression, methods for protein isolation or detection; propagation in both
prokaryotes & eukaryotes, etc.).
- Microarrays
analyzing protein-protein interactions, or protein-DNA interactions, not
just DNA-DNA
- Real time PCR
- Proprietary
technologies for nucleic acid labeling and detection
- New DNA sequencing
technologies
- Knockout mice (just
won the Nobel prize!), other technologies for genetic manipulation for
research
- MORE!!!!!!!!
Good places to search for molecular biology
products:
New England Biolabs (NEB.com);
www.promega.com; www.qiagen.com; www.roche-applied-science.com;
SigmaAldrich.com; www.BDBiosciences.com (Clontech & Pharmingen);
www.Invitrogen.com; Affymetrix (microarrays); vector labs; BioRad
- Molecular biology
applications: Molecular
biology is being used in all kinds of ways today. Some applications are very
interesting, innovative, or controversial. Choose one and tell us about it! NOTE: These presentations must include
information of a “news” type, such as actual examples of the technology’s use,
and the social, political, or legal context. However this is an upper division
science course and you are expected to provide a reasonably detailed
scientific description of the technology itself. You can/should use
newspapers/newsmagazines but you must
also consult more technical sources as well.
For example:
- Molecular biology and forensics (police
work, paternity testing)
- Molecular biology and disease diagnosis,
personalized medicine, genetic screening, privacy issues
- Genetically-modified organisms
(GMO): plants (plants for food,
plants for industrial uses; genetic modifications that enhance crop
production vs. modifications that improve the nutritional or other
properties of the plant for consumers); animals (using animals to
manufacture pharmaceuticals, etc.)
- Directed evolution for enzyme
production
- The Jurassic Park problem (can dinosaurs or other
extinct animals be cloned from ancient DNA?)
- Craig Venter’s (of human genome
sequencing fame) projects: to build a viral genome from scratch; to
identify hundreds of new species of bacteria by molecular methods only (the
Sorcerer II expedition)
- Development of biopolymers (replacements
for synthetic molecules currently manufactured from petroleum products. Biopolymers will be made using plant
carbohydrates under the catalytic direction of bacterial enzymes.)
- Biofuels (using molecular biology to
alter bacterial metabolism to allow the production of fuels like ethanol,
butanol, hydrogen from cellulose & other waste)
- MORE!!! Watch the headlines! The New York Times, The Wall
Street Journal, The Economist are excellent sources of information on
biotechnology.
- Research projects
you are personally working on may be acceptable.
- NO stem cell research. This work is not yet understood at a
molecular level, so while it is of contemporary significance, it is not an
appropriate topic.
You will be graded on (in decreasing order of
importance):
CONTENT:
Accurate, thorough investigation of the chosen topic.
ORGANIZATION & CLARITY: Suitable introduction and
conclusion/summary. Key points are
highlighted and presented in logical order. Listeners leave the room with a solid
understanding of the subject. Good
use of visual aids.
STYLE:
Speaker is well prepared, makes eye contact with audience, projects voice
appropriately, doesn’t rush, handles questions well.
Some actual topics
presented in the past:
Pyrosequencing; electrophoretic microchips; AFLP; telomerase
assays; Invitrogen Gateway cloning system; Protein microarrays; Gene therapy;
synthetic spider silk; cloning ancient DNA; Mitochondrial DNA; STR
Mosaicism/Forensics; Thermostable DNA polymerases; Green Fluorescent Protein;
GMOs; a variety of personal research projects; Capillary electrophoresis;
Transfection strategies; Craig Venter’s Sorcerer II; PCR Forensics; Site
directed mutagenesis; Genetic disease screening; Molecular ID of microbes;
Fluorescent in situ hybridization; Gene gun; RNA interference / gene silencing;
Dynabeads; transposons; quantitative real-time PCR; pharmacogenomics; nucleic
acid amplification testing for viruses