Equipment for a Modern Undergraduate Cell Biology Laboratory

在这个项目中，学生将通过用鸡胚胎制备的骨骼肌细胞的原代培养进行的一系列实验，向学生介绍现代细胞和分子生物学的一些仪器、技术和概念。通过该项目提供的新设备包括：用于准备、维护和孵化骨骼肌细胞培养的生物安全柜和可控气氛孵化器(一种在体外分化并适合于各种细胞生物学实验的细胞类型)、用于储存细胞培养所需易腐烂材料的超低温冷冻机、液体闪烁计数器、用于定量、分析、并介绍了旨在调查肌肉蛋白质的合成、降解、运输和分泌速率的放射生物学实验结果，以及用于确定肌肉特异蛋白质的分子量和特性的三个凝胶电泳仪。这些实验将允许学生使用现代细胞和分子生物学的各种技术来探索活细胞的一些基本特性。

In this project, students will be introduced to some of the instruments, techniques, and concepts of modern Cellular and Molecular Biology through a series of experiments performed with primary cultures of skeletal muscle cells prepared from chick embryos. The new equipment provided through this project consists of a biological safety cabinet and controlled-atmosphere incubator for the preparation, maintenance, and incubation of cell cultures of skeletal muscle (a cell type that differentiates in vitro and lends itself to a variety of cell biology experiments), an ultra-low-temperature freezer for the storage of perishable materials needed for cell culture, a liquid scintillation counter, micro-computer and associated software for the quantification, analysis, and presentation of the results of radiobiological experiments designed to investigate the rates of synthesis, degradation, transport, and secretion of muscle proteins, and three gel electrophoresis units for the determination of the molecular weight and identity of muscle- specific proteins. These experiments will allow students to use a variety of techniques from modern Cellular and Molecular Biology to explore some of the fundamental properties of living cells.