Immunology--A New Capstone Course for Undergraduate Biology Majors.

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A new capstone course required of biology majors is being created. Immunology is replacing the course which has served a capstone function for the past 22 years, Plant Physiology. Immunofluorescence electrophoretic procedures, and cell culture--hybridoma production are becoming part of a revised Immunology laboratory curriculum. This revised curriculum is seeking to ensure that biology majors are knowledgeable and well-trained in the areas of experimental design; discipline in experimental work; care of living organisms; precision in manipulative work; use of instrumentation; data collection; data analysis; and report writing. Microscopes, protein electrophresis and immunoductrophoresis equipment are being used by the students. Specifically, the immunology laboratory includes three new project areas in which students generate and test hypotheses: humoral immunity (producing antisera to soluble antigens, protein determinations, and electrophoretic/immunoelectrophoretic/- immunodiffusion demonstrations of antibody specificity and titer), immunolabelling (producing antisera to bacterial antigens, purifying and labelling antibodies and subsequent demonstration of their specificity with immunofluorescence), and cellular immunity" (demonstrating populations of T- and B-lymphocytes, culture of mouse myeloma cells, fusion of myeloma cells with stimulated mouse splenic lymphocytes, and attemps to identify monoclonal antibody- producing cells).