Integration of Laboratory Exercises in Development and Neurobiology Courses Using the Xenopus Oocyte Expression System

Carole L. Browne DUE 9551615 Wake Forest University FY1995 $ 44,000 Winston-Salem， NC 27109 ILI -仪器仪表项目：生命科学利用爪蟾卵母细胞表达系统发育和神经生物学课程的部分与协作实验室练习相结合。实验练习包括使用爪蟾卵母细胞表达系统来研究特定膜受体和电压激活通道的功能。将脑蛋白的Poly(A)+mRNA注入爪蟾卵母细胞，检测卵母细胞脑蛋白的表达。膜片夹紧用于确定表达的蛋白是否在卵母细胞系统中起作用。该项目在跨学科和合作的本科教学方法以及在本科教学实验室中使用高度复杂的分子生物学和生物物理学技术方面具有创新性。学生们将亲自学习这些技术如何被用来达到对发育和神经生物学的一个新的理解水平。实验室是研究性的，因为学生必须根据他们对受体和通道的知识设计实验，然后使用卵母细胞表达系统进行这些实验。

Carole L. Browne DUE 9551615 Wake Forest University FY1995 $ 44,000 Winston-Salem, NC 27109 ILI - Instrumentation Project: Life Sciences Title: Development and Neurobiology Courses integrated Using the Xenopus Oocyte Expression System Portions of the Development and Neurobiology courses are being integrated with collaborative laboratory exercises. The laboratory exercises involve the use of the Xenopus oocyte expression system to study the function of specific membrane receptors and voltage-activated channels. Poly(A)+mRNA for brain proteins are injected into Xenopus oocytes, and the oocytes are assayed for expression of brain proteins. Patch clamping is used to determine whether the expressed proteins are functional in the oocyte system. The proposed project is innovative in its interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to undergraduate teaching, and in its use of highly sophisticated molecular biological and biophysical techniques in the undergraduate teaching laboratory. Students learn first hand how these techniques have been used to achieve a new level of understanding of both development and neurobiology. The laboratories are investigative, in that students must design experiments based on their knowledge of receptors and channels and then carry out those experiments using the oocyte expression system.