Enhancement of Molecular Biology Instruction Across the Biology Curriculum

从一九九九年一月期中开始，将开设一门新的分子生物技术课程。“动手”技术工作将增强学生对其用途的理解，并激发学生对科学的兴趣。本课程旨在加强生物学专业学生对这一相对较新且发展活跃的领域的了解。在为期一个月的课程中，学生将沉浸在日常的实验室和讲座中，并为学生提供一个与现代技术和实验设计亲密接触的机会。实验包括从酿酒酵母中克隆URA3基因。学生们将在广泛的限制性分析后对该基因进行亚克隆。该基因还将使用PCR、Southern分析和DNA测序进行分析。所要求的仪器是本课程的重要组成部分，也将用于普通生物学、生命科学、微生物学的新实验室以及细胞生物学的演示。我们学校有相当数量的西班牙裔和第一代学生。一半以上的学生是女性。本课程将为学生提供探索生物技术作为职业选择的机会，并将为他们提供对分子生物学研究的研究生可能性感到兴奋的背景。

A new Molecular Biotechnology course will be offered beginning the January lnterterm of 1999. "Hands on" work with techniques will enhance student understanding of their uses as well as stimulate student interest in science. The course is an attempt to enhance exposure of biology majors to this relatively new and actively growing field. The course immerses students in daily laboratories and lectures over a one month period and will provide an opportunity for the students to become intimate with modern techniques as well as experimental design. The experiments involve the cloning of the URA3 gene from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The students will subclone the gene after extensive restriction analysis. The gene will also be analyzed using PCR, Southern analysis and DNA sequencing. The instrumentation requested is a critical component of this course and will also be used for new laboratories in General Biology, Life Science, Microbiology as well as demonstrations in Cell biology. Our institution contains a significant number of Hispanics and first generation students. More than half of the student body is female. This course will provide students the opportunity to explore biotechnology as a career choice and will give them the background to become excited about post-graduate possibilities in molecular biological studies.