Instructor:  Dr. Dennis L. Merat

Office Hours: Room  S302B

       9:10 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.  MTWF

       3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.  M

     11:00 a.m. – 11:50 p.m.  T

       1:00 p.m. – 1:50 p.m.  T

Phone Numbers:   321-4201 (Office)
                           362-3682 (Home, 8 p.m. - 10 p.m.)

E – mail:   dmerat@cbu.edu

Course Description:   This course is designed to accompany Biochemistry I.  It will provide an introduction to laboratory techniques used in the isolation and characterization of the major classes of biological molecules.  Emphasis will be placed on techniques for protein purification and assay including chromatography, electrophoretic methods, centrifugation, spectroscopy, and enzyme kinetics.  Bioinformatics will be discussed throughout the course.

Prerequisite or Corequisite:  Chem 315

Required Texts and Materials:

    1.   Biochemistry Laboratory, by Rodney Boyer, Benjamin Cummings,
          2006.

    2.  Scientific Calculator

General Course Goals:  The course is designed to:

    1)   Introduce students to the basic techniques and procedures used in the biochemistry laboratory including: spectrophotometry,
           chromatography, centrifugation, and enzyme kinetics;

    2)   Illustrate principles discussed in Chemistry 315 .

Attendance:  Regular laboratory attendance is required.

Point Distribution:

       6 laboratory reports @ 100  points  each    600 points
       Homework                                                100 points
       Mid-term Examination                                  75 points
       Comprehensive Laboratory Final                150 points

Grading Policy:

          Average  (%)                       Letter Grade

             90 -- 100                                   A
             80 --  89                                    B
             65 --  79                                    C
             54 --  64                                    D
             53 or below                                F

The student’s average for this course is calculated by dividing the total points earned by 925, then multiplying by 100.  If your scores are within these ranges, you are guaranteed the appropriate letter grade for the range within which your scores fall.

For problems involving numeric calculations, ALL WORK, except simple arithmetic, must be shown to receive any credit.  Partial credit will be given.

Each homework assignment will be graded on a 100 point scale; the homework grade for the semester will be computed using the following formula:

                     Sum of numerator homework scores/total number assignments
 

Make-up and Late Policy:  Late assignments will be accepted only under the most extenuating circumstances and may receive lower grades than assignments turned in on time.   Labs may be made up only under very extenuating circumstances.

Mid-Term Examination:  A mid-term examination will be given on October 12, 2005 .

Final Examination:  A comprehensive final examination will be given during the final examination period at a time to be announced later in the semester.
 

Experiments:

    Experiments to be performed this semester include:

     pH and Buffers

     Paper Chromatography/Identification of Unknown Amino Acids

    Gel Filtration: Separation of BSA from Phenol Red

    Protein Isolation

     Introduction to Spectrophotometry/Protein Determinations

     SDS Electrophoresis/Molecular Weight Determination

     Enzyme Kinetics

     Separation of Proteolytic Digests

     Isoelectric Focussing

     Electrophoresis and Identification of Phosphoproteins

     Inversion of Sucrose

     Measurement of Cholesterol and Vitamin C in Biological Samples

     DNA Fingerprinting

     Bacterial Transformation

    Isolation and Characterization of DNA