August 15, 2011
Syllabus for Fall 2011 Biochemistry Lab (chem459)
By Timothy Chen, STLC
Due to the lack of hoods in new laboratory location, Room MR1028, two experiments will be eliminated for the sake of
student’s safety. The two experiments are Experiment of paper electrophoresis and Experiment of paper
chromatography, together with ion-exchange chromatography. Both experiments involve using organic solvent: pyridine,
isopropanol, ammonium hydroxide, acetic acid, and ninhydrin in acetone. The eliminations of these two experiments
won’t make big downgrade to our overall course qualities, for both chemical principles and techniques will be discussed
and practiced in Experiment of Titration of an amino acid and Experiment of Size-exclusion chromatography. Prof.
Simms once mentioned to me that we may add one new experiment, such as computer project, to the content, but I am
not sure if it is ready yet.
Following is the tentative syllabus of Fall 2011 semester:
Week1.
Aug. 28 – Sept. 3
Introduction to biochemistry lab (Introduce course syllabus; lab procedures;
lab safety agreement; arrange groups; distribute manual and goggles; check
equipment drawers; basic requirement for the class; lab report; introduce and
practice micropipettes, and students’ questions)
Week2.
Sept. 4 – Sept. 10
Protein assay
Week3.
Sept. 11 – Sept. 17
Titration of an amino acid
Week4.
Sept. 18 – Sept. 24
Purification of an enzyme by size-exclusion chromatography I
Week5.
Sept. 25 – Oct. 1
No classes for biochemistry lab (college open)
Week6.
Oct. 2 – Oct. 8
Purification of an enzyme by size-exclusion chromatography II
Week7.
Oct. 9 – Oct. 15
Analysis of protein by SDS-PAGE
Week8.
Oct. 16 – Oct. 22
UV-Spectrophotometer
Week9.
Oct. 23 – Oct. 29
Determination of catalase activity
Week10.
Oct. 30 – Nov. 5
Biological catalysis and oxidation-reduction
Week11.
Nov. 6 – Nov. 12
Small-scale plasmid DNA isolation
Week12.
Nov. 13 – Nov. 19
Restriction digestion of plasmid DNA and PCR
Week13.
Nov. 20 – Nov. 26
No classes for biochemistry lab, college closed
Week14.
Nov. 27 – Dec. 3
Agarose gel electrophoresis of DNA
Week15.
Dec. 4 – Dec. 10
Last week of the Fall semester: Make-up, if there is a missing class, (only
available for some of experiments)
Week16.
Dec. 11 – Dec 17
Final exam, no classes