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Module 16: Methods and Instruments

Overview

In this resource module students work on molecular separation and characterization using techniques similar to those used by professionals in the molecular biology labs. Though students work in the virtual simulated environment, they solve similar problems by, for example, placing a mixture of proteins into gel and exposing them to the to the external electric field. In addition, they can treat proteins with similar mobility with SDS thus increasing sensitivity of the PAGE. In another set of activities students explore principles of mass-spectrometry. They manipulate the strength of magnetic field and/or charge and mass of the particles and learn how the differences in the resulting trajectories (deflection angles) allow separating atoms and molecules. This module will include such techniques as chromatography, gel-filtration, sedimentation analysis etc.

Activities

• Active Filters (demo)
  
  
• Air Filtration (1-page introduction)
  
  
• Alignment of Polar Molecules with/without an External Field (1-page activity)
  
  
• Amplification of Biochemical Signals: the ELISA Test (an 8-page activity for technical students)
  
  
• Chromatography (a multi-page technical education activity)
  
  
• Density and Buoyancy with Centrifugation (a 3 pp activity with technical application)
  
  
• Distillation and the Role of Weak Forces (a 4 pp activity)
  
  
• DNA Hybridization with Southern Blot (a 5 pp activity for biotechnology students)
  
  
• Electrophoresis, with SDS Page (an 7-page activity for biotechnology)
  
  
• Fluorescence: Molecular Tagging (a 6 pp activity for biotechnology students)
  
  
• Liquid Crystals: the Mesophase between Solids and Liquids (a 1-p model exploration by Charles Xie)
  
  
• Mass Spectroscopy (a 5-page activity for advanced technical students)
  
  
• Template-Based Synthesis: PCR
  
  
• X-ray Crystallography (a 13-page activity for advanced students)