BIOL UN3040

Most of the course involved running different types of gels for dna and protein imaging and interpreting results.

moderate. Five one-page research article summaries, practical midterm, 10-page final paper and occasional homework assignments.

I learned to apply scientific theory and research in practice with different molecular laboratory techniques.

The first three weeks or so of the course gives you background on molecular and cellular laboratory techniques, and the remainder of the semester is used for the independent project. It's a great opportunity to do original research. The course takes up a lot of time (being 5 credits), but it is worth it. Dr. Heicklen expects you to come into the lab outside of the scheduled time to complete experiments, but you have a lot of flexibility during the scheduled lab period. In general, the class will meet together once a week to discuss a research article for one or two hours at the beginning of the lab period, with rest of the time free to complete experiments. As long as you have a good amount of time to dedicate to this class, you will be fine. Dr. Heicklen is a great professor, and you will learn a lot from her in this class.

Molecular biology techniques such as running and analyzing agarose and SDS PAGE gels, bacterial cloning, ligation and transformation, bioinformatics

A handful of short and easy assignments. 1 midterm, a practical in which you use the lab techniques you learned earlier in the semester. You will have to read several research articles and turn in half-page summaries of them (seems difficult but gets easier). Finally, your research article. Considering you have roughly half the semester to do it you shouldn't have too much trouble.

Really nice array and progression through molecular biology lab techniques that lay the foundation for work in research labs etc.

The class moves at a fast pace early on, but it is definitely manageable. You won't spend much time reading or studying but rather you will be doing stuff in the lab. The labs are time-consuming, and depending on your skill level and prior lab experience, you may or may not have to spend extra time in there. Dr. H is a great teacher, and while she may initially seem intimidating, she is very friendly and approachable. She is also very good at explaining and clarifying things. This class primarily teaches you advanced laboratory techniques and provides you with an opportunity to take part in original research. As such you won't have much new material to learn, but will often have to recall and apply knowledge from earlier biology courses (not nearly as bad as it sounds). This is a very good course. This biggest issue is the time-commitment, and that is only early in the semester. As I became more familiar with what I was doing, I found myself spending less and less time in the lab. Finally, if the other people in your class are friendly (like mine were) you will have a great time.

Molecular biology laboratory skills (molecular cloning, site-directed mutagenesis, DNA extraction and sequencing, protein extraction and SDS-page) as well as report-writing skills.

heavy -- required 8 hours/week. Once the independent project starts, anywhere from 5-20 hours/week outside of the normal class hours. 4-5 papers (varying length all under 7 pages), half a dozen article summaries, 1 oral presentation, final paper for the independent project (~10pages), and surprise (not anymore) quizes -- which may be changed into exams (according to the professor).