Dear learners welcome to the practical sessions of Membrane Biology and Bioenergetics. The lab exercises and experiments provided in this manual are based on the syllabus that you have studied in BBCCT-111. The concepts that you have studied in theory course of membrane biology and bioenergetics will be experienced during performing these lab experiments.

This lab course is worth 2 Credits and consists of seven laboratory experiments. The experiments are designed in such a way that you shall be able to experience and connect the theoretical concepts explained so far. Here also the basic concepts on which the experimental procedures are based have been discussed as required.

The broad objective of this lab course is to enable you to:

• Isolate RBC from blood sample;

• Evaluate the disrupting effect of detergent like molecules on biomembranes by dissolving the phospholipid component;

• Prove that during photosynthesis oxygen is evolved;

• Isolate and estimate the photosynthetic pigments;

• Isolation of mitochondria from rat liver; and

• Assay of mitochondrial marker enzyme succinate dehydrogenase.

We advise you to go through respective units of BBCCT-111 before you come to attend the practical sessions. This will enable you to easily understand the purpose of doing experiments and their applications. You should also read the principles of each experiment of this course along with procedure before you start performing the experiment. It is always good to prepare all the reagents freshly and store them under prearranged storage conditions. Adhere to all the safety measures and follow the safety instructions while handling the reagents. One of the good laboratory practices is to maintain your log books up-to-date i.e., enter the observations made while performing the experiments. Carry this laboratory manual and your log book during lab sessions.

Like all other IGNOU laboratory courses this is an intensive residential exercise requiring one week for completing 2 credits. Everyday there will be two laboratory sessions of 4 hours each. So there will be a total of 14 sessions. The first session will be introductory and the remaining 2^ndto 12^thsessions will be based on the exercises given in the course. A schedule for laboratory exercises will be given to you in the first session. Sessions 1 to 12 shall have guided exercises under the supervision of the Academic Counsellor. The last two sessions i.e., 13^thand 14^th will be unguided sessions and that shall be the term end examination. In each session you shall perform exercises for 3 hours and in the remaining 1 hour you are advised to complete your practical note book. The laboratory notebook must be submitted to the counsellor for corrections and grading. 70% marks have been allocated for doing the experiments and for recording it properly. You are aware that there is a time constraint as you will have limited access to laboratory work; therefore, you are required not to miss any of the laboratory sessions.

Assessment of the experiments will be graded and you will have to appear for the viva-voce at the end of the practical session. At the end of the laboratory session you should perform the assigned experiment, which will be graded and final assessment will be made based on the continuous performance during the laboratory sessions, maintenance of log books and records followed by viva-voce. 30% marks are reserved for the assigned experiments.

For the better understanding of how to use laboratory apparatus few video links shall be provided where ever available. There might be a slight difference in the steps or procedure being explained in the video when compared to the procedure provided in this self-instructional material. However, the principles and reagents remain same. Hence, there is no need to worry about slight modifications adopted in the procedure.