Each week in lab, we will generally have three tasks:
The core lab exercises and experiments are designed to introduce students to the questions, techniques, and model systems used in Developmental Biology..
Each week, we will read, analyze, and discuss a recent (2024 or later) paper from the developmental biology literature.
Each student will perform a semester-long project to characterize a gene a gene in tardigrades that is an ortholog of a human gene implicated in ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis).
Each student will begin with a gene of interest, and perform the following experiments:
Literature searches to summarize what is currently known about each gene: its biochemical nature (the kind of protein it encodes), its location in the cell, its location in the cells / tissues / organs of model organisms, and its function in model organisms
Preparation of mRNA and cDNA from tardigrades
Design primers to amplify ~700-800 bases of transcripts
Clone PCR product into a plasmid
Verify sequence of this clone
Predict the expression pattern and knockout phenotype of this gene in tardigrades
Labs are on Tuesdays from 1 pm to 3:50 pm. For some labs, we will need to begin an experiment during the Monday class time. On these occasions, the material scheduled for class will be covered during the normal lab period that week.
Because we are working with living organisms, it will sometimes be necessary to come in outside of your scheduled lab time to check on experiments. I respect the fact that your (and my) time is a precious resource; accordingly, to compensate for the extra time, some lab sessions may not stretch for the full three hours.
The lab instructions for each week can be found here.
Laboratory attendance is very important. If you are not in lab, you are missing a significant portion of the information for the semester. Labs are impossible to set up at alternate times, as we often use living organisms. If you have a legitimate conflict with lab, inform me as soon as possible to arrange for alternate / make-up work.