A major modernization of the equipment used to teach techniques of biochemical research and cellular/molecular biology is being undertaken by the Biology faculty at Furman University. The new equipment, including a modern spectrophotometer, a tabletop ultracentrifuge, high performance liquid chromatograph, oxygen electrode, state-of-the-art video densitometer and an ultra-pure water system, are the basis of a major revision in the way two core courses and several electives are being taught. In a five year period, about 250 undergraduates involved in an average of three to four courses per student will have extensive hands-on experience with the new equipment. The project is expected to result in much better informed students who are experienced in current laboratory technology. This will help to increase the number of students who enter graduate school with good laboratory skills. In preparation for this project the Principal Investigator visited eight colleges with excellent reputations in teaching modern biology to undergraduates, in order to take maximal advantage of curricular improvements found there. As a result, this project incorporates many of the best current ideas in teaching the chemistry of biological systems.
