The ultracentrifuge is used in the upper level biology curriculum for experimentation in Genetics, Cell and Molecular Biology, and Botany along with applications in undergraduate research. This instrumentation is applied to specific laboratories in the molecular genetics of plant viruses (Genetics), of mitochondrial DNA from related strains of fungi (Cell and Molecular Biology), and the separation of catalase from glyoxysomes (Botany). Undergraduate research is related to the molecular genetics and physiology of the corynebacterium, Clavibacter xyli subsp. cynodontis, a widely distributed endophyte of bermuda grass, Cynodon. These instruments are also used in an NSF Young Scholars Summer Program in Forensics Science.
