This project enhances undergraduate education at the university through the development of a laboratory course in techniques in molecular cell biology and protein biochemistry, and obtains chromatography and electrophoresis equipment to support this course. The course provides students with hands-on experience in protein chromatography, electrophoresis, and analysis of the physical and enzymatic properties of a protein by purifying and analyzing the enzyme tyrosinase in a multiweek integrated experiment and then writing up the data as a paper in the standard journal format. Students gain extensive experience in the preparation and operation of chromatography columns, electrophoretic analysis of proteins, spectrophotometry, enzyme assays, and kinetic analysis and in the analytical methods and decision-making process that are used in research laboratories. This experience provides students with a strong background for entering graduate studies in cell and molecular biology. In addition, the new equipment supports labs in existing courses in molecular biology, microbiology and immunology, and cell biology. Finally, this chromatography equipment enables students to develop and perform undergraduate research projects that could not be considered without this equipment.
