PROPOSED PROJECT: To set up a central molecular biology facility. The objective of this project is to set up a central, state-of-the-art molecular biology laboratory to enhance the learning experience of students from various departments at the university, including, Biology, Chemistry, and Clinical Laboratory Science. In order for our students to be competitive after graduation and to enrich their communities, they need to have a working knowledge of state-of-the-art technology. The project is to acquire the necessary equipment to teach methods of nucleic acid studies and recombinant DNA techniques. The laboratory will be set up to perfoun DNA and RNA analysis, such as Southern and Northern blot hybridizations, genomic and extrachromosomal restriction fragment length polymorphism, gene banks and polymerase chain reaction. The equipment will be used in Biology program for teaching Introductory Molecular Biology, in Clinical Laboratory Science for teaching Advanced Bacteriology, and in Chemistry for Biochemistry. In Introductory Molecular Biology, the students will be taught the basic techniques in DNA manipulation and will be given a project of cloning a bacterial gene from a gene bank. In Advanced Bacteriology, the students will identify specific bacteria species using restriction fragment length polymorphism and Southern blot hybridization as well as polymerase chain reaction methods. In Biochemistry students will use the molecular biology laboratory to obtain hands-on experience with human DNA fingerprinting (specifically VNTR polymorphism detection by PCR and A~ Insertion polymorphism detection by PCR), restriction mapping and southern hybridization of B-DNA, general DNA restriction studies, and to study the effects of methylation on DNA restriction analysis. This project would not only enhance the learning of the undergraduates at the university, its will further benefit the community because our enrollment also include secondary school teacher certificate students who will bring their k nowledge to the local schools. In addition, many of our science and technology graduates become high school science instructors. To increase the impact of the project, the PIs also propose to provide molecular biology workshops to demonstrate the ease of incorporation of the techniques into an existing science curriculum. The following two target audiences would be addressed: (1) area high school teachers and (2) colleagues at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi and area 2-year and 4-year institutions who are currently not using the techniques.
