A new Molecular Biotechnology course will be offered beginning the January lnterterm of 1999. "Hands on" work with techniques will enhance student understanding of their uses as well as stimulate student interest in science. The course is an attempt to enhance exposure of biology majors to this relatively new and actively growing field. The course immerses students in daily laboratories and lectures over a one month period and will provide an opportunity for the students to become intimate with modern techniques as well as experimental design. The experiments involve the cloning of the URA3 gene from the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The students will subclone the gene after extensive restriction analysis. The gene will also be analyzed using PCR, Southern analysis and DNA sequencing. The instrumentation requested is a critical component of this course and will also be used for new laboratories in General Biology, Life Science, Microbiology as well as demonstrations in Cell biology. Our institution contains a significant number of Hispanics and first generation students. More than half of the student body is female. This course will provide students the opportunity to explore biotechnology as a career choice and will give them the background to become excited about post-graduate possibilities in molecular biological studies.
