This award to the Department of Biological Sciences, SUNY-Albany provides funds for equipment to establish an advanced undergraduate laboratory course in molecular biology and to update the molecular biology laboratory exercises in the introductory biology sequence. The molecular biology laboratory course will be taken in conjunction with an already existing lecture course in Advanced Molecular Biology. The laboratory exercises will introduce the students to recombinant DNA technology including: isolation of plasmid DNA, restriction analyses of DNA, DNA blots, plasmid constructions, DNA sequence analysis and computer analyses of sequence information, gene cloning by both complementation and colony hybridization, TN 10 mutagenesis, and maxi-cell analysis of plasmid encoded proteins. The course will also serve to prepare students for independent research projects in molecular biology. Also, a placement panel, consisting of the course instructors, will be assembled to identify, encourage, and place promising students into reach labs. In this way, it is hoped the problems presented by the large number of undergraduate biology majors which in the past has precluded a systematic approach to providing the and maximum number of the best students with research opportunities will be overcome. The grantee institution is matching this NSF award with funds from non-Federal sources.
