With the world of biotechnology changing our lives daily, it is vital to transfer this new information to students as early in their academic careers as possible. Three recombinant DNA labs will be added to the current Microbiology and majors' Principles of Biology courses taught at Polk Community College to reinforce lectures on biotechnology theory and provide students immediate exposure to reecombinant DNA techniques.From these new labs the student will learn the following: to prepare and run an agarose gel, perform restriction analysis, produce competent cells, transform bacteria, perform proper measurement techniques to confirm data, and develop the critical thinking necessary to quantitative biology. The addition of new biotechnology laboratory exercises will strengthen several existing undergraduate courses.
