9452306 Wistrand The proposal is for equipment and software to upgrade laboratories in the Molecular Genetics course (Biology 316) to incorporate recent advances in molecular genetics, especially in the area of DNA analysis. What were once highly specialized procedures in molecular biology have become standard; the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is utilized as often as electrophoresis and has substituted in many cases for the CsCl DNA extraction technique for preparation of small amounts of DNA. This project requests funding to: 1) add the PCR protocols to the laboratory by acquiring a thermal cycler; and 2) add computer hardware and software to design PCR primers, to allow for entry of DNA sequences directly into the computer with the current sequencing gel reader, and analyze and compare sequences with those in databases such as GenBank. These additions to the laboratory will allow women science students to have direct experience with techniques that are becoming standard in research laboratories, graduate school, and medicine.
