Practical Skills in Biomolecular Sciences

Preface. For the Student. Acknowledgements. SECTION 1 STUDY AND EXAMINATION SKILLS. 1. The importance of transferable skills. 2. Managing your time. 3. Working with others. 4. Taking notes. 5. Revising. 6. Assessments and exams. 7. Preparing your CV. SECTION 2 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LIBRARY RESOURCES. 8. Finding and citing published information. 9. Evaluating information. 10. The Internet and World Wide Web. 11. Bioinformatics. 12.Using spreadsheets. 13.Word processors, databases and other packages. SECTION 3 COMMUNICATING INFORMATION. 14.Organizing a poster display. 15.Giving a spoken presentation. 16.General aspects of scientific writing. 17.Writing essays. 18.Reporting practical and project work. 19.Writing literature surveys and reviews. SECTION 4 FUNDAMENTAL LABORATORY TECHNIQUES. 20. Basic principles. 21. Health and safety. 22. Working with liquids. 23. Basic laboratory procedures. 24. Principles of soulution chemistry. 25. pH and buffer solutions. 26. Introduction to microscopy. 27. Setting up and using a light microscope. SECTION 5 THE INVESTIGATIVE APPROACH. 28. Making and recording measurements. 29. SI units and their use. 30. Scientific method and design of experiments. 31. Project work. SECTION 6 HANDLING CELLS AND TISSUE. 32. Sterile technique and microbial culture. 33. Isolating and indentifying microbes. 34. Working with animal and plant tissues and cells. 35. Culture systems and growth measurement. 36. Homogenization and fractionation of cells and tissues. SECTION 7 ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES. 37. Calibration and its application to quantitative analysis. 38. Immunological methods. 39. Radioactive isotopes and their uses. 40. Light measurement. 41. Basic spectroscopy. 42. Advanced spectroscopy and spectrometry. 43. Centrifugation. 44. Chromatrography - separation methods. 45. Chromatrography - detection and analysis. 46. Principles and practice of electrophoresis. 47. Advanced electrophoretic techniques. 48. Electroanalytical techniques. SECTION 8 ASSAYING BIOMOLECULES AND STUDYING METABOLISM. 49. Analysis of biomolecules: fundamental principles. 50. Assaying amino acids and proteins. 51. Assaying lipids. 52. Assaying carbohydrates. 53. Assaying nucleic acids and nucleotides. 54. Protein purification. 55. Enzyme studies. 56. Membrane transport processes. 57. Photosynthesis and respiration. SECTION 9 GENETICS. 58. Mendelian genetics. 59. Bacterial and phage genetics. 60. Molecular genetics I - fundamental principles. 61. Molecular genetics II - PCR and related applications. 62. Molecular genetics III - genetic engineering techniques. SECTION 10 ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA. 63. Using graphs. 64. Presenting data in tables. 65. Hints for solving numerical problems. 66. Descriptive statistics. 67. Choosing and using statistical tests. Index.