from learning to teaching lab experience xavier hernández 1, maria josé lópez 2, josep m....
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FROM LEARNING TO TEACHING LAB EXPERIENCE
Xavier Hernández1, Maria José López2, Josep M. Fernández-Novell3
1Biochemistry student. Universitat de Barcelona (SPAIN)2PhD student. Department of Genetics. Universitat de Barcelona (SPAIN)
3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Universitat de Barcelona (SPAIN)
INTRODUCTION
Students in last edition of “Endinsa’t en la Bioquímica”.
• Maria José is a PhD student in genetics and Xavier is a 3rd year biochemistry student.
• Their first contact with the research world started some years ago in a similar way: they enrolled a summer program.
• Now they can also enjoy transmitting the acquired knowledge to new generations.
OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE IN A LAB
Students in “I tu? Jo, Bioquímica” during 2013 edition.
Some projects have been developed by the “Universitat de Barcelona” in order to approach university to schools.•“I tu? Jo, Bioquímica” (“I Love Biochemistry”) [1-2].•“Endinsa’t en la Bioquímica” (“Go into Biochemistry in depth”) [3].•“Bioquímica en viu” (“Biochemistry alive”) [4].During these projects students can try out their abilities and make sure whether biochemistry is their vocation. They will find out some of the basic procedures and techniques used in laboratories and solve some of the problems they could have in the future.
OUR FIRST EXPERIENCE IN A LAB
Magazine edited for one of the “ITUs club” meetings.
In some of the courses, the participants get the opportunity to meet again twice a year as being in a “club” [5].
In these meetings, they can talk to each other and discuss about any field of interest.
TEACHING WHAT WE LEARNEDSome years after we enrolled these programs, we are still part of them by teaching what we have learned since then.
It is really exciting the first time you stand in front of the students in order to transmit your knowledge and passion
for science
Then you also realize how much have you learnt, and it also makes you responsible of what they learn, by pointing out what you think is more important for them to remember. And, at the same time, you discover new minds that, like you, are looking forward to get into the world of research.
In reference to the contents taught and experiments performed in these courses, some examples “Determination of glucose concentration” and “Overexpression, Isolation and Electrophoresis of Proteins” are presented
Determination of Glucose Concentration
Introduction MethodsGlucose is one of the main metabolites used by the tissues in our bodies. Therefore, its concentration in blood is precisely regulated to maintain a homeostatic level. Either a low concentration or high one may disturb a proper functioning of the organism (e. g. diabetes).
In this practicum, a spectrophotometric method is used to determine glucose concentration of a sample. First, we have to convert the glucose in our sample to a compound that absorbs light (indirect method).
By doing this we obtain NADH, which absorbs at 340 nm. After preparing also some standards, the concentration is determined by measuring the absorbance and applying Lambert-Beer law
Coupled reactions to convert glucose into 6-phosphogluconate in order to obtain NADH
Techniques used in this practicum Results
Spectrophotometry.Enzymatic indirect assay [6].Use of micropipettes when preparing standard solutions.Treatment of data obtained.
Students should construct a graphic like this (fig. 6):
Results graph.
Overexpression, Isolation and Electrophoresis of Proteins
Introduction Methods
Proteins are one of the main bricks of living beings, and they are encoded in genomes. Their different functions and large number make them important to study in order to understand life. What is more, nowadays techniques such as overexpression are also useful to produce substances used by pharmaceutical companies, for example.
In this practice, isolation of proteins from bacteria is performed, followed by electrophoresis in a SDS-PAGE gel. First, a plasmid containing the protein of interest sequence is introduced in bacteria through transformation. Once bacteria have grown in a liquid medium, they are lysed by sonication, and samples are prepared and runned in the gel. To visualize proteins, Coomassie Blue staining is used.
Techniques used in this practicum Results
Bacteria cell culture.Bacterial transformation.Cell lysis by sonication.Electrophoresis in a SDS-PAGE gel [7].Coomassie Blue staining.
Coomassie Blue staining of a SDS-PAGE gel.
Students may see different bands in the gel, and they should discuss what do they represent, and which difference can be observed between transformed and non-transformed bacteria.
Coomassie Blue staining of a SDS-PAGE gel.
RESEARCH WORLDWhat is taught in these courses is not only laboratory techniques. Apart from the theoretical basement explained by laboratory teachers, important and currently active scientists do speeches about their research.
Such experiences include international work, why communication is utterly important in the scientific world, or why it is important to keep updated daily.
They explain how they started, which were the difficulties they had to pass to get where they are today – researching and working on what they love.
Students get to know scientists and they acknowledge how much work reside before a discovery. They also realize that they can share the same type of curiosity and ambition, and that they were alike when they were the same age as students.
Altogether (theoretical explanations, laboratory experiments, discussion of scientific news, scientific speeches…) helps them envision a real research world.
CONCLUSIONS
1. This kind of courses helps students get a better idea of what means to work in a laboratory.
2. Some of the students choose to study science careers because they found it extremely interesting.
3. As teachers we get to teach people interested in science not only by speaking, but by making them perform experiments and experience it themselves.
4. Moreover, because of the short age gap, teaching is done through a friendly and approachable manner.
Lots of positive experiences are gotten from both sides of the same coin. It shows that efforts put in these projects are worth it, and that many people would be thankful to have made the decision to enrol these programmes when they were wondering what scientific research would be like.
REFERENCES
1. Fernández-Novell, J.M., Gomis, R.R., Cid, E., Barberà, A. & Guinovart, JJ. (2002) Bridging the gap in biochemistry between secondary school and university. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Education 30, No 3, 172-174.
2. www.bq.ub.edu/ITU/ [Accessed: 25- June-2014]3. http://www.ub.edu/futursinousestudiants/bioquimica-endinsat.html [Accessed: 05-
September-2014]4. http://www.ub.edu/futursinousestudiants/bioquimica-en-viu.html [Accessed: 05-
September-2014]5. Fernández-Novell, J. M. The Biochemistry Club: Motivating talented science students. ) 2nd
International Conference on “Excellence: Education & Human Development”, 92-98 (2010)6. http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/content/dam/sigma-aldrich/docs/Sigma/Bulletin/
gahk20bul.pdf [Accessed: 15- September-2014]7. www.bio.davidson.edu/genomics/method/SDSPAGE/SDSPAGE.html [Accessed: 15-
September-2014]