Biochemistry Lab (BIOL 465) Syllabus for Fall 2019

University of North Carolina Wilmington

Department of Biology and Marine Biology
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Meeting: Osprey Hall 2019; CRN 11514, Monday 11:00am-1:50pm
CRN 11516, Monday 2:00pm-4:50pm

Instructor: Julie Neurohr, MARBIONC 1027B

Office Hours: By Appointment
Email: jmn6284@uncw.edu
Textbook: None – Handouts will be available on Canvas or in class
Materials: Lab notebook
Teaching Assistant: Chris Spear, cos1963@uncw.edu
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Course Goals: This course is designed to introduce biochemistry principles,

methodology, data analysis, interpretation, and presentation of results. This course will
concentrate on isolating proteins and characterizing lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) from
skeletal muscle of clams exposed to different stressors. Topics include experimental
design, extraction and sample preparation, protein separation and isolation,
spectrophotometry, and enzyme activity. These techniques are highly applicable to
research being conducted at academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies.

Course Format: All laboratory protocols and background reading material will be
available via Canvas. Print the protocol and bring it with you to lab. It is imperative that
you read the background reading prior to lab. During each lab, you will run an
experiment, record your data, and document your results. Homework will be assigned
at most labs and will be due at the beginning of the next lab.

Grading: 10-point system: 100-90 (A), 80-89 (B), 70-79 (C), 60-69 (D), ≤ 59 (F). Your
grade will be determined by the following:

Attendance/Participation & Homework 30%

Exams (2) 50% (25% each)
Final Presentation 20%
Total 100%

Make up exams will not be allowed! If an exam is to be missed, documentation must

be provided before the exam. If an exam will be missed due to an emergency, you will
have to bring me documentation and I will give you an alternate exam.
Attendance/Participation/Performance: Attendance will be taken every class. I will
evaluate the contribution each student makes to group work and the effort put forth
during each lab to understand and conduct the experiment according to protocol. You
will lose points in this category if you have unexcused absences (5 points off final lab
grade for each unexcused absence), or for not participating in the experiment (work
should rotate around the group). If you are absent, you are responsible for contacting
your group and asking your group members to run the experiment with your samples.

Homework: Most labs will have assigned questions and data analyses associated with
them. The homework worksheet will be provided to you on Canvas. Type your answers
directly into the worksheet provided using red font. This should be done on your
computer and not handwritten. All homework will be due before the next lab meeting.
Microsoft Excel should be used for all data analysis including data entry, data analysis,
and for creating graphs. Microsoft Word should be used to enter your answers, make
tables, as well as copy/paste your graphs from Excel into the appropriate space. You
may find it easier to save your graph as a .jpg and insert it into Word as a picture.
Making graphs and analyzing data tends to take longer than anticipated, so it will be to
your advantage to start your homework as soon as possible.

You will also need to have a lab notebook to record data and make notes in. Notebooks
will not be graded. Protocols will be provided for you, so you do not need to write
down each step. You will want to keep these protocols in your lab notebook and write
down notes that will help you reproduce the experiments without having to rely on
your memory. Your lab notebook should be kept neat and well organized. An outline
will be available to you on Canvas. Items to record in your notebook include date, time,
sample identification, time for certain steps, concentrations and volumes of chemicals,
experimental set-up (drawings may help), tips for certain steps, what you will want to
do different next time, results, etc.

Exams: There will be two exams given over the semester. The first exam will cover
everything from the beginning of the semester until the week before the exam. The
second exam is cumulative. The exams will be comprised of concepts we cover in lab,
how you do a certain experiment, why you are performing a certain experiment, the
theory behind it, and biological relevance.
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Schedule (subject to change)

08/26 – Introduction, experimental design, pipetting

09/02 – NO LAB, Labor Day
09/09 – Statistical analysis
09/16 – Experiment (1 h), clam anatomy, dissection
09/23 – Hypothesis, homogenize samples, statistical analysis
09/30 – Denaturing gel electrophoresis (SDS PAGE) - separating proteins by molecular
weight
10/07 – Affinity chromatography – Isolating LDH
10/14 – Lab Exam #1
10/21 – Bradford Assay - analyzing total protein
10/28 – SDS PAGE – testing LDH purity
11/04 – LDH activity and anaerobic capacity
11/11 – Elisa / prepare presentations
11/18 – Practice presentations
11/25 – Presentations
12/02 – Presentations/Review
12/09 – Lab Exam #2 (cumulative)
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UNCW Honor Code: The UNCW student academic honor code can be found here:
https://uncw.edu/odos/honorcode/about.html. The Department of Biology and Marine
Biology strongly supports this code. Academic dishonesty is not tolerated. Please be
especially familiar with UNCW’s honor code. Cheating and plagiarism are both forms
of academic dishonesty in which you take another person’s ideas and represent them as
your own. A few examples of plagiarism:

1. You do not give credit to, or cite, someone else’s work in your paper or
presentation
2. You submit or present ideas, graphs, tables, or homework answers that were
given to you by a group member without referencing their work or contribution.
Questions on homework must be answered in your own words.
3. You get facts from your textbook and do not reference the material.

Students with Disabilities: I am happy to accommodate those students with

disabilities. Students with diagnosed disabilities should contact the Office of Disability
Services directly at 962-7555 (https://uncw.edu/disability/). Please provide me a copy of the
letter you receive from the Office of Disability Services detailing any accommodations
you may need. If you require exam accommodations, please provide the referral letter
to me one week prior to the exam.

Harassment and Violence: UNCW practices a zero-tolerance policy for any type of
harassment and/or violence. If you are experiencing an emergency, contact the police at
911 or UNCW CARE at 962-2273. Resources can be found at: https://uncw.edu/care/,
https://uncw.edu/emergencyandsafety/sexualharassment.html, and https://uncw.edu/wsrc/crisis.html