literally everything from research + btls

biotechnology definition

biotechnology involves the use of living systems, organisms, or parts of organisms to manipulate natural processes in order to develop products, systems, or environments to benefit people.

what subjects does biotechnology encompass?

biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, genetics, bioinformatics, machine learning, deep learning

examples of biotechnology

• manipulating DNA

• recombinant DNA technology

• PCR & cloning

• fermentation

• production of recombinant proteins

is genetic manipulation of organisms a new concept?

no; humans have been doing it for hundreds of years (i.e. breeding plants/animals in order to combine different properties)

examples of products that can created through biotechnology

• recombinant proteins

• recombinant plants

• genetically modified animal cells

• recombinant human proteins

bioethics definition

many of the products and treatments developed using biotechnology are controversial; where do you draw the moral line for your job?

steps of the scientific method

1. ask a question

2. do background research

3. hypothesize

4. experiment

5. collect & analyze data

6. report results

can hypotheses be proven?

no; an experiment can either support or reject the hypothesis

does “nothing happening” count as an observation

yes; it is still something that you noticed using your senses

the seven parts to a valid experiment are…

1. quantitative data

2. multiple replicates (≥3)

3. positive control

4. negative control

5. independent variables

6. dependent variables

7. constants

hypothesis

an inferred explanation of an observation or research finding: while more exploratory in nature than a theory, it is based on existing scientific knowledge.

theory

a well-substantiated and comprehensive set of ideas that explains a phenomenon in nature. a scientific theory is based on large amounts of data and observations that have been collected over time. scientific theories can be tested and refined by additional research, and they allow scientists to make predictions.

law

an expression of a mathematical or descriptive relationship observed in nature.

order of cells from smallest to largest

small molecule, virus, bacterium, animal cell, plant cell

viewed with electron microscope

less than 100µm

viewed with light microscope

greater than 1µm

average size of most cells

10µm-30µm

prokaryotic cell size

1µm

hold a microscope by the _______ & _________

base; neck/arm

methylene blue

a cationic stain (positively charged blue dye) that helps the structure inside a cell become more visible

what tool is used to measure the size of a specimen under a microscope?

micrometer

field of visions are based off of the ___X field

40

100X is ____ times smaller than 40X

2.5

400X is ____ times smaller than 40X

10

what are the three different tools used to measure volume?

graduated cylinder, serological pipet, micropipet

a graduated cylinder should be used for volumes…

greater than 10 milliliters

graduated cylinders should be read from the bottom of the….

meniscus

common graduated cylinder sizes in the lab

10mL, 25mL, 100mL, 250mL, 500mL, 1L

a serological pipet should be used for volumes….

smaller than or equal to 10mL

common serological pipet sizes in the lab

1 mL, 2mL, 5mL, 10mL

these serological pipets use blue pumps

1mL and 2mL

these serological pipets use green pumps

5mL and 10mL

serological pipets are graduated…

top to bottom & bottom to top

what does TD stand for on a serological pipet?

to delivery

volumes measured by a P-100 micropipet

10µL ≤ volume ≤ 100µL

volumes measured by a P-200 micropipet

20µL ≤ volume ≤ 200µL

volumes measured by a P-1000 micropipet

200µL ≤ volume ≤ 1000µL

solution

a mixture of two or more substances where one (solute) completely dissolves in the other (solvent)

aqueous

describing a solution in which the solvent is water

solute

the substance in a solution that is being dissolved

balance

an instrument that measures mass

weight

the force exerted on something by gravity; at sea level, it is considered equal to the mass of an object

gram

abbreviated “g”; the standard unit of mass, approximately equal to the mass of a small paper clip

solvent

the substance that dissolves the solute

molarity

a measure of concentration that represents the number of moles of a solute in a liter of solution (or some fraction of that unit)

normality

a measurement of concentration generally used for acids and bases that is expressed in gram equivalent weights of solute per liter of solution; represents the amount of ionization of an acid or base

standard balances measure…

small amounts over 900mg

analytical balances measure…

small amounts under 900mg

what is the difference between the tare button and the zero button?

in our lab, there is no difference (tare = removing the weight of a container, zero = removing any weight of any debris or air draft)

should you ever return excess of the thing you are massing back to the bottle?

no

% error =

[ (observed mass - expected mass)/expected mass ] x 100

units of measuring water

1 cubic cm = 1mL = 1g

mass/volume solutions

mass of solute/volume of solvent = final concentration (often in g/mL)

% mass/volume solutions

% value = decimal value of the g/mL

molar solutions

# of grams of solute = molarity (mol/L) x molecular weight (g/mol) x volume (L)

dilution of a concentrated solution

C1V1 = C2V2

serial dilutions

should be drawn out, each tube gets +9mL dH2O + 1 mL of the previous tube

variable

something that takes on different values

quantitative variables

can be measured numerically

qualitative variables

similar to a category; cant be measured

discrete variables

could only be a whole number (ex. 3 kids, cant be 2.89 kids)

continuous variables

could be any number (ex 1.64 seconds could be 1.64183829173081 seconds)

horizontal axis

x-axis or the abscissa

vertical axis

y-axis or the ordinate

measures of center

mean, median, mode, midrange

mean

found by adding all values and dividing by total # of values

median

the middle value when the original data is arranged in order from low to high (less affected by outliers than mean is)

mode

the value that occurs the most frequently (bimodal = 2 values) (multimodal = more than 2)

midrange

(high value + low value)/2

measures of variation

range, standard deviation

range

highest # - lowest #

standard deviation

s = sqrt [(Σ (x - x̄)²)/(n - 1)]

t-tests

can be used to determine if there is  statistically significant difference between 2 data sets

null hypothesis

there is no significant difference between the two groups of data

when your p-value is less than 0.05…

reject the null hypothesis; the two data sets are significantly different

when your p-value is greater than 0.05…

accept the null hypothesis; the two data sets are not significantly different

tails

1 tail = “greater than” or “less than” (only looking for change in one direction)

2 tail = “greater than” and “less than” (looking for change in both directions)

types

type 1 = paired (before & after)

type 3 = independent, typical experiment

biological literature

any printed or electronic document written with the intent of communicating biological information

primary literature

original research results, has been never previously published, reporting their own research, new findings, always has a “materials & methods” and “data sections” (may not be labeled)

ex. journal articles, conference proceedings, dissertations/theses, patents, symposia publications, research posters

peer review

before research results are published in a scientific journal, they must pass a rigorous review process by other scientists called peer review

secondary literature

comprehensive view of previously published literature, references to primary literature, suggest new conclusions, lacks a materials and methods section, long bibliography

ex. review articles, textbooks, books/articles that interpret or review research works, any journal with “review” in the title

tertiary literature

broad overview of a topic, no materials and methods section

ex. fact books, guides and handbooks, digests, many websites

10 parts of a primary research article

1. title

2. by-line

3. abstract

4. introduction

5. materials & methods

6. results

7. discussion

8. acknowledgements

9. references

10. date of receipt/publication

UV-Vis spectrophotometer

bombards molecules with light at a particular wavelength and measures the absorbance of a cell

beer-lambert law

A = εbC

A = absorbance

ε = molar absorptivity (L/(mol cm))

b = path length (cm)

C = concentration (mol/L)

max absorption of proteins

280nm

max absorption of DNA

260nm

pure RNA ratio

~2.0

pure DNA ratio

~1.8

pure protein ratio

~0.6

purpose of DNA digestion/extraction buffer (DNA extraction)

breaks open cells and releases DNA into solution

purpose of proteinase K (DNA extraction)

digests any cellular proteins (histones), including enzymes that may break down DNA

purpose of potassium acetate (salt) (DNA extraction)

causes DNA to precipitate out of solution; allows for DNA to stay tightly bound

purpose of ice baths (DNA extraction)

further drive the precipitation of DNA from solution

purpose of centrifugation (DNA extraction)

compacts the DNA into a pellet at the bottom of the tube

purpose of isopropanol (DNA extraction)

washes the potassium acetate salts from the DNA and helps remove any remaining proteins from the solution

purpose of ethanol (DNA extraction)

removes the remaining salts, allowing DNA to return to solution in TE buffer

purpose of TE buffer (DNA extraction)

added to rehydrate the DNA for use in cuvettes

purpose of tris in TE buffer

maintains pH