Technology in the last few decades has impacted our understanding of biological entities greatly, the genome project being a prime example. The progress that biology sees follows closely with the development of new technology. It is very important to understand and visualise the composition and structures of biological materials or samples in order to extend and correlate this to the principles of life. Microscopy is a by far the most used and the most relevant technique in this regard. However the short comings in the technological aspect of this greatly limit the usage of this to comprehend the specifics. Through the advancement of the analytical techniques we can move into the regime where the details play a major role in understanding life sciences, for example in the field of metabolomics. It involves the determination of a small set of molecules known as metabolites with the molecular weights typically in the range lesser than 2500Da in organisms or cells. In contrast to genomics involving the combinations of gene or protein alphabet, it is structurally far more diverse. Also it is required that they must be determined at native concentrations as there are no general amplification protocols for metabolites existing yet. Also there is currently no method which provides this branch with the throughput and sensitivity of genomics. Also when the problem moved specifically into the regime of the single cell becomes more intriguing and complex. It leads to further challenges in the field of sample preparation in order to make the technology suitable to be used for life sciences. The need for high sensitivity becomes more pressing as the even the most abundant metabolites in the cells are in the millimolar to micromolar range. Fur... ... middle of paper ... ... shift from the large scale analysis into the microliter regime, which as discussed above has definite advantages for analytical techniques. The control over surface properties will make it all the more desirable for bio analytical applications. Devices fabricated in the above mentioned methods will provide a means to analyse relatively small amounts in drastically reduced analysis times and also possibly reduced analysis costs. There is also a higher probability of making such devices commercially viable due to the ability of using micro fabrication for large scale production and still retain the benefits obtained in the prototype and also maintain repeatability of the entire process. The major advantage would be the ability to control the process parameter in the production which would help in obtaining the same result with every run of the fabrication protocol.
Moreover, the class average curve shows a similar trend, as the curve flattens, at 70% but with an enzyme activity of 5.3 x10-3 seconds. This indicates that even though the saturation point is the same it was considerably lower than our results, which could indicate sources of systematic error in the design of the practical.
The main goal for our experiment was to learn how to examine DNA when there is only a small
The purpose of this experiment was to discover the specificity of the enzyme lactase to a spec...
These six samples (crude -/+, broken -/+, and whole -/+) were spun at 5000 rpm, and the resulting pellets were isolated and resuspended in DNase buffer. The set of suspensions labeled with a (+) was incubated in DNase enzyme for 15 minutes, and afterwards incubated in 15 uL of STOP solution. All six samples were lysed for DNA extraction with DNA extraction buffer, and micro-centrifuged at maximum speed. To precipitate the extracted DNA, the supernatants from each of the six samples were added to their correspondingly labeled micro-centrifuge tubes containing 7% ethanol (Parent et. al, 2008To bind the DNA, the ethanol lysate mixtures were transferred to labeled spin columns and spun for one minute in the micro-centrifuge at maximum speed. To wash the bound DNA, the spin columns were washed and spun three times at maximum speed. In order to elute the bound DNA, the samples were washed in 80 uL of distilled water and spun again for 2 minutes at maximum speed (Parent et. al,
For the light microscope this distance is approximately 0.2µm. So in theory it might seem possible to magnify an object indefinitely by means of glass lenses in series. This has been put into practice and has only produced a larger and fuzzier picture; so the resolution is not improved and no more detail is visible. The resolution of the light microscope is imposed by the wavelength of visible light, and means that little is gained by magnifying an object more than 1500 times. This limits the amount of structural detail that can be seen within a cell.
The pancreas can be divided into two sections when studying the histology. The pancreas has exocrine and endocrine functions, each with unique cell types. The exocrine pancreas serves to secrete digestive enzymes into the duodenum. Some of the specific enzymes and secreted substances are Proteases, lipase, amylase, bicarbonate, and water (Bowen, “Exocrine Secretions”). These enzymes are used to break down protein, fat, and carbohydrates respectively. The bicarbonate simply act as an acid buffer to prevent damage of the small intestine as the stomach acid must be neutralized. The enzymes are created in acinar cells and the bicarbonate is synthesized in epithelial cells surrounding pancreatic ducts (Bowen “Exocrine
In any production of certain metabolites or products in fungal life cycle, two phases of metabolism must involve which are primary and secondary metabolisms. In this new and modern era, fungal biotechnology has evolved and developed in order to allow a commercially fungal utilization of the metabolic processes in a viable manner. To conclude, fungi have contributed a lot in economy significantly. This included in the industries of chemical commodities, antibiotics, enzymes, vitamins, pharmaceutical compounds, fungicides, plant growth regulators, hormones and proteins.
The specimen's views were different every time because each of the microscopes had a different view of each object. Dissecting Microscope looks blurred looking and pale color. Compound Light Microscope looks blurry looking and grows differently when you change the zoom or size. Transmission Electron Microscope looks grayish (black and white) and shows a lot of the structure of the specimen. Scanning Electron Microscope looks like a 3-D black and white shaped specimen. A leaf under a dissecting microscope would be described as this if you zoom in and out, you would see blurry, clear, then blurry again and it was bright then pale colors. Blood under a compound light microscope would be described as this if you look at it, it would be a blur and sometimes clear shape depends on the zoom in or out. Algae under a transmission electron microscope would be described as this if you look at it, it would be grayish different look by the shape and detailed with the structure of the thing. A leaf under a scanning electron microscope would be described as this if you zoom in and out, you would see blurry 3-D black and white with lots of detail of the
Optics Student Panel -Professional Development Activities During the student panel discussion held by the optics department, students (undergraduate, graduate and current professor) reflected on their experiences while here at the institute. The panel was conducted so that students could ask about graduate school, internships, and professional development within the optics major. Something special about the optics department is how they have Industrial Association, which is when members, faculty, and students connect with optics companies. With this opportunity, many panelists were able to receive jobs and addressed how they got hired, their internship/job experiences, and insight on what they did in their specific jobs.
X-Ray “We look to medicine to be an orderly field of knowledge and procedure. But it is not. It is an imperfect science, an enterprise of constantly changing knowledge, uncertain information, fallible individuals, and at the same time lives on the line. There is science in what we do, yes, but also habit, intuition, and sometimes plain old guessing…”
HPLC (High Performance Liquid Chromatography) is an analytical technique which separates a complex mixture of components into its specific individual components. It is a powerful tool in analysis, as it combines high speed with extreme sensitivity compared to traditional methods of chromatography because of the use of a pump which creates a high pressure and forces the mobile phase to move with the analyte in high speed. It is been used as a principle technology in various automated analyzers used for diagnostic purpose.
Agarose gel electrophoresis separates molecules by to their size, shape, and charge. Biomolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins, are some examples. Buffered samples such as glycerol and glucose are loaded into a gel. An electrical current is placed across the gel. The current moves the molecules towards the cathode or anode. The speed of the moving molecules depends on the size, shape, and charge. The properties of the gel will definitely affect the movement. Small molecules are expected to move easily and faster thru the pores.
Pauly, S. (2011, February). News from ABC: changes and challenges. Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry. pp. 1003-1004. doi:10.1007/s00216-010-4459-0.
Leboffe, M. J., & Pierce, B. E. (2010). Microbiology: Laboratory Theory and Application, Third Edition 3rd Edition (3rd Ed.). Morton Publishing
In order to study the cell and its component, it has to be visualised and displayed in details. In this practical class, we will be looking at different microscopic techniques that visualise the cell structures and identify its features. As most cells are very small, they cannot be seen with naked eyes and therefore need to be magnified. Light microscopy was first used to magnify the image of the cells using stains. However, some tissue and subcellular structures are too small to be seen even under the light microscope. Therefore another technique was found to visualise the cell in more details. To study the smaller features of the cell, electron microscopy are used. Electron microscopy use electron beam to visualise the specimen. Electron microscopy can only magnify thin structures, therefore fluorescent microscopy are used to visualise the thicker structures. Fluorescent microscopy visualise the structures that emit light by allowing the light to get through the specimen.