Properties and Functions of the Cell
Focus:
This module is designed for a first year biology class (Fundamentals of Cellular and Molecular Biology) for biology majors at a 2-year institution. The concept of the module is to use primary literature articles from different subjects throughout class instead of following one particular research lab or subject. Additionally, I would like to add more science articles from popular press to aid in the material we will be going over.
Overview:
Applicable for Courses:
Fundamentals of Cellular and Molecular BiologyEducational Level:
Lower-levelRoadmap Objectives:
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- Article: "Babies Recognize faces Better Than Adults" National Geographic News
- Content area/major concepts:
- Methods or technology used to obtain data:
- How the CREATE strategy was used:
- Biggest teaching challenge:
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- Article: "Scientists Find Way to Control Sugars" Science Daily to supplement "Modulation of Starch Digestion for Slow Glucose Release through "Toggling" of activities of Mucosal α-Glucosidases". Lee B.H., Eskandari R., et al. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2012; 287 (38: 31929-31938
- Content area/major concepts: I chose this paper as a starting point because we will be talking about macromolecules, enzymes and metabolic activity. In particular, we will be running a lab on enzyme inhibition which this paper is about, so it will tie in nicely. Additionally, it relates to current news because it has to do with type 2 diabetes. Many of my students are interested in the medical field or pharmacology so I think this will be of interest to them. Before the paper we would talk about macromolecules, metabolism, and enzyme activity.
Metabolism (breaking down starch and making glucose), protein structure, enzyme activity and inhibition. - Methods or technology used to obtain data: Determining protein concentration and enzyme activity, production enzyme, measuring enzyme inhibition
- How the CREATE strategy was used:
- Biggest teaching challenge: There is a lot of detail about protein structure which we will not get into, there is a lot of extra information, methods are a little more specific on protein purification than i plan on talking about, I will need to define a lot of terms for the student.
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- Article: "Water stress inhibits plant photosynthesis by decreasing coupling factor and ATP" Tezara W., Mitchell V.J., Driscoll S.D., Lawlor D.W. Nature, 1999; 401 914-917
- Content area/major concepts: I chose this paper to use during the cellular respiration and photosynthesis section of the course. Before the paper we will have talked about photosynthesis, cellular respiration and how the two are connected.
Water potential and water movement, light independent reactions, carbon assimilation, ATP, ATP synthase, Rubisco - Methods or technology used to obtain data: Measuring fluorescence, measuring uptake of CO2, and evolution of O2, analysis of proteins.
- How the CREATE strategy was used:
- Biggest teaching challenge: Normally I talk about water potential and water movement in second semester biology, so I will have to review some of the material, a lot of symbols and abbreviations in the article.
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- Article: "Antimicrobial Properties and Mode of Action of the Pyrrothine Holomycin". Olivia B, O'Neill A, Wilson J, O'Hanlon P, Chopra I Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 2001, 45(2): 532 - 539
- Content area/major concepts: I chose this paper because my students take and use antibiotics, and we hear about antibiotic resistance in the news. This article looks at new antibiotics that are being developed and how they impact prokaryotic transcription and translation.
Transcription, translation, antibiotics, and antibiotic resistance - Methods or technology used to obtain data: Radioactive labeling, purifying proteins, growing cultures
- How the CREATE strategy was used:
- Biggest teaching challenge: Making sure the students understand the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic transcription and translation, remembering protein structure, tying information.