Description of Course Goals and Curriculum
The purpose of MOL350 is to prepare you for your independent research as an upperclassman by introducing you to various scientific techniques in cell biology, developmental biology, and genetics. Students complete an original research project, gathering data over several weeks to write a final research paper at the end of the semester. This research project is completed in groups of four and focuses on the tracheal system of fruit flies, the topic of the professor’s research. In addition, students practice reading scientific literature and critically evaluating scientific techniques and conclusions.
MOL350 doesn’t emphasize rote memorization like other courses, but rather understanding different scientific applications. The professor stresses the ability of the student to clearly convey their knowledge of scientific concepts; scientific discussion is encouraged amongst lab groups and an oral defense of your research is required about halfway through the semester.
At the end of the course, students are expected to understand how and why specific scientific techniques are applied. Students also develop a broader understanding of the development processes Drosophila and how these processes contribute to insight of larger systems. Overall, students walk away being able to think more critically about scientific research and can apply this knowledge to their own research and beyond.
Learning From Classroom Instruction
Students must attend two lab periods each week, which each last three hours. A one hour lecture period is also held each week and is designed to elucidate the scientific background necessary for your experiments. Oftentimes, the professor asks for participation from students during discussion. I would encourage attempting to participate as much as you can; even if you are wrong, the core lab staff appreciate effort and like to gauge where students are in their understanding of the material.
The first couple weeks of the course focus on introducing you to developmental biology of Drosophila. You will also learn techniques in the lab, such as crossing flies, immunostaining, and using the confocal microscope. Following the initial two weeks, you are expected to be able to collect data on your own; students are split into groups of four and each group is assigned a gene present in fruit flies. Students are required to keep a lab notebook and record observations about their experiments every lab period; this lab notebook will be turned in for credit, so it is advised that you write in it each lab period, rather than waiting before the deadline and scrambling to remember which experiments were conducted on which day.
Learning For and From Assignments
Core lab is unique for a MOL course in that it does not have weekly problem sets. This course also does not have midterms nor finals. There are occasional quizzes on Blackboard, but these are relatively straightforward as long as you read the suggested links. In addition, there are usually weekly summaries of scientific articles, which are then discussed in the lecture period in small groups. While the Blackboard quizzes and summaries are relatively straightforward, these small assignments contribute to a bulk of the grade (around half of the points), so I wouldn’t recommend slacking on them.
The other half of the grade comes from the projects, which include an oral defense, project proposal, flowchart, and final research paper. Each project requires a deep understanding of the techniques you use in lab and background on your gene of interest, so completing these assignments isn’t as simple as cramming for an exam. I recommend conducting outside research on your assigned gene each week by reading scientific articles (you can find them easily on PubMed). I would also encourage meeting with core lab staff outside of class to clarify questions and solidify your understanding of your research project.
Office hours are a great resource to use. In addition to the professor of the course, there are several lab TAs that are extremely willing to meet with you. Furthermore, Blackboards hosts a folder of useful scientific articles that may help students build their knowledge on Drosophila developmental biology.
Perhaps the best resource students have is their peers. Students can discuss within their research groups or outside them. Different groups may be assigned the same gene and it is helpful to compare results among groups and discuss further directions for research. Part of the final paper entails thinking of a novel technique to analyze your data; your peers will be vital to brainstorming and evaluating the validity of potential techniques.
External Resources
Office hours are a great resource to use. In addition to the professor of the course, there are several lab TAs that are extremely willing to meet with you. Furthermore, Blackboards hosts a folder of useful scientific articles that may help students build their knowledge on Drosophila developmental biology.
Perhaps the best resource students have is their peers. Students can discuss within their research groups or outside them. Different groups may be assigned the same gene and it is helpful to compare results among groups and discuss further directions for research. Part of the final paper entails thinking of a novel technique to analyze your data; your peers will be vital to brainstorming and evaluating the validity of potential techniques.
What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection
This course fulfills the core lab requirement for MOL and CHM majors. There are usually several CHM majors who elect to take this course instead of Chemistry Core Lab. MOL350 is extremely different from other MOL courses in that it emphasizes applications of scientific techniques, as opposed to rote memorization. In addition, if you already have exposure to lab techniques, you will be well prepared for this course. While the weekly time commitment outside of class for this course seems low (in that there are no weekly problem sets), note that developing an understanding of fly biology and your assigned gene will require much time outside of class, Overall, this course is a great introduction to independent research and its format is welcoming to students who have had no previous labwork experience.