BSc Biomedical Sciences

This Research Skills Module is designed to develop your experimental design, report writing and practical skills. You will be introduced to biochemical and cell biological research techniques in a laboratory-based project. You will use techniques such as SDS-PAGE, immunoblotting, enzyme modification of protein glycosylation, immunofluorescence microscopy, cell culture and transient transfection of green fluorescent protein chimeras. You will gain experience in bioinformatic analysis of protein sequences.

This unit is compulsory for all Cell Biology Honours students and may be selected by Biology, Biochemistry, Medical Biochemistry or Biomedical Sciences students.

• To introduce students to the theory and practice of a selection of commonly used biochemical and cell biological research techniques
• To provide training in experimental design, execution and critical interpretation of data
• To enhance knowledge of cellular and protein structure and function
• To develop practical skills and team working ability

Students will develop a wide range of experimental skills, including: SDS-PAGE; immuoblotting; enzyme-based modification of protein glycosylation; cell transfection; immunofluorescence labelling; fluorescence microscopy and image acquisition. They will become familiar with using bioinformatic approaches to analyse protein sequences. They will develop skills in careful experimental manipulation, design, and organisation. They will gain confidence in recording and interpreting results, and in critical evaluation. Students will work independently and in small groups, aiding development of individual practical skills and team-working abilities. They will be expected to compare their results with published data and to question conclusions or account for discrepancies. Scope for the design of novel experiments will be provided. Students will be expected to learn detailed concepts related to central aspects of cell and protein function, and to be able to identify cellular structures.

Protein localisation using green fluorescent protein chimeras: Students will be provided with cDNA constructs encoding a variety of proteins that have been tagged with green fluorescent protein, and will express these by transient transfection of tissue culture cells. The aim is to determine the localisation of the chimeric molecule with reference to antibodies to a range of subcellular organelles and cytoskeletal structures. Students will design their own experiment to provide further evidence of localisation, for example by disrupting the structure by drug treatment. Techniques include transient transfection, and the use of antibodies and green fluorescent protein in fluorescence microscopy.

Analysis of a model protein and its disease-associated mutants: Students will be provided with the gene sequence that encodes a protein (CBRSM1) known to be N-glycosylated and localised to the plasma-membrane in epithelial cells. The gene is associated with a disease called ‘RSMopathy’ and details of patient mutations will be provided. Working as a team, students will perform bioinformatic analysis of the protein to predict the possible effects of the disease-linked mutations. Students will analyse extracts from cell lines expressing wild-type and mutant CBRSM1 protein to assess expression level and glycosylation status using SDS-PAGE and western blotting. Findings will be interpreted in combination with immunofluorescence microscopy data from the same cell lines.

Written assignments (inc essay) 80%

Set exercise 20%

Set exercise 1 - Online coursework assessment. Completion of an eLearning exercise to test students’ ability to identify cellular structures following week 1 of the practical (5% of marks). 

Set exercise 2 - Online coursework assessment. Completion of an eLearning exercise test students’ ability to design and plan experiments following week 2 of the practical (15% of marks).

Written assignments (80% in total). 

Written assignment 1. This will be a short (1-2 page) exercise completed via a templated form that includes a description of the design, methodology and results of the experiment and bioinformatic analysis completed in week 4. (30% of marks). 

Written assignment 2. Completion of a 5-page write-up based on the experiments completed in week 3 (50% of marks).

RSM Attendance guidelines:

Students are expected to attend all scheduled RSM sessions on time, including plenary lectures (N.B. Health and safety information will be delivered at the start of practical sessions, and students who are not present at the start may be asked to leave the lab). Students who arrive late will be marked as absent for that session. Failure to attend a session (an unauthorised absence) will result in a 10% (i.e. 10 mark) penalty being applied to the overall RSM mark (i.e. a student obtaining a mark of 65% overall will instead receive a mark of 55%). Further absences will result in further penalties (i.e. 2 absences = a penalty of 20% (as described above)). Where more than one session is missed in one day, the penalty will be capped at 10%.

Feedback is provided informally by staff and demonstrators throughout the practical. Formative assessment of the students’ ability to formulate a hypothesis, and design an experiment that will test the hypothesis, will be achieved via completion of worksheets in weeks 2 and 3. Individual feedback on these will given during week 2 and 3 respectively. Group discussions at several points during the RSM will provide a forum for discussing experiments and results obtained.

The co-requistes noted are an EITHER OR condition, and students can register for either BIOL21121 The Dynamic Cell OR BIOL21141 Cell Membrane Structure & Function