CHEM437L Spring 2021 Syllabus PDF

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UMBC Biochemistry I Lab Syllabus by Dr. Tracy...

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Fall 2019 Syllabus -1-

CHEM437L: Biochemistry Methods Laboratory Course Syllabus: Spring 2021 Lab Instructor:

Allison Tracy, Ph.D. E-mail: [email protected] Office: My house Office hours: By appointment

Office hours Due to concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, there will be no in-person office hours. Instead, office hours with Dr. Tracy will provide office hours on Fridays from 1:00 to 2:00 pm. The teaching assistants (TAs) for CHEM 437L are Patricia Boyd ([email protected]) and Daniel Pierce ([email protected]). Patricia and Dan will each hold an office hour weekly to help you with questions you have with the course and written lab reports. TA office hours will be accessed via Webex and the hours will be posted on Bb once they are finalized.

Course Meeting Times and Locations Section 2011

Monday/Wednesday 1:00-5:00 PM, Meyerhoff 352

Section 2012

Tuesday/Thursday 1:00-5:00 PM, Meyerhoff 352

Required Course Materials Lab Notebook - The Official Laboratory Research Notebook (50 pages) or another compatible notebook

Safety glasses or goggles - Side eye protection is not required so either will suffice Lab coat Blackboard This course has a website on Blackboard. I will be utilizing Blackboard to provide you with access to the PowerPoint slides, Lecture Recordings, and Experimental Protocols. In addition, you will take the quizzes and examinations on Blackboard. It is essential that you have daily access to the Blackboard website and that you let me know ASAP if you are having trouble accessing any of the information. It is also important that you have access to Cisco Webex. Webex will be the primary means of synchronous content delivery and office hours. Everyone with a UMBC e-mail account has access to Webex. See the following website hyperlink for more information: https://wiki.umbc.edu/display/faq/UMBC+Webex+Quick+Start+Guide

Fall 2019 Syllabus -2Lectures and Asynchronous Learning Due to concerns relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, all lectures will be web-based and pre-recorded. Lecture slides will be provided to all students in the form of PowerPoint slides. In general, all lecture videos for the upcoming experiment will be made available the Friday before the actual experiment.

Labs The Chemistry department is striving to provide students with the ability to complete inperson labs while maintaining the safest environment possible to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Our labs this semester will be offered in a hybrid format; some of the experiments will be entirely online and some of the experiments will be offered inperson. For the experiments that are offered in-person, we will be splitting each lab section into three groups (Groups 1, 2, and 3). Only one group will be allowed into the lab each week; this will allow us to keep the total number of students in the lab including the TA below eight, which is below the maximum number allowed based on CDC recommendations. This means that for the experiments that are offered in-person, it will take us three weeks in order for the entire section to complete their work. According to UMBC policy, any student who feels uncomfortable with attending an inperson class MUST be provided a completely online option by the instructor. Please reach out to me ASAP if you have any concerns about attending the lab in-person so that I can put together the different groups as evenly as possible.

Course Content CHEM437L is an advanced methods laboratory course that overviews the modern methods of biochemical research. CHEM437L is a companion laboratory course for CHEM437, which is the prerequisite/corequisite lecture course. CHEM437L is intended to introduce you to some of the most widely used experimental procedures in biochemistry, including protein purification and characterization, enzyme assays and kinetics, and nucleic acid isolation and manipulation. CHEM437L will prepare students for further laboratory work not only through teaching these techniques but also by instructing students on the importance of being prepared, thinking critically about your results, and collaborating with others.

Safety Everyone is required to wear closed-toe shoes, long pants, safety glasses, and a lab coat while performing laboratory work. You must wear a mask at all times while inside of the Chemistry building and maintain a minimum distance of six feet between you and anyone else in the building at all times. Food (including gum) and beverages are never allowed in the laboratory under any circumstances. If you have a health condition that puts you at exceptional risk, or if you are pregnant, please see your instructor in private to discuss the issue.

Fall 2019 Syllabus -3Course Grading 30% 30% 20% 20%

Exams Laboratory Write-ups Lab Evaluation Quizzes

Any late assignment or unexcused quiz or exam will be penalized 10% per day. No assignment will be accepted if it is more than two days late- NO EXCEPTIONS! Any unexcused laboratory absence will result in a grade of zero for BOTH the lab evaluation grade and the corresponding weekly lab write-up- NO EXCEPTIONS! You must let me know by 12:00 PM on the date of lab if you will be out. Otherwise, you will receive a grade of zero for BOTH the lab evaluation grade and the corresponding weekly lab write-up- NO EXCEPTIONS!

Description of Graded Assignments Exams: There will be two exams given in this course. You should prepare for the exams by studying the questions in the lab manual and by understanding the concepts and principles that govern the equipment used, the experimental methods performed, and the results of these experiments. The final exam will not be cumulative. The exams will be given through Blackboard during our Friday lead-off lecture time slot (1:00 to 2:30). You must ensure that you have access to a device and are able to take the exam during this time slot.

Exam 1 on March 12, 2021 Exam 2 on May 7, 2021 Laboratory Write-ups: You will be required to turn in five laboratory write-ups during the semester as shown in the schedule of experiments. See the handout “Laboratory Write-up Guidelines” for specific information on how to write a laboratory write-up. The reports will be graded by the TAs and Dr. Tracy; we will inform you who is grading each report and you will be submitting them via email on the due date shown in the schedule of experiments.

Fall 2019 Syllabus -4Lab Evaluation: This portion of your grade comes from a daily evaluation of your performance in lab. Each day in lab, you can receive a total of 50 points. They are distributed in the following manner: Pre-lab 10 points Time 5 points Safety 5 points Citizenship 5 points Lab clean-up 5 points Lab accuracy 20 points

Pre-Lab: A pre-lab should be written for every experiment performed this semester. The pre-lab should be prepared in your lab notebook BEFORE you come to lab and should contain the following information: Title of experiment Objective of experiment (1-2 sentences) Materials/Methods (listing all equipment and reagents [including the concentrations and volumes] and an example of all math calculations Protocol (consisting of basic instructions to perform each step with space left for observations and prepared tables when necessary for experimental data. ALL math should be completed.

Quizzes: There will be two quizzes in this course. Quizzes will be administered through Blackboard and will be given during the Friday lead-off lecture time slot (1:00- 2:00). They will cover material from labs that you have completed (either online or in-person). Quizzes will NOT be cumulative. To be ready for each quiz, you should have a general understanding of the concepts and principles that govern the equipment used, the experimental methods performed, and the results of the experiments. Quiz 1 on February 19, 2021 Quiz 2 on April 9, 2021

Learning Objectives The central focus of this course is to provide a logical framework to train students in how to approach research problems and conduct and evaluate scientific research. Specific learning objectives include an understanding of: - pH and buffers - Spectrophotometry - Protein purification, quantification, and characterization - Western blot analysis - Enzyme kinetics - DNA purification, quantification, and analysis - Restriction enzyme digestions and cloning - Forensic DNA methods

Fall 2019 Syllabus -5Statement of Academic Integrity By enrolling in this course, each student assumes the responsibilities of an active participant in UMBC’s scholarly community in which everyone’s academic work and behavior are held to the highest standards of honesty. Cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, and helping others to commit these acts are all forms of academic dishonesty, and they are wrong. Academic misconduct could result in disciplinary action that may include, but is not limited to, suspension or dismissal. To read the full Student Academic Conduct Policy, consult the UMBC Student Handbook, the Faculty Handbook, the UMBC Policies section of the UMBC Directory, or http://www.umbc.edu/provost/integrity/index.html.

Chemistry and Biochemistry Departmental Writing Resource Guide http://www.umbc.edu/chem/undergrads/writing.html...