Loyola University ChicagoCourse Syllabus

Biology 252 Fall 2015

Course Information Instructor InformationPrefix/Number: BIOL 252 Instructor: Arden DavidsonTitle: Cell Biology Laboratory Office: LSB 230

Credit: 1 Semester Hour Telephone: 8-3637 (773- 508-3637)Location: LSB (Quinlan) Rm 417 Email: adavids@luc.eduSec/Time: Office Hours: Wednesday 2:30-3:30p.m.

Biology Dept. Phone Number:

8-3620 (773-508-3620)

Required Materials: Lab Notebook: The notebook should be a bound, 8 ½” x 11”, quadrille ruled notebook that produces carbon/carbonless copies (available in the bookstore).Calculator: bring a calculator to all classes. NOTE: you may not use a cell phone calculator during an exam or quiz.

Course Description and Goals: The goal of this course is to allow you to explore some of the relationships between structure and function of subcellular components in a laboratory setting. In addition, you will gain a working knowledge of a variety of techniques utilized in the cell biology laboratory.

Course Learning Objectives: The following are the learning objectives for this lab. Following completion of this course students will have…

gained factual knowledge related to select structure-function relationships in the cell, as well as laboratory techniques used to study cell biology in the laboratory.

acquired skills in working with others as a member of a team. developed skills in expressing oneself in writing. learned fundamental principles and theories behind the laboratory techniques used in the class. learned to apply course material to unique laboratory or data analysis situations. developed specific laboratory skills and competencies needed by professionals working in a cell

biology laboratory.Course Expectations:Teaching Methods: The material in this course will be covered through a variety of laboratory exercises. Each session will be introduced by a lecture on the experimental procedures being conducted, as well as the theory behind these procedures. Additional information may be presented throughout the lab period.

Classroom Conduct: For safety purposes and out of respect for others in the class, a certain standard of conduct is expected.

Arrive to lab on time and stay for the entire period. Quizzes are generally given at the beginning of the period and cannot be made up if you arrive late. Arrival after quizzes have been passed out is considered late.

Do not eat or drink in the lab. Do not wear shorts or short skirts or open-toed shoes in lab. Clean up after yourself! Wash all glassware, instruments, etc. as instructed and wipe down your

bench at the end of lab. All equipment should be left neatly in the provided trays; check that all equipment is available for the next class.

Cell phones, tablets, and laptops should only be used for class purposes. If you do not need them for class, they need to be turned off and placed in your cubbie during class. While calculators will be

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required during lab exercises, quizzes, and exams, cell phone or graphing calculators will not be permitted during quizzes and exams. You may be asked to leave the lab and not return if you are found to be using a cell phone or computer during class for purposes other than class work.

Class Notes and Announcements on Sakai: Sakai is Loyola’s online course management system. The syllabus, lab exercises and other class handouts will be posted on Sakai for you to retrieve.

Preparing for Class: Read the lab before coming to class and write a concise purpose statement for the exercise in your lab notebook. You should also print out all the necessary materials posted on Sakai. If you choose to use electronic copies of the lab exercises, use of a tablet or laptop computer is acceptable; the use of cell phones to retrieve electronic copies of the lab materials WILL NOT be permitted. It will also be helpful to construct data tables in your notebook prior to coming to class. Both reading the exercise and constructing your data tables will help you complete the exercise in the time allotted.

Attendance Policy: Attendance to all labs is expected. Due to the scheduling of classes in the lab, labs cannot be made up. If there is an extenuating circumstance for missing class (ex. varsity sport competition, serious and verifiable health issue, family death, court business, etc.) you must notify me or the Biology Department prior to class to explain your absence, and provide a written excuse signed by a proper authority (physician, judge, etc.). Excuses based on poor planning on your part (over-sleeping, traffic, vacations plans, doctor’s appointment, etc.) will be not accepted and you will lose points on any work (exams, quizzes, reports) relating to the lab you missed.

Academic Integrity Policy: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. If you plagiarize a report or cheat on an exam you will receive no credit for the report and the Departmental chairman will be notified of the incident. See the Loyola Undergraduate Catalogue for a definition of plagiarism. Paraphrasing another’s work without giving them credit, as well as word for word copying, is considered plagiarism. No part of an “individual” report may be copied from the work of another student.

During exams all materials, other than those permitted for the exam, must be in the cubbyholes at your benches; sit facing away from your lab partner (orient back to back), and keep answer sheets covered except when actually recording answers. Cell phone or graphing calculators will not be permitted during exams.

Please collect data as you do the experiment – do not copy someone else’s recordings after lab. As you collect data, use ink and never erase recorded data - cross out mistaken entries with a single straight line so that the original entry is still readable and record the correct entry above the original.

Scantron Policy: Some exam or quiz materials may be graded via an automated Scantron machine. Incomplete erasures may be marked wrong on a Scantron sheet. If necessary, recopy answers onto a new sheet. Scantron results cannot be disputed and are final. I will be keeping a copy of your Scantron sheets.

Evaluation and Grading: Your grade will be determined from lab reports, quizzes, exams, and your laboratory notebook.

Laboratory exams: Two exams, worth 75 points each, covering theory and procedural aspects of labs, calculations, graphing, and interpretation of data will be given. The exam will be in a multiple choice and short answer format. Bring your calculators to class! No cell phone or graphing calculators may be used during an exam. A make-up exam will be given only in the case of serious illness at the time of the exam, and only if the procedures outlined in Attendance Policy above are followed. Make-up exams will be different from the regular exams.

Quizzes: Unannounced quizzes will be given either at the beginning of the period or as take-home assignments. The in-class quizzes may not be made up if you come in late (arriving after quizzes have

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been passed out is considered late) and take-home quizzes must be handed in as indicated by the instructor – late quizzes will not be accepted. The quizzes may cover material from the previous week's lab as well as from the current week's lab. You may need a calculator for the quiz – bring it to class. No cell phone or graphing calculators may be used during an in-class quiz. Each quiz is worth 5 points.

Individual lab notebooks: Each student will be expected to maintain a bound, quadrille-ruled lab notebook that makes carbon/carbonless copies. “Yellow” copy sheets containing your recorded data will be collected at the end of each lab. Never tear out the “original” sheets, just the yellow “copy” sheets. The consecutively numbered original sheets constitute a record of your work. For each exercise you should include a brief purpose statement, all the data collected, and any calculations you made. It may also be helpful, although it is not required, to include an outline of the procedure you will be following for the day. As mentioned above, collect data as you do the experiment – do not copy someone else’s recordings after lab. All information in the lab notebook should be neat and legible. As you collect data, use ink and never erase recorded data - cross out mistaken entries with a single straight line so that the original entry is still readable and record the correct entry above the original. To repeat, your “yellow” copy sheets will always be turned in at the end of the period and I will not accept original sheets torn from your lab book for credit. Each exercise is worth 1 point.

Post-lab assignments: Lab reports may involve “individual” or “group” work as indicated by the instructor. “Individual” reports are to be compiled by each individual student; “group” reports are submitted by the entire lab group with all students signing the report and receiving the same grade. Your signature on a report means that you have reviewed/edited the group assignment before it is handed in and you agree with the contents of the report. The post-lab assignments will generally include calculations and graphing, constructing data figures and responding to short answer questions. Specific details of the post-lab assignments follow the instructions for each lab exercise. You will write up one individual report (C. elegans lab) as a formal report. This assignment will acquaint you with all of the basic sections of a formal scientific paper – introduction, materials and methods, results, and discussion.

While you may work together with other students to gather/analyze data, the work contained in the “individual” post-lab assignments is to be your own. Copying/sharing answers to the lab questions for an “individual” report is considered plagiarism and all parties involved will receive a no credit for the report.

The formal report on the C. elegans lab is worth 20 points. Each of the other reports is worth 10 points. Due dates for each report are specified on the schedule. If the assignment is due on a date other than the day the exercise was completed, it must be typed. If a post-lab assignment is due the day the lab was completed you will need to write your answers to the questions on plain white or notebook paper in ink. When answering the lab questions, do not write out the question - just include the number of the question with your answer.

Point distribution: Laboratory Exams 2 @ 75 points each 150 pointsQuizzes 4 @ 5 points each 20 pointsIndividual notebooks 10 @ 1.0 points each 10 pointsPost-lab assignments 7 @ 10 points each 70 pointsC. elegans formal report 1 @ 20 points 20 points

Total possible points: 270 points

NOTE: The grade for any assignment which is turned in late will be lowered 1 grade per day after the due date. Late reports will not be accepted if turned in after 4 days from the due date.

Percentage to Letter Grade Conversion: 93-100 = A 88-92 = A-

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86-87 = B+ 83-85 = B 78-82 = B-76-77 = C+ 73-75 = C 68-72 = C-66-67 = D+ 58-65 = D

0-57 = F

NOTE: I do not “bump” students to the next grade level if you have not earned enough points for that grade level, so please do not ask. All grades posted at the end of the semester are final, unless a calculation error has occurred.

Tentative Course Schedule: Wk Week of Topic Lab Report Materials Due

1 Aug 24 1 - Microscopy 2 Aug 31 2 – Electrophoresis lab Microscopy post-lab assignment

(individual report), due beginning of periodElectrophoresis post-lab assignment (group report), due end of period

3 Sept 7 No Cell Bio Lab sessions this week (week of Sept 7) due to Labor Day holiday

4 14 3 - Membrane Permeability Membrane permeability post-lab assignment (group lab report), due at end of period

5 21 4 - Hill Reaction in Isolated Chloroplasts6 28 5 - Succinate Dehydrogenase Activity of Isolated

MitochondriaHill reaction post-lab assignment (individual lab report), due at beginning of period

7 Oct 5 Fall Break – No class8 12 Midterm Exam (Labs 1-4)9 19 6 - Cell Surface Receptors Succinate dehydrogenase post-lab

assignment (group lab report), due at beginning of periodCell surface receptors post-lab assignment (group report), due at end of period

10 26 7 - Cell Signaling in C. elegansOct 30 **Oct 30 is the last day to withdraw with a grade of "W"**

11 Nov 2 7 - Cell Signaling in C. elegans12 9 8 - Immunofluorescence C. elegans post-lab assignment

(individual formal report), due at beginning of period

13 16 8 - Immunofluorescence14 23 Thanksgiving Break – No class15 30 Final Exam (Labs 5-8) Immunofluorescence post-lab

assignment (individual report), due at beginning of period

NOTE: The instructor reserves the right to amend or correct this syllabus.

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