Fluorescent proteins are used often in laboratory research. Dr. Roger Tsien at UCSD developed a rainbow of colors that you can transform into bacteria in your classroom!
Students will use column chromatography to isolate the fluorescent proteins from a mixture of cell debris.
Students will use tyrosinase extracted from mushrooms to create an enzymatic reaction under different conditions. After comparing the results of each condition, it is clear which factors affect enzyme function.
Ocean acidification is a phenomenon related to current global climate changes, and is becoming a major threat to marine ecosystems ranging from tropical coral reefs to the chilly waters of the Antarctic. In this lesson, students observe and investigate the mechanisms driving ocean acidification. The lesson and lab make connections to basic chemical principles such as acids/bases and the pH scale.
RNAi is an excellent way to examine the process of the central dogma. In this lab, we will look at the microscopic nematode, C. elegans.
Students learn that odors are molecules that have a specific shape. Students also learn why chemists write chemicals the way they do!
Graduate Fellow Alfred Chappell & Teacher Partner David Buse
Students explore principles of enzyme activity and measure the amylase content of their own saliva.
Graduate Fellow Meg Eckles & Teacher Partner Jeff Kepper
Ecology is a grand synthesis of biological interactions, and can be overwhelming in its complexity. Using the biology of bees as a guide, we have developed curriculum designed to make these interactions and relationships more accessible to students.
Graduate Fellow Sheila Walsh & Teacher Partner Frank Luera
San Diego bird biodiversity is used as a case study to teach students about biodiversity patterns and processes (San Diego is a biodiversity hotspot, and is threatened with habitat loss).
Graduate Fellow Shawn Yost & Teacher Partner Darci Kimball
Students explore the procedure used to determine if a patient has cancer.
Graduate Fellow Shanique Young & Teacher Partner Kim Elliot
Students compete to see who can survive as a migrating cell while learning what cells need to survive.
Graduate Fellow Sam Lasse & Teacher Partner Don Mackay
Students use fluorescent protein technology to investigate DNA damage by UV light.
Graduate Fellow Ignacio Vilchis & Teacher Partner Jennifer Jackson
Students explore seabird evolution over geologic time. The lifestyle of seabirds dictates the shape and size of their wings. Graphing this ratio helps students understand and illustrate these adaptations.
Graduate Fellow Tamara Bhandari & Teacher Partner Camille Fowler
How do you make a superbug? Bacteria are rapidly evolving resistance to many antibiotics. How does this happen, and can students recreate the process?
Graduate Fellow Tristan Carland & Teacher Partner Tom McElfresh
Phylogenetics, dichotomous keys, and shark diversity.
Graduate Fellow Roger Chang & Teacher Partner Autumn Ross
Students take a look at a scientist’s genome, and have to figure out whether this scientist has a potentially troublesome variant of a gene.
Graduate Fellow Lindsay Lewellyn & Teacher Partner Darci Kimball
RNA interference is explored through the use of nematodes. Students deplete proteins in the roundworms and watch as the worms become short and fat.
Graduate Fellow Alyssa Wu-Zhang & Teacher Partner Jesse Wade Robinson
This activity explores how Roger Tsien developed a rainbow of proteins from GFP and RFP.
Graduate Fellow Nicole Swann & Teacher Partner Matt Leader
This lesson introduces students to many methods in neuroscience, including lesion studies, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
Graduate Fellow Adam Koerner & Teacher Partner Tom McElfresh
Students learn how brain waves are read through electroencephalography (EEG), and compete in brain games to learn about brain-computer interfaces.
Graduate Fellow Jillian Blatti & Teacher Partner Jenelle Javier
Students explore the principles behind biofuels.
Graduate Fellow Gloriana Gallegos Trujillo & Teacher Partner Jessica McSwain
Students explore biodiversity, genetics, and ecology through the discovery of nematodes in their local soil.
Graduate Fellow Ameya Phadke & Teacher Partner Ryan Benedict
To help teach students the roles of organelles, students act out those roles in a race to see which cell can create proteins first!
Graduate Fellow Shamim Sinnar & Teacher Partner Victor Rodriguez
Proteins’ effects on neuron morphology.
Graduate Fellow Sarah Burnett & Teacher Partner Dave Buse
Students explore inside the cell, looking at protein-protein interactions.
Graduate Fellow Erilynn Heinrichsen & Teacher Partner Lynda Spendlove
Students design, draw, and see mutants! How do you mutate a fly? Through its DNA, of course. Students begin with a mutation and figure out how genotype leads to phenotype.
Graduate Fellow John Yamauchi & Teacher Partner Dominic Dirksen
Students will synthesize a protein as individual amino acids and function as a catalyst.