UCLA Behavioral Neuroscience Title Gel Scramble: An E-Tool for Teaching Molecular Neuroscience Publication Date (original) (raw)

In this completely digital teaching module, students interpret the results of two separate procedures: a restriction endonuclease digestion, and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The first consists of matching restriction endonuclease digest protocols with images obtained from stained agarose gels. Students are given the sequence of six plasmid cDNAs, characteristics of the plasmid vector, and the endonuclease digest protocols, which specify the enzyme(s) used. Students calculate the expected lengths of digestion products using this information and free tools available on the web. Students learn how to read gels and then match their predicted fragment lengths to the digital images obtained from the gel electrophoresis of the cDNA digest. In the PCR experiment, students are given six cDNA sequences and six sets of primers. By querying NCBI BLAST, students can match the PCR fragments to the lengths of the predicted in silico PCR products.