Aaron Coleman
|
 |
All fields of biology are based on methodical experimentation. Therefore, laboratory classes where students perform well-designed experiments using relevant techniques are an essential part of an undergraduate education in biology. Designing experiments that allow the maximum amount of hands-on student participation can be difficult in courses with high enrollment and large numbers of students per laboratory section. Our focus is to come up with laboratory projects for the Biological Sciences undergraduate lab courses that provide the highest educational benefit to the students while still being manageable with the high enrollment numbers here at UCSD. In designing experiments to accomplish this, each of the following must be achieved.
A. Students directly participate in all phases of the experiment.
B. The experiments utilize important techniques that are widely used in research and industry.
C. The experiments will answer thought provoking questions about interesting biological systems.
D. The experiments are streamlined and efficient enough to accommodate large numbers of students and be completed within a defined amount of time.
Courses
BIBC 103 Biochemical Techniques
This course introduces a variety of laboratory techniques used in biochemistry and molecular biology. These include protein purification methods, expression and purification of recombinant proteins in bacterial cells, and analysis of biological molecules by electrophoresis, Western blotting, and enzyme activity assays. Concepts and background on the techniques is covered in a lecture setting, followed by hands-on work in the lab where the techniques are utilized to answer questions about some intriguing biological systems. The laboratory work consists of three multi-day experimental projects, as well as some smaller, single-day experiments. The importance of good experimental design, including the use of appropriate controls, is highlighted in all experiments. Fundamental lab skills such as pipetting and good notebook keeping are also emphasized.
Sample of experiment from Biochemical Techniques Lab Manual
Lab 7—Sea Urchin Fertilization and MAP Kinase Activity
Over the next three labs, you will be investigating some of the molecular events that occur during fertilization of the sea urchin egg. Specifically, you will be looking at how the activity of the enzyme MAP kinase changes at fertilization, and what the triggers are that cause this change in activity. You will perform a Western blot to analyze these changes in MAP kinase activity.
BIBC 102 Metabolic Biochemistry
This course examines the concepts of energy and metabolism, and how they are harnessed and regulated at the cellular and molecular level. The action of enzymes is examined, including the kinetics of enzyme-catalyzed reactions, the chemical mechanisms through which enzymes produce catalysis, and the regulation of catalytic activity. The remainder of the course covers the various metabolic pathways by which biological molecules are broken down to provide energy for the cell, and by which new biological molecules are synthesized. In our study of metabolism we will try to understand how energy flows and is utilized by the cell, whether in oxidation of glucose to produce ATP or in the harnessing of light energy by photosynthesis. This will include how free energy changes for the reactions in metabolic pathways are managed in the cell, and also how these pathways are regulated so that metabolism occurs in coordinated fashion.
Research Interests
The signal transduction of fibroblast growth factors (FGFs), and how FGF signaling can alter cellular sensitivity to DNA damaging agents and anti-cancer drugs.
Coleman, A.B. (2003). Positive and negative regulation of cellular sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs by FGF-2. Drug Resistance Updates 6:85-94.
Coleman, A.B., Metz, M., Donohue, C., Schwarz, R., and Kane, S.E. (2002) Chemosensitization by fibroblast growth factor-2 is not dependent on proliferation, S-phase accumulation, or p53 status. Biochemical Pharmacology 64:1111-1123.
Coleman, A.B., Momand, J., and Kane, S.E. (2000) Basic fibroblast growth factor sensitizes NIH 3T3 cells to apoptosis induced by cisplatin. Molecular Pharmacology 57:324-333.
