Microbial Diversity Lab

Catalog description

This lab course is project-oriented. Students perform a series of classical enrichments and isolations, starting from environmental samples collected by the students themselves. Some of these isolations serve as the starting materials for a series of modern molecular biology experiments, in which students purify DNA, amplify ribosomal DNA by PCR, and have a portion of this gene sequenced. This sequence information is the starting point for the term project, a detailed molecular phylogenetic analysis of the isolated organisms. Students will be required to provide their own transportation during non-scheduled class time for local field sample collection.