BIO 211 Cell Biology Lab: JoVE Videos

The JoVE Science Education Collection is the revolutionary video database dedicated to teaching laboratory fundamentals through simple, easy to understand video demonstrations.
The Collection includes videos on:
General Laboratory Techniques
Basic Methods in Cellular and Molecular Biology
Essentials of Biology 1: yeast, Drosophila and C. elegans
Essentials of Biology 2: Mouse, Zebrafish, and Chick

TO USE OFF CAMPUS: You must make an account using your Stonehill.edu email address. You can create any password.

The polymerase chain reaction or PCR is a widely used method for amplifying DNA fragments. PCR uses thermocycling, which is the repeated heating and cooling of the reaction via three distinct temperatures called denaturation, annealing and extension or elongation.

DNA Gel Electrophoresis is a technique used to separate and identify DNA fragments based on size.
DNA fragments of various sizes are loaded into a porous gel made from agarose – a carbohydrate found in red algae.
When an electric field is applied, the fragments will migrate through the gel, thanks to the negatively charged phosphate groups in DNA nucleotides.
Smaller pieces of DNA will more easily migrate through the gel than larger fragments, which have a more difficult time moving through the gel matrix.
When the gel run is complete the location of your DNA samples can be compared to a series of fragments or bands of known sizes, called a DNA ladder.
The presence of your fragment of interest can then be confirmed based on its size, which is determined by comparing the relative location of your test sample to the fragments of the ladder.

In order to understand the SDS-PAGE technique, you must first understand its principle components. SDS-PAGE stands for Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Poly-Acrylamide Gel Electrophoresis. Sodium-Dodecyl Sulfate, the first part of this, or “SDS”, is an anionic detergent. This means that it is composed of a hydrophilic group with a net negative charge and a long hydrophobic chain with neutral charge.

The ELISA, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, is a widely used method for determining the presence or absence of a specific target protein.
Via a series of washing and binding steps, an antibody conjugated, or linked, to an enzyme will recognize a target protein at the bottom of a 96-well plate. When substrate is added to the sample, an enzymatic reaction will occur, causing a color change that allows the identification and quantification of the target protein.

The micropipettor is an important instrument used to precisely measure small volumes of liquid. This research tool, which can be found in numerous research laboratories across the globe, comes in several shapes and sizes. However, despite the variation amongst micropipettors, all of them work in a similar way to accurately measure microliter quantities of liquid. Micropipettors are used with disposable tips, that, like micropipettors, come in a range of sizes.

The centrifuge is an instrument used in nearly every biomedical research lab across the globe.
Centrifugation is a process by which a centrifuge is used to separate components of a complex mixture.
By spinning laboratory samples at very high speeds, the components of a given mixture are subjected to centrifugal force, which causes more dense particles to migrate away from the axis of rotation and lighter ones to move toward it. These particles can sediment at the bottom of the tube into what’s known as a pellet, and this isolated specimen, or the remaining solution, the supernatant, can be further processed or analyzed.

Bacterial transformation is a widely used method where foreign DNA is introduced into a bacterium, which can then amplify, or clone the DNA. Cells that have the ability to readily take up this DNA are called competent cells. Although transformation is naturally occurring in many types of bacteria, scientists have found ways to artificially induce and enhance a bacterial cell’s competency. In this video we will talk about one of these ways, heat shock transformation.

The microplate reader is a widely-used instrument that allows for many samples to be simultaneously measured, as if many miniscule experiments were being performed at the same time.
This apparatus is used in conjunction with multiwell plates, like the 96 well plate.
Regardless of the type of experiment run with the microplate reader, standard curves are often used to determine the value of experimental samples, as well as positive and negative controls.

Western Blotting is a powerful technique utilized by many researchers to identify the presence of specific proteins in an electrophoretically-separated sample using antibodies.