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Week Two – Flagellar Regeneration in Chlamydomonas

You always pass failure on the way to success.
Mickey Rooney (1920 - )

Monday – Labor Day holiday

If we could present a talk this week we would continue with the design of the first experimental study, strategies for analyzing and presenting data, criteria for selecting valid data, statistical analysis, and plotting of data. Since there are no classes, you should have time to review the presentation with notes that is posted on line. The presentation reviews material from week one and introduces the new material.

Upon reviewing the presentation, you should

  • be able to describe the components and structure of microtubules and flagella
  • be prepared to give at least one biological and one non-biological example of feedback inhibition
  • be able to describe the differences among homeostasis, a steady state (a.k.a. dynamic equilibrium), and a simple equilibrium
  • be able to name and describe the model organism, hypothesis and experiment that you will conduct this week
  • [from the presentation and graphing tutorial] be able to describe replicate sampling, experimental error, and how to use error bars in a graph
  • be able to describe the purpose of "Student's" t test, the difference between a paired and unpaired test, and the significance of a p value

Additional resources that you may find to be useful, now and when analyzing your data from this week, include the following.

On your own – before your laboratory session

Pre-laboratory orientation

  • We will assign individuals to teams before getting started
  • An instructor will present suggestions for observing cultures and for scoring samples
  • We will have time to field any questions that you might have

Laboratory work this week

We will conduct the study on the regulation of microtubule assembly in the protist Chlamydomonas. The instructor will amputate flagella and prepare the cultures. You will conduct the experiment in teams of four or five individuals, working with your own cultures.

Suggestions

Your number one objective last week was to learn to quickly find fixed/stained Chlamydomonas on a microscope slide, bring the subjects to 400x magnification, and identify/measure flagella. We will give you a sample on which to practice before we start the actual experiment, in case you need to refresh your memory. If you think that you are unprepared to conduct the experiment despite having a few minutes to set up the microscope and get back into practice, then please come in before your lab day to practice on your own. The laboratory will be open during the day and practice microscopes and cultures will be identified. We only ask that you sign in when you come to the laboratory on your own.

Microscope slides and cover slips are shockingly expensive. Invariably, someone in the group slimes up unused glass with Vaseline and/or leaves slides and coverslips strewn over a sinktop or bench. We will be watching for careless behavior, including wasting materials and unsafe disposal of sharp glass.

Follow-up work

  • Having completed the first laboratory study, it is time to write up the materials and methods and the results sections for the first research paper; at the next Monday lecture you will learn how to upload your results section onto the Calibrated Peer Review website
  • Download the annotated writing examples (pdf) for access to examples of writing sections of a research paper
  • Peruse the section on writing research papers (writing/analytical resources), especially the parts on organization of a research paper and materials/methods; you should refer to this resource fairly often
  • Prelab #2 – "Laboratory Math" is to be completed and submitted before your lab day

 
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Created by David R. Caprette (caprette@rice.edu), Rice University17 Aug 95
Updated 20 Aug 08