Links to files on the current site

Home

Syllabus

• Agar slant tubes
• Aseptic technique
• Assays
• Assays Illustrated
• Colony morphology
• Gram stain
• Isolating colonies
• Making serial dilutions
• Culture media
• Preparing spread plates
• Relationship to oxygen
• Viewing Gram stains
• Viewing living bacteria

• Characterization writeup
• Lab responsibilities
• Project proposal guidelines
• Using Bergey's

Supplemental pdfs

• Inoculating sticks
• Microscopy procedures

Welcome again to BIOC 318. On the home page you will find a brief introduction to the course and a description of the overall course objectives and expected learning outcomes. In addition, please look over the following information about the course, instructors, and policies. Following the course policies is a complete timetable of scheduled activities and assignments with dates, times, and locations when applicable.

The information contained in this syllabus and related pages may be subject to change, with reasonable notice, at the discretion of the instructor.

Instructors and office hours

David Caprette, Teaching Professor
ABL 327 – third floor Anderson Biological laboratory Building
caprette@rice.edu, 713-348-3498 (campus extension 3498)
Office hours are variable. Please see the table at the bottom of this page.

Charles Stewart, Professor of Biochemistry
GBH W104
crs@rice.edu, 713-348-4926 (campus extension 4926)
Office hours TBD

Preparing for the course

Please plan to apply the skills and best practices that you learned in Bioc 211, Intermediate Experimental Biosciences (course prerequisite) and in Bioc 311, Advanced Experimental Biosciences, if you have had the opportunity to complete that course.  Please check the Course Schedule (below), review the meeting schedule for your lab section, and block out the scheduled times on your calendar. You must not schedule events that conflict with any of the listed in-lab activities, nor let anyone schedule a conflicting event for you.

Required materials

You will need eye protection for this course, consisting of a pair of lab goggles or laboratory safety glasses with side protection. A lab coat will be provided. There is no textbook but you will need to obtain a laboratory notebook. You are welcome to start with a partly filled notebook from another course, even one obtained from another student. New notebooks can be purchased from the campus store or ordered directly from the distributor. Please purchase a Hayden-McNeil Carbonless TOP Permanent Lab Notebook, 50 Set or 100 Set from Amazon, from WH Freeman, or the Campus store (ISBNs below).

Chemistry Top Bound 100 pages, ISBN 978-1-930882-00-3
or
Chemistry Top Bound 50 pages, ISBN 978-1-930882-50-8

Course timetable

All meetings begin at 1 pm except for the introductory meeting on Wednesday Feb 22, which will begin at 2 pm. All meetings will be held in ABL 219 with the exception of the classroom meetings Feb 22-23. Documents listed under Preparation can be found in the Resources section on Owl-Space and are also accessible from the side menu on the BIOC 318 web pages.

Course grade

Your grade will be based upon your preparation and lab performance (20%), self reliance and contribution to team efforts (10%), laboratory notebook (20%), a monograph on a single bacterial species that you isolate and characterize (25%), and a team-written strategy for isolating rare & difficult to cultivate bacteria (25%).

Additional information and policies

Absences. Because the work in this course is part of a long term goal-oriented project, the concept of a "make-up lab" does not apply. Missing an important event is a lost opportunity that cannot be made up. As far as your course grade is concerned, absences from required meetings will be excused for the usual reasons, e.g., illness or family emergency. Absences due to circumstances within a student's control (e.g., forgetting to show up or travel for interviews) cannot be excused and will be reflected in the performance grade.

Lab safety. All participants must engage in safe laboratory practices and abide by specific "rules" set down for this course.

Late assignments. An assignment that is submitted late will lose 10% per day including holidays and weekends.

Honor code policy. As with all biosciences courses, the Rice University Honor Code applies to all personal conduct and assignments. All work submitted under your name must be your own work, not copied from another source nor completed with unauthorized assistance. Compliance with the honor code includes providing accurate information when requested, such as honest evaluations of yourself and your teammates.

Students with disabilities. Any student with a disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations should contact Dr. Caprette or Dr. Stewart as soon as possible and also contact Disabled Student Services in the Ley Student Center.

Instructor office hours