A.G. Booth
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
University of Leeds
This problem-based laboratory simulation was written in C and is available for use on IBM PCs with Windows and on Apple Macintosh computers. It allows science undergraduates to experiment with different protein purification protocols under realistic laboratory conditions in the form of a research project. The purpose of the project is to purify one or more enzymes from a given mixture. They have the services of a skilled but uncommunicative technician. At the last minute the supervisor leaves the country on an extended sabbatical. The undergraduate has to instruct the technician and interpret all of the results. Although information on each simulated technique is available, no help is ever given and the undergraduate must cope with the consequences of their decisions. Success and failure are modelled equally accurately.
This program has been used as a "dry practical" to complement the practical classes on the same topics. It has also been used in lectures and tutorials to get under- graduates talking and thinking about the techniques of protein purification. A new mixture editor has recently been developed to create new simulated mixtures of proteins to allow the user to examine and predict how proteins with defined properties behave on various separation media.
This approach to teaching has proved to be very successful and other programs simulating the techniques of sub-cellular fractionation and gene cloning have been developed.
The versions of the program made available here are for evaluation purposes only. For use in teaching, a site license must be purchased from Oxford University Press.