Introduction to BioBrick Construction

Introductory Synthetic Biology FALL 2009

You must come to lab prepared--this requires you to read the experimental protocols, not just print a copy of them. Bring whatever information you need to perform the experiments. The procedures for each day are available here and you will be given any additional information in the pre-lab lectures.

SPECIAL NOTE: Record enough procedure details in your notebook during each day of lab so that you can repeat these procedures using your notebook as the ONLY resource (i.e., you should not use printed web pages or handouts from previous labs).

Day 1 Cells and DNA: Tues., 20 October

Lecture Topics		Experimental Procedures
Course introduction		bacterial transformation and selection
A genetic switch: Joff Silberg (Invited Speaker)		agarose gel electrophoresis
		estimation of DNA amounts

Day 2 DNA manipulations: Thurs., 22 October

Lecture Topics		Experimental Procedures
Wiring parts to function collectively: Joff Silberg (Invited Speaker)		plasmid DNA mini prep
Registry of Standard Biological Parts		restriction enzyme (RE) digests
		estimation of DNA amounts
		agarose gel analysis of digests

Day 3 Subcloning BioBricks: Tues., 27 October

Lecture Topics		Experimental Procedures
Matt Bennett (Invited Speaker)		phosphatase treatment of vector
BioBrick Standard Assembly		DNA purif. using agarose gel
		ligation, DNA clean-up, & transformation

Day 4 PCR amplification: Thurs., 29 October

Lecture Topics		Experimental Procedures
Modeling: Christian Ray (Invited Speaker)		PCR of plasmid DNA
PCR protocols & enzymes		colony PCR
Primer design		agarose gel analysis: size & yield

Day 5 Construction of a simple circuit: Tues., 3 November

Lecture Topics		Experimental Procedures
Student presentations		build simple circuit

Day 6 Construction of a simple circuit: Thurs., 5 November

Lecture Topics		Experimental Procedures
Student presentations		build simple circuit

Day 7 Construction of a simple circuit: Tues., 10 November

Lecture Topics		Experimental Procedures
Student presentations		build simple circuit

Day 8 Construction of a simple circuit: Thurs., 12 November

Lecture Topics

Experimental Procedures

Student presentations

build simple circuit

*Project proposals and final notebook pages (including Table of Contents) are due by 3 p.m. on Thurs., 3 December (Dr. Beason's Inbox in Biology 211C)

Copyright, Acknowledgements, and Intended Use
Created by B. Beason (bbeason@rice.edu), Rice University, 4 January 2008
Updated 12 November 2009