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The course will only run if enough students enrol (at least 5 students).

The registration deadline for enrollment in the course is Thursday in week 2 for the spring semester/Thursday in week 33 for the autumn semester. You will receive confirmation of whether you received a spot in Studentweb no later than Tuesday the week after the deadline.

The first lecture/orientation meeting is compulsory, which means you will lose your spot if you do not attend class that day. The time of the first lecture/orientation meeting can be found in the schedule on the course website or on the ¿Mitt UiB¿ learning platform.

Objectives:

The course aims to provide students with adequate theoretical and practical knowledge sufficient to use a variety of biophysical methods on molecular biology systems. The course will provide an understanding of the physical principles underpinning the techniques, as well as describing their technology and their applications. As this is a practical course, an important goal is to give students practical training through demonstrations, laboratory exercises and data analyses, as well as providing training in presenting the data in the form of report writing.

Content:

The course will focus on CW domain, a protein domain which is actively researched at the Department of Molecular Biology and at other research institutes. The CW-domain is part of a larger enzyme that bind to histones and performs specific acetylation. It is an important protein within epigenetic studies. Four methods will be applied to the protein-domain. Thermal stability monitored by tryptophan fluorescence, Surface Plasmon Resonance for quantification of binding kinetics and binding constants, Isothermal Calorimetry for quantitating binding and solving thermodynamic parameters of the system, and finally high resolution NMR for tracking the specific amino acids involved in the binding of the ligand

On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The student can explain

• the structural biology and epigenetics needed to understand the system they are working with
• what that makes the CW domain and attractive scientific study
• the theoretical foundation of each technique
• what information one can get from each technique, and what their strengths and limitations are
• the technological principle that underpins each of the techniques
• the HSE requirements relevant to the practical parts of each exercises

Skills

The students can ...

• handle reagents, instruments and software well enough to solve each of the four student exercises
• present and discuss results in the form of reports and also orally in groups
• put results from individual exercises into context with each other and with existing literature

General competence

The student is able to

• design and conduct experiments within the four methods taught in the course
• write reports holding a good scientific standard
• combine methods in project design and interpretation of results, so that broader conclusions can be reached

Structural Molecular Biology (MOL310) and MOL300 Practical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

MOL310 can be taken in parallel.

Laboratory exercises and demonstrations.

Obligatory activities are valid for total six semesters.

The first lecture/orientation meeting is compulsory.

Reports from laboratory exercises and demonstrations (30%) and written exam, 4 hours (70%).

The written exam and the laboratory exercises and demonstrations must be completed and compulsory activity approved, to obtain a grade in the teaching semester.

The laboratory exercises and demonstrations are valid for six semesters.

For a semester without teaching, the student may take the final exam if laboratory exercises and demonstrations is approved. The result of this exam will constitute 70 % and the laboratory exercises and demonstrations 30 % of the final grade.

Examination support materials: Non- programmable calculator, according to model listed in faculty regulations