Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

BCH-5425-01 (#00477) Credits: 03

Spring 1999

Mon Wed Fri 1:25 - 2:15 213 HTL

Dr. Michael Blaber
104 I.M.B.
644-5870
blaber@sb.fsu.edu

Office Hours: Monday 4:00-5:00, and by appointment

"Biotechnology" pretty much burst on the scene in the late 1970's. Initially, it dealt primarily with the ability to manipulate DNA, and ultimately, use bacteria as little biological factories to produce human proteins. It spawned an entirely new industry, in the same area that nurtured the computer industry - Silicon Valley in the California bay area. Companies started up (and sometimes closed up) overnight. Stories of starving postdocs becoming millionaires overnight are true (sadly, not for me!). Human proteins which were difficult, or impossible, to isolate in therapeutically useful amounts could now be produced by the train load (or so was the promise). A couple of the early successes in manufacturing (and actual approval to sell) included human insulin and human growth hormone. However, after a while it was realized that proteins as drugs have a lot of problems associated with them:

• They are typically not orally active (which means you have to inject them, or worse, be admitted to a hospital to get treatment), they have a typically short shelf life (or worse, they need to be stored refrigerated)
• They typically have a short in vivo half-life (meaning you have to keep dosing the patient and thus, treatments can be expensive).

As a result, "Biotechnology" has probably produced fewer new drugs on the market than people initially expected. However, in the areas of protein chemistry, biophysical chemistry, molecular biology, human genomics, gene therapy, etc., etc., "Biotechnology" has been charging ahead with great success, and now means many things to many people. Actually, with the standardization of techniques, and the availability of numerous "kits" for different molecular biology techniques, "Biotechnology" has resulted in the cross-fertilization of historically separate scientific disciplines. One of the best examples I can think of is the study of protein structure. One of the traditional methods for determining protein structures is x-ray crystallography - until recently the domain of the physicist. Scientists who solved protein structures often had ideas about which amino acids might be critical for function or the shape of the protein. However, they had no way to test their ideas. Mutating the gene for a protein, expressing it and purifying it allowed the physicist to test their ideas. This is just one example. There are many, many researchers in Biology, Chemistry and Physics who could realize some of their research ideas if they had a better understanding of how to perform basic genetic manipulations, and in some cases, express, purify and characterize proteins.

So, that is pretty much the goal for this class: I believe it is in the best interest of Biochemistry graduate students, regardless of their ultimate area of expertise, to have a working knowledge of "Biotechnology", i.e. how to manipulate DNA (and RNA), as well as express, purify and characterize proteins.

Since other courses offer in depth coverage of gene expression and development (PCB 5595), microbiology (BSC 6922) and chemical separations (CHM 5154), we will cover only essential material relevant to the subject at hand, with a minimum of overlap with these other courses. Students wishing to increase their understanding in these specific areas are encouraged to take advantage of the above courses, as well as various workshops which are taught from time to time.

• Molecular Cell Biology, Lodish, et al., Scientific American Books ISBN 0-7167-2380-8
• Bacteria in Biology, Biotechnology and Medicine, Paul Singleton, 3^rd edition, 1995 Wiley and Sons ISBN 0-471-95811-5
• New England Biolabs Catalog (you can get this free by calling NEB at 1 800 NEB-LABS also http://www.neb.com)
• Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual Vol I-III (also known as "Maniatis"), Sambrook et al., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press ISBN 0-87969-309-6
• PCR, Newton and Graham, Bios Scientific Publishers ISBN 1-872748-82-1

Recommended

• Molecular Biology and Biotechnolgy Robert A. Meyers, Ed. 1995 VCH Publishers, Inc.
• A basic genetics text, I use my old graduate school text by Ursula Goodenough (no jokes, please)

There will be three midterms and a final. Each will be worth 100 points, for a total of 400 points.

Lecture notes are available on CDROM and the web at http://wine1.sb.fsu.edu/bch5425/bch5425.html . Old exams and homeworks are available on CDROM only.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Monday, Jan 18

Spring Break Monday, Mar 8 through Friday, Mar 12

Also: there will be a couple of days I will be away at a meeting. These days will be announced ahead of time.
 

Calendar 

1998 Michael Blaber