This course will introduce the student to the major concepts of biotechnology. The student will discuss genetic engineering of plants and animals and the current major medical, environmental, and agricultural applications of each. There are also a variety of topics that this course will cover after ranging from nanobiotechnology to environmental biotechnology. Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to: identify and describe the fields of biotechnology; compare and contrast forward and reverse genetics and the way they influence biodiversity; compare and contrast systemic studies of the genome, transcriptome, and proteome; explain how genome projects are performed, and discuss the completion and the information processing in these projects; describe and explain the principles of existing gene therapies; design strategies that support genetic counseling; explain and analyze DNA fingerprints, and compare DNA fingerprints to non-DNA biometrics; describe and compare bioremediation technologies in air, water, and soil; design strategies for generating genetically modified organisms, and discuss ethical concerns; discuss emerging fields in biotechnology. (Biology 403)

This audio segment is a National Public Radio story on New York State's DNA profiling of criminals.

These photographs supplied by Genelex Corporation depict actual DNA fingerprints and show the types of information that can be gleaned from them.

Human DNA profiling has applications in paternity testing and forensics. This exercise provides students the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with procedures that are currently used to extract DNA from their own cells, quantify the DNA in the extract, perform a multiplex PCR amplification of several loci used in forensic analysis, and determine their own genotype at those loci. In addition, methods for analyzing results relative to existing population databases will be presented. The exercise is normally presented in the context of a laboratory course in Forensic DNA Analysis that presents students with a variety of techniques that have been and/or continue to be employed in forensic laboratories.

Find out in this USA Today article how DNA sequences can vouch for a souvenir's authenticity.

This site invites students to take the special agent challenge, spend a day in the life of an FBI employee, follow a case through the FBI lab, learn about investigations throughout the world, see specially trained dogs that locate bombs and drugs, and read about the history of the FBI.

Find out how DNA profilers analyze bits of tissue to identify human remains. From NOVA: "Lost on Everest" Web site.

In this laboratory exercise students will learn how to: (a) Isolate DNA from individual sturgeon and other fish eggs (available at any local deli that sells caviar) using the DNAzol method, (b) Set up control and species-specific PCR reactions using primers that have been developed for DNA from sturgeon species and (c) Use electrophoresis and methylene blue and/or ethidium bromide staining to visualize the PCR products. This laboratory exercise would allow students to contribute to a growing DNA database on endangered species.

This website gives electronic access to several thousand pathology specimens in our pathology teaching collection. It is intended for use by undergraduate and postgraduate students in the health sciences. There are currently three main catalogues for: 1) the anatomical pathology collection, 2) the forensic pathology collection, and 3) the obstetrics and gynaecology collection. A paediatric pathology section is in the pipeline. This is an historical collection begun in the 1920s, so the cataloguing is rather old-fashioned. The specimens are catalogued by organ or system, e.g., kidneys, and then by broad pathological category, e.g., neoplasms. Each specimen has a brief description and commentary, along with good quality photographs. The emphasis is on macroscopic pathology - we are aiming to include more radiographic imaging and also microscopy going forward. The site also includes a more detailed section with student cases that are useful as teaching cases, specialist cases that present unusual cases, and a few online exhibitions around special topics. The website is a work in progress, so much of our material is still in the process of being reviewed and uploaded. For all that use the website, please be respectful of all the specimens and their images. Although anonymous now, they originate from real patients whose diseases were often distressing, painful and fatal.

As a former student once commented, "PCR is the sliced bread of molecular biology". Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a process that allows an investigator to amplify a portion of a single piece of DNA into over one billion copies. We have used PCR with our Introductory Biology students to generate a simple "DNA fingerprint". This exercise will outline all the steps required to generate a DNA fingerprint for each student during two lab meetings. This article covers the background information concerning the relevant techniques and the specific details required for students to isolate their own DNA from a single hair follicle, prepare their DNA for PCR, load an agarose gel, and analyze their DNA samples.