CRC Press Biochemistry in the Lab: A Manual for Undergraduates

Most lab manuals assume a high level of knowledge among biochemistry students, as well as a large amount of experience combining knowledge from separate scientific disciplines. Biochemistry in the Lab: A Manual for Undergraduates expects little more than basic chemistry. It explains procedures clearly, as well as giving a clear explanation of the theoretical reason for those steps. Key Features: Presents a comprehensive approach to modern biochemistry laboratory teaching, together with a complete experimental experience Includes chemical biology as its foundation, teaching readers experimental methods specific to the field Provides instructor experiments that are easy to prepare and execute, at comparatively low cost Supersedes existing, older texts with information that is adjusted to modern experimental biochemistry Is written by an expert in the field This textbook presents a foundational approach to modern biochemistry laboratory teaching together with a complete experimental experience, from protein purification and characterization to advanced analytical techniques. It has modules to help instructors present the techniques used in a time critical manner, as well as several modules to study protein chemistry, including gel techniques, enzymology, crystal growth, unfolding studies, and fluorescence. It proceeds from the simplest and most important techniques to the most difficult and specialized ones. It offers instructors experiments that are easy to prepare and execute, at comparatively low cost. Review Author Lasseter (biochemistry, Christopher Newport Univ.) has written several laboratory manuals for general chemistry. This manual provides 18 chapters, each dealing with a single biochemical laboratory procedure. Several chapters end with a goal―assemble the methods and materials to use―and an optional goal―use and test materials after they are prepared. All chapters end with pre-lab and post-lab questions as well as references. Topics covered include buffers, assays, protein concentrations, ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoabSorption Assay), salting out biomolecules, isoelectric points and effective charges, column chromatography, Michaelis-Menten kinetics (biochemical reaction rates), protein purification, polyacrylamide gels and their uses, computational biochemistry (the example used is the evolution of globins), growing crystals of hemoglobin, enzyme inhibition, multisubstrate kinetics, fluorescence and denaturation, fluorescence studies of ligand binding, DNA restriction digests (i.e., determination of sites), and western blotting (combined use of ELISA and immunostaining). In the current pandemic time, applicability of any lab manual given total shutdown of academic labs followed by only partial reopening is problematic, yet resources are available for teaching science labs under these conditions. Undergraduate students of biochemistry and their instructors will appreciate this book given the appropriate conditions for use. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Students enrolled in two-year technical programs. Graduate students and faculty. --R. E. Buntrock, independent scholar, CHOICE