Molecular Cell Biology 101: Have Fun!


	*Molecular Cell Biology 101: Have Fun!*

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ISMCBPR
		I know, most of you want to be a part of a molecular lab. and dream to have a bench designated as your own. But wait a second....Do you really know how to do it? You might say, "Yes it's like mixing cocktails." Do not misinterpret it as an easy stuff. When you said "cocktail", you're transforming the lab. into a radioactive arena. Remember, molecular biology has some special terms which you need to intertwine with. Don't approach the bench if you are insecure. Leave a distance of about a meter or so. Take a seat and wait for the protocol to be handed over to you or in some cases you need to hunt it yourself. Feel comfortable and start with number 1. "It's the DNA. Then what? That whitish stuff. Where is the DNA?" Before you start boasting, learn to "visualize" the DNA. Examine the bonds which holds them. The bases which interlace their interiors."Then wait a second. Why do I need to put it in hot water then/or in freezer? Are we preparing some cold cuts here?" If you have seen a bit of the chemical properties of the DNA, you must also understand its physical properties. That's why you put it in cold or in hot. As you proceed to numbers 2 or 3 and so on.. you will meet EDTA and the other Tris species, cold ethanol, purplish ethidium bromide,TEMED, mercaptoethanol (the latter two remain very well in the memory), proteinase K and the so many unique or common ones... these are indispensable materials for your tests but before you use these know their biochemical functions with the test substance(s). It's easy for you to say later why such things happen. Otherwise, submerged yourself in the kitchen with a recipe at hand, mixing various ingredients and expecting any result.. why you add this to that and you don't know why? "Ok, never mind. I think it's fine as long as it looks palatable." Molecular Biology calls for quality work.. so imagine carefully toiling on the forever changing structural/ biochemical attire of the molecule from the ist step to forever. In addition, in Molecular Biology, you need to have a sharp "third eye." which could formulate an image of your expected result. You are dealing with molecules in action so you cannot see them (in the molecular and atomic levels). It is the scientist's imagination that comes in. "Is the DNA denatured? Did it bind with dCTPs? Was the gene isolated?" The succeeding protocol step could help answer in the absence of "special detectors." In that tiny ependorf your "third eye" has to burst with energy. It is your "little brain" full of imaginations and expectations which could answer what's happening inside the small vial. If it did not work then there is something that you need to do to make it work because you think with your "third eye." For queries on protocol problems, ISMCBPR has a group web page (known as: ask_mol_cel_biol_experts) under Solving Problems in Molecular and Cell Biology Protocols. This I hope could ease your queries. OK. Wishing You all A Happy Molecular Cell Biology 101 Class. This I believe will take a semester long...or more?

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