Agarose Gel Demos

Watch a "how-to" video on the proper technique of preparing an agarose gel for use in gel electrophoresis in this video segment from Austin Community College. A supplementary video shows the proper technique for pouring an agarose gel.

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Cancer Nanotech

This interactive slideshow adapted from NOVA scienceNOW shows some of the nanoscale structures that scientists are using in the experimental diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of cancer.

Electron Transport Chain

This illustration from Biology by Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph Levine describes the steps of the electron transport chain, the second stage in the process of cellular respiration.

Epigenetics

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how what you eat, drink, or smoke may affect the instructions your epigenomes send to your genes, and as a result, change how your DNA is expressed.

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Ethanol Biofuel

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn about one scientist's idea for using biotechnology to make ethanol a more efficient alternative to gasoline.

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Growing Bacterial Cultures

This animation produced by WGBH and Digizyme, Inc. demonstrates the techniques researchers use to isolate transformed bacteria and expand their population in order to obtain large quantities of a protein of interest.

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Krebs Cycle

This illustration from Biology by Kenneth R. Miller and Joseph Levine describes the steps of the Krebs cycle, the critical first stage in the process of cellular respiration.

Life Before Oxygen

This Interactive NOVA: "Earth" video segment looks at ancient organisms that lived anaerobically, the origins of photosynthesis, and the new forms of life this process made possible.

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Making an Agarose Gel

This video adapted from the University of Leicester demonstrates the step-by-step process of making and pouring an agarose gel, a key component in gel electrophoresis.

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Mitochondria Functions and Training

This essay by Owen Anderson describes the effects of physical exercise on the number and function of mitochondria inside muscle cells.

The Powerhouse of the Cell

This video segment describes the critical role that mitochondria play in nearly every cellular process in your body.

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Protein Purification

This animation produced by WGBH and Digizyme, Inc. demonstrates how a protein of interest is isolated from other contents in a transformed bacterial cell—a process called purification—using a lab technique called hydrophobic interaction chromatography.

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Revealing the Origins of Life

Learn how scientists explore the chemistry behind the first life on Earth and discover one way it may have arisen from simple chemicals and natural pathways, in this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW.

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Running an Agarose Gel

This video adapted from the University of Leicester provides step-by-step instructions for loading samples into an agarose gel and then running the gel to separate DNA molecules according to their size.

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Transforming Bacteria

This animation produced by WGBH and Digizyme, Inc. demonstrates the experimental technique used to introduce DNA plasmids inside bacterial cells, a process called bacterial transformation.

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Using a Micropipette

This video adapted from the University of Leicester demonstrates the proper use of different-sized micropipettes to measure precise volumes of liquid in the lab.

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Working with Small Volumes

This video from BenchFly.com demonstrates a lab technique that can be helpful when pipetting very small volumes of liquid.

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