Build a Steroid

In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about the molecular structure of steroids. See the intermediate molecules that are part of the pathway for synthesizing cortisone from diosgenin.

DNA Separation Lab in the Classroom and in Real-World Research

This video produced by WGBH features students in the Amgen-Bruce Wallace Biotechnology Lab Program preparing a recombinant DNA molecule, and examines how this work relates to the way real-life scientists approach similar work.

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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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HIV Immunity

Although repeatedly exposed to HIV, Steve Crohn's blood cells were never infected. Dr. David Ho investigates in this video segment from NOVA: "Surviving AIDS."

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Making Cortisone From Plants

This video segment adapted from NOVA is a dramatized story of chemist Percy Julian’s work to synthesize cortisone. Find out how a biological process, not a chemical one, proved the key to producing cortisone in bulk.

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Mouse Party

In this interactive activity from The University of Utah, examine the molecular mechanisms that affect the brains of mice on drugs. Learn how different drugs create different responses in the brain and alter the natural state of a mouse.

Nature's Pharmacy

In this interactive activity from NOVA, learn about chemicals in nature that are used in medicine.

Process Technology

In this video adapted from ATETV, learn about the field of process technology and what it takes to work in the field from the perspectives of a student, a community college professor, and an industry specialist.

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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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Protein Purification Lab in the Classroom and in Real-World Research

This video produced by WGBH features students in the Amgen-Bruce Wallace Biotechnology Lab Program purifying a protein, and also examines the motivations people have for choosing a career in science.

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Recombinant DNA Lab in the Classroom and in Real-World Research

This video produced by WGBH features students in the Amgen-Bruce Wallace Biotechnology Lab Program inserting a recombinant DNA molecule into bacterial cells, and illustrates how industry and academic scientists use the exact same techniques.

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Ringed-Carbon Compounds

In this interactive activity adapted from NOVA, learn about alkaloids and steroids, both examples of compounds with carbon rings. Short videos with interviews, animations, and photographs are featured.

RNAi Therapy

In this video segment adapted from NOVA scienceNOW, learn about RNAi's potential to treat a wide range of genetic and infectious diseases.

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Scientific Processes

In this interactive activity adapted from NOVA, expand your understanding of the scientific process. Watch two videos featuring animations and interviews with scientists, and notice how the processes unfold and vary from one investigation to the other.

Synthesizing an Alkaloid

In this video segment, adapted from NOVA, learn how chemist Percy Julian revolutionized chemistry by synthesizing the alkaloid physostigmine from scratch—the first total synthesis of a chemical compound.

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Synthesizing a Steroid

This video segment, adapted from NOVA, tells the story of chemist Percy Julian's quest to make progesterone from a plant steroid, an important medical advancement of the 1940s.

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