Enzymes and Enzyme Technology

The Practical course

The practical course forms a major part of this unit. It has three purposes:
• to give you a personal experience of the stuff and operation of biochemical science,
• to support the theory presented in the lectures and tutorials,
• to allow you to practice numeracy, problem-solving and scientific reporting.

The course consists of five practical exercises over six weeks:

1 Enzyme kinetics; K_m and V_max
           Produce a draft write-up by next week
2 Enzyme productivity
           Produce a draft write-up by next week
3 Enzyme kinetics; inhibition
           Produce a draft write-up by next week
4 Glucose biosensor
           Produce a draft write-up by next week
5 Immobilsed a-amylase (two weeks)

Attendance at the practical sessions is essential. You must make every effort to attend. If you miss them (without an excuse acceptable to the Unit Leader or Course Director, e.g. a doctor-certified medical note), they cannot be retaken and marks will be lost. If an acceptable excuse is given, the practical must still be written up using data that will be provided. Most practical sessions start with a short introduction outlining the work and detailing any health and safety points. If you are late and miss this introduction, you will lose marks and may not be allowed (by the Unit Leader) into the laboratory. Unapproved non-attendance or lateness disbars you from writing up that section. As the practical course must be passed, such absences or lateness may cause failure of the unit and require the whole unit to be repeated in future years. Please note that, as these practical exercises are such an important component in this unit, transport disruption will not normally be accepted as an excuse for lateness; plan on arriving early and going to the Library before the practical.

Such plagiarism will result in automatic failure

Use of biochemical techniques in the practical exercises will be designed to reinforce the theory and develop laboratory skills. Practical course-work will aid the development of the correct style for the discussion of experimental results. All of these practical experiments require writing up. Make sure that you complete the draft write-ups in your Practical Notebooks as requested and submit them by the deadline. Do not record your observations on scrap paper; use a small permanent notebook and transfer the results when you write them up. All students should record their group’s results individually. These Notebooks will be inspected during the practical course; if they are not available for inspection, 10% of the marks may be lost. Additionally they should be submitted, together with your final report, by the Final deadline. They should additionally give details of your group members and the weekly group leaders.

At the end of each practical exercise, tidy away apparatus and the bench tops. Put dirty glassware in the containers provided. Marks will be deducted for poor laboratory etiquette

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This page was last updated by Martin Chaplin
on 23 January, 2008