Genetics Skills
Full course description
Genetics is the study of how genes bring about characteristics (or traits) in living organisms and how those characteristics are inherited, and its insights – combined with in depth knowledge of cell biology – are very valuable to circular engineers. Currently, different production processes in modern (circular) industries make use of (micro)organisms and their specific properties. Bioreactors in chemical processes, for instance, allow microorganisms – mostly bacteria, yeasts or fungi – to thrive and produce useful substances/compounds. Furthermore, the production of sufficient, safe and healthy plant foods increasingly relies on high-tech crop breeding methods (e.g. genetically modifying seeds). At the heart of these technological developments lies genetic engineering, which comprises a host of laboratory-based technologies to alter the DNA makeup of an organism.
This skills course is aimed at obtaining a basic introduction to techniques and methods currently used in modern molecular biology, thus providing the student with technical, hands-on experience in the field of genetics/molecular biology. This laboratory course is strongly related to the course CEN2020 Genetics & Cell Biology. This training is a particular useful preparation for the Sustainable Biotechnology concentration in year 3 and consists primarily of “wet lab” sessions, in combination with self-study (protocols, questionnaires, data analysis) and in silico analysis.
At the end of this course, we expect you to be able to:
- Purify genomic DNA from eukaryotic cells (buccal cells);
- Perform quantitative analyses on nucleic acids (DNA quantification using spectrophotometry);
- Analyse DNA products using agarose gel electrophoresis;
- Comprehend and perform classical polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis;
- Perform DNA restriction analysis using restriction enzymes (RE);
- Comprehend analysis of polymorphisms using Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP), including in silico analysis;
- To isolate RNA from eukaryotic cells (buccal cells);
- Synthesize complementary DNA (cDNA) by reverse transcription;
- Comprehend and perform real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR or qPCR);
- Perform computational gene expression analysis upon qRT-PCR (qPCR data analysis).