New  Short courses in Molecular Biology

Course details

Courses organised by:

Molecular and Medical Microbiology Research Group

University of Westminster

115, New Cavendish Street

London.

 

Course Leaders:

 

Dr Pamela Greenwell                                                                     Dr Sanjiv Rughooputh

Research Co-ordinator                                                                 Lecturer

Course Director                                                                             Laboratory Manager

Laboratory Director                                                                       Knowledge Transfer Fellow (WestFocus)

Knowledge Transfer Fellow  (WestFocus)                              rughoos@wmin.ac.uk

greenwp@wmin.ackuk

 

Websites : http://www.wmin.ac.uk/cavendish/bioshort.htm

                     http://WestFocus.org.uk

 

 

1: Understanding PCR                                                                    One day laboratory/ Lecture

 

September 2005                                                  £200 (£180 for IBMS Members and RCPath trainees) 

 

 

09.30 Welcome and coffee

10.00- 10.30 Introduction to practical:  DNA isolation.

10.30- 11.30 Practical 1:  PCR Detection of sickle cell disease using PCR and RFLP: setting up the PCR.

Break

11.45-13.00 Lecture:  PCR

LUNCH

14.00-15.00 Practical 2 Restriction enzyme digest of PCR product. Preparation of agarose gel

15.00-15.45 Lecture: Primer choice and complex PCR

15.45 –16.15 Practical 3 Run gels

Break

16.15-17.15 Discussion: Utility of PCR in routine diagnostics

17.15-18.00 Practical: Visualise gels and discuss results

18.00 Refreshments

 

2: Real time PCR and Primer design                                              One day laboratory/ Lecture

 

September 2005                                          £200 (£180 for IBMS Members, RCPath trainees, ABA members and those applying through the ABA) 

 

09.30 Welcome and coffee

10.00- 11.00  Lecture: PCR and real time PCR theory. Detection chemistries

SYBR green,  TaqMan and Molecular Beacons

11.00- 12.00 Practical 1:  Quantitation of microorganisms

12.00-13.00 Lecture: Reverse transcriptase PCR , the use of housekeeping genes

LUNCH

14.00-15.00 Practical 3 View results

15.00-16.00 Lecture: Quantitation strategies

16.15 –17.15  Lecture: Primer design, BLAST and CLUSTALW

17.15-18.00 Practical: Design primers and check for specificity

18.00 Refreshments

3: Bioinformatics for  the absolute beginner                                  One day laboratory/ Lecture

19th July 2005                                                £200 (£180 for IBMS Members, RCPath trainees,ABA members and those applying through the ABA)

A  one day  theory and  practical  session that gives you an insight of bioinformatics. With new  sequence data being lodged everyday,  bioinformatics is   high on the agenda for  serious scientists who want to advance in their field.

Introduction

What is bioinformatics? ► Why is it useful? ► How can I make the best of the resources available?

Practical

1)       Internet data resources

a)       Effective interrogation of bibliographical database, accessing free journals and books, Pubmed.

b)       Uses of the On line Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database for the analysis of human inherited diseases

c)       Accessing DNA and protein sequence information using genome, gene and protein databases

d)       Specialist databases such as antibody, HLA, carbohydrate and disease specific resources

2)       Data mining: finding , analyzing and using  sequence data

a)       Sequence searching and downloading

b)       Comparisons between sequences using Blast and CLUSTALW. Uses of sequence comparisons in evolutionary studies, gene prediction and probe design.

c)       Primer design using specialist software

d)       Utilising sequence comparison tools to validate uniqueness and utility  of primers and probes.

 

4: Phage display Technology: Isolate your own antibodies          5 day laboratory/ Lecture

25th  July – 29th July 2005.                          £800 (£720 for IBMS Members,RCPath trainees,ABA members and those applying through the ABA)

Production of monoclonal antibodies  by hybridoma technology is a very labour intensive, tedious and expensive process that does not guarantee success after all the lengthy  procedures. Phage display technology,  offers a powerful alternative  to obtain target specific, genetically stable human antibodies from combinatorial libraries. This 5 day intensive  practical/ theory course will cover the essential processes  in  the production of monoclonal antibodies by phage display. The participant will have the opportunity to screen a library for their antibodies of choice  to take away!
The course structure is as follows:

Theoretical aspects
►Why phage display? : Phage display technology, Origin, Biology of filamentous phage Genome of m13 series of helper phage, Bacterial hosts and their roles and expression of antibodies in E.coli. Antibodies structure and function. ►Construction of combinatorial library from human and other animal sources: Principle of selection of ScFV, production of ScFv by Biopanning, ►Characterisation of ScFv, ELISA, DOT BLOT, Immunoblot and PCR

Practicals – using your antigen of choice

► Propagation of helper phage and phagemid   ► Panning of library

►Elution of antibodies ► Infection of E.coli and growth  ►Harvesting phage

Additional practicals

►Production of soluble antibody ►ELISA, Dot blot and immunoblot ►PCR.

 

 For details please contact          Dr Pamela Greenwell (greenwp@wmin.ac.uk )

    Dr Sanjiv Rughooputh (rughoos@wmin.ac.uk)

                         Or By phoning 0207 911 5000 ext 3690.

 

Institute of Biomedical Sciences CPD and Royal  College of Pathologists CME applied for.