Using Technology to Study
Cellular and Molecular Biology
under a contract from the
National Institutes of Health
National Center for Research Resources
5415 Mark Dabling Boulevard
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80918
BSCS Development Team
Design Conference Participants
Rodger Bybee, Principal Investigator
Philip Bourne, University of California San Diego, La Jolla,
Jerry Phillips, Project Director
California
April Gardner, Curriculum Developer
David Gorenstein, University of Texas Galveston, Galveston, Texas
Sharmila Basu, Curriculum Developer
Amy Lee, King Kekaulike High School, Pukalani, Hawaii
Carrie Hamm, Project Assistant
Maryann Martone, University of California San Diego, San Diego,
Ted Lamb, Evaluator
California
Barbara Perrin, Production Director
Joe Matteson, Pojoaque High School, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Ric Bascobert, Editor
Alexander McPherson, University of California Irvine, Irvine,
Diane Gionfriddo, Photo Research
California
Lisa Rasmussen, Graphic Designer/Illustrator
Kim Noethen, Pine Crest Preparatory School, Fort Lauderdale,
Florida
BSCS Administrative Staff
Howard Robinson, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton,
Carlo Parravano, Chair, Board of Directors
New York
Rodger W. Bybee, Executive Director
Michael Schmid, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas
Pam Van Scotter, Director, Curriculum Development Center
Rich Wasserman, Sand Creek High School, Colorado Springs,
Janet Carlson Powell, Associate Director, Chief Science
Colorado
Education Officer
Leigh Yarbrough, Cimarron High School, Cimarron, New Mexico
Larry Satkowiak, Associate Director, Chief Operating Officer
Primary Field-Test Teachers
National Institutes of Health
Patrick Beohmer, Carrington Public Schools, Carrington,
Krishan Arora, Health Scientist Administrator, National Center
North Dakota
for Research Resources
Patricia Carothers, Monte Vista High School, Danville, California
Bruce Fuchs, Director, Office of Science Education
Carlos Charriez, Northwest High School, Germantown, Maryland
William Mowczko, Project Officer, Office of Science Education
Brenda Chenier, Eastern Senior High School, Washington, District
Cindy Allen, Editor, Office of Science Education
of Columbia
Lisa Strauss, Project Officer, Office of Science Education
Carol Johnson, John Jay Science Academy, San Antonio, Texas
Amy Lee, King Kekaulike High School, Pukalani, Hawaii
Edge Interactive Staff
Catherine Ratliff, Lafayette County High School, Oxford,
Bruce Surgenor, Senior Project Manager
Mississippi
Terry Wallace, Senior Project Manager
Ann Sisson, Southern High School, Racine, Ohio
George Rosales, Art Director
Carol Wheeler, Pine Creek High School, Colorado Springs,
Bill Bolduc, Software Development Manager
Colorado
Greg Banse, Multimedia Engineer
Eric Reinhart, Multimedia Engineer
Secondary Field-Test Teachers
Dawn Emanuel, Sallisaw High School, Sallisaw, Oklahoma
Keith Gibbons, Catholic Central High School, London, Ontario,
SAIC Staff
Canada
Bach Nguyen, Project Manager
Terry Houchens, Joliet Central High School, Joliet, Illinois
Steve Larson, Web Director
Patrick Kosher, Cornell High School, Cornell, Wisconsin
Doug Green, Project Lead
Alan Wasmoen, Mt. Michael Benedictine School, Elkhorn, Nebraska
Tommy D’Aquino, Multimedia Director
Paul Ayers, Multimedia Developer
Cover Illustration
John James, Multimedia Developer
The structure of the oncogene H-Ras p21 protein complexed with
Jeff Ludden, Multimedia Programmer
GTP on the cover photograph was taken from the Protein Data
Pat Leffas, Multimedia Programmer
Bank (PDB) ( http://www.pdb.org), protein number PDB ID: 121P.
Aaron Bell, 3D Animator
(Source: Wittinghofer, F., U. Krengel, J. John, W. Kabsch, E.F. Pai.
David Kirkpatrick, Graphic Designer
1991. Three-dimensional structure of p21 in the active conforma-
Dave Nevins, Audio Engineer/Senior Web Developer
tion and analysis of an oncogenic mutant. Environmental Health
Jessica Butter, Senior Web Developer
Perspectives, 93: 11.)
Katie Riley, Web Developer
James Chandler, Web Developer/Usability Specialist
This material is based on work supported by the National Institutes
Abdellah Bougrine, Web Developer/Section 508 Specialist
of Health under Contract No. 263-00-C-0039. Any opinions, find-
Ginger Rittenhouse, Web Developer/Quality Assurance
ings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publica-
Mary Jo Mallonee, Web Developer/Editor
tion are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view
of the funding agency.
Advisory Committee
Yury Chernoff, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia
Copyright © 2005 by BSCS. All rights reserved. You have the per-
Leemor Joshua-Tor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring
mission of BSCS to reproduce items in this module for your class-
Harbor, New York
room use. The copyright on this module, however, does not cover
Sean Michael Kerwin, University of Texas, Austin, Texas
reproduction of these items for any other use. For permissions and
Loan Maas, High School Teacher, Longmont, Colorado
other rights under this copyright, please contact BSCS, 5415 Mark
Martin Shields, James Caldwell High School, West Caldwell,
Dabling Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80918-3842; www.bscs.org;
New Jersey
info@bscs.org; (719) 531-5550.
NIH Publication No. 05-5170
ISBN: 1-929614-14-4
Contents
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v About the National Institutes of Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii About the National Center for Research Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Introduction to Using Technology to Study Cellular and Molecular Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
• What are the Objectives of the Module?
• Why Teach the Module?
• What’s in It for the Teacher?
Implementing the Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
• What Are the Goals of the Module?
• What Are the Science Concepts and How Are They Connected?
• Science Content of the Lessons
• Conceptual Flow of the Lessons
• How Does the Module Correlate to the National Science Education Standards?
– Content Standards: High School
– Teaching Standards
– Assessment Standards
• How Does the 5E Instructional Model Promote Active, Collaborative, Inquiry-Based Learning?
– Engage
– Explore
– Explain
– Elaborate
– Evaluate
• How Does the Module Support Ongoing Assessment?
• How Can Controversial Topics Be Handled in the Classroom?
Using the Student Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
• Format of the Lessons
• Timeline for the Module
Using the Web Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
• Hardware/Software Requirements
• Downloading and Installing Macromedia Flash Player
• Getting the Most out of the Web Site
• Collaborative Groups
• Web Activities for Students with Disabilities
Information about Using Technology to Study Cellular and Molecular Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2 Major Preconceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 Scale and Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1 Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4 Major Techniques in the Study of Cellular and Molecular Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.1 Microscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.2 X-ray crystallography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.3 Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.4 Laser technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.5 Simulations and computations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5 Technology and the Origins of Molecular Biology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
6 The Goal of This Supplement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Student Lessons
• Lesson 1— What Is Technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
• Lesson 2— Resolving Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
• Lesson 3— Putting Technology to Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
• Lesson 4— Technology: How Much Is Enough? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Foreword
This curriculum supplement, from The NIH
ties promote active and collaborative learning
Curriculum Supplement Series, brings cutting-
and are inquiry-based to help students develop
edge medical science and basic research dis-
problem-solving strategies and critical thinking.
coveries from the laboratories of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) into classrooms.
Each curriculum supplement comes with a
As the largest medical research institution in
complete set of materials for both teachers and
the United States, NIH plays a vital role in the
students, including printed materials, exten-
health of all Americans and seeks to foster
sive background and resource information,
interest in research, science, and medicine-
and a Web site with interactive activities. The
related careers for future generations. NIH’s
supplements are distributed at no cost to teach-
Office of Science Education (OSE) is dedicated
ers across the United States. All materials may
to promoting science education and scientific
be copied for classroom use but may not be
literacy.
sold. We welcome feedback from our users.
For a complete list of curriculum supplements,
We designed this curriculum supplement to
updates, availability and ordering information,
complement existing life science curricula at
or to submit feedback, please visit our Web site
both the state and local levels and to be consis-
at http://science.education.nih.gov or write to
tent with National Science Education Standards.1
Curriculum Supplements Series
It was developed and tested by a team com-
Office of Science Education
posed of teachers, scientists, medical experts,
National Institutes of Health
and other professionals with relevant subject-
6705 Rockledge Dr., Suite 700 MSC 7984
area expertise from schools and institutes from
Bethesda, MD 20892-7984
across the country; and by NIH scientists and
curriculum-design experts from Biological Sci-
We appreciate the valuable contributions of the
ences Curriculum Study (BSCS), Edge Inter-
talented staff at BSCS, Edge Interactive, and
active, and SAIC. The authors incorporated
SAIC. We are also grateful to the NIH scientists,
real scientific data and actual case studies into
advisors, and all other participating profession-
classroom activities. A three-year development
als for their work and dedication. Finally, we
process included geographically dispersed field
thank the teachers and students who partici-
tests by teachers and students.
pated in focus groups and field tests to ensure
that these supplements are both engaging and
The structure of this module enables teachers
effective. I hope you find our series a valuable
to effectively facilitate learning and stimulate
addition to your classroom and wish you a pro-
student interest by applying scientific concepts
ductive school year.
to real-life scenarios. Design elements include a
conceptual flow of lessons based on BSCS’s 5E
Bruce A. Fuchs, Ph.D.
Instructional Model of Learning, multisubject
Director
integration emphasizing cutting-edge science
Office of Science Education
content, and built-in assessment tools. Activi-
National Institutes of Health
supplements@science.education.nih.gov
________________________
1 In 1996, the National Academy of Sciences released the National Science Education Standards, which outlines what all citizens should understand about science by the time they graduate from high school. The Standards encourages teachers to select major science concepts that empower students to use information to solve problems rather than stressing memoriza-tion of unrelated information.
v
About the National Institutes of Health
Begun as the one-room Laboratory of Hygiene
• biological effects of environmental contami-
in 1887, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
nants;
today is one of the world’s foremost medical
• understanding of mental, addictive, and
research centers and the federal focal point for
physical disorders; and
health research in the United States.
• collection, dissemination, and exchange of
information in medicine and health, includ-
Mission and Goals
ing the development and support of medical
The NIH mission is science in pursuit of funda-
libraries and the training of medical librari-
mental knowledge about the nature and behav-
ans and other health information specialists.
ior of living systems and the application of that
knowledge to extend healthy life and reduce the
Organization
burdens of illness and disability. The goals of
Composed of 27 separate institutes and centers,
the agency are to
NIH is one of eight health agencies of the Pub-
• foster fundamental creative discoveries,
lic Health Service within the U.S. Department
innovative research strategies, and their
of Health and Human Services. NIH encom-
applications as a basis for advancing signifi-
passes 75 buildings on more than 300 acres in
cantly the nation’s capacity to protect and
Bethesda, Md., as well as facilities at several
improve health;
other sites in the United States. The NIH budget
• develop, maintain, and renew scientific
has grown from about $300 in 1887 to more
resources—both human and physical—that
than $27.8 billion in 2004.
will ensure the nation’s ability to prevent
disease;
Research Programs
• expand the knowledge base in medical and
One of NIH’s principal concerns is to invest
associated sciences in order to enhance the
wisely the tax dollars entrusted to it for
nation’s economic well-being and ensure a
the support and conduct of this research.
continued high return on the public invest-
Approximately 82 percent of the investment is
ment in research; and
made through grants and contracts support-
• exemplify and promote the highest level
ing research and training in more than 2,000
of scientific integrity, public accountability,
research institutions throughout the United
and social responsibility in the conduct of
States and abroad. In fact, NIH grantees are
science.
located in every state in the country. These
grants and contracts make up the NIH Extra-
NIH works toward meeting those goals by pro-
mural Research Program.
viding leadership, direction, and grant support
to programs designed to improve the health of
Approximately 10 percent of the budget goes to
the nation through research in the
NIH’s Intramural Research Programs, the more
• causes, diagnosis, prevention, and cure of
than 2,000 projects conducted mainly in its
human diseases;
own laboratories. These projects are central to
• processes of human growth and development;
the NIH scientific effort. First-rate intramural
vii
scientists collaborate with one another regard-
trious scientists and physicians. Among them are
less of institute affiliation or scientific discipline
115 winners of Nobel Prizes for achievements as
and have the intellectual freedom to pursue
diverse as deciphering the genetic code and iden-
their research leads in NIH’s own laboratories.
tifying the causes of hepatitis.
These explorations range from basic biology to
behavioral research, to studies on treatment of
Five Nobelists made their prize-winning discov-
major diseases.
eries in NIH laboratories. You can learn more
about Nobelists who have received NIH sup-
Grant-Making Process
port at http://www.nih.gov/about/almanac/nobel/
The grant-making process begins with an idea
index.htm.
that an individual scientist describes in a writ-
ten application for a research grant. The project
Impact on the Nation’s Health
might be small, or it might involve millions of
Through its research, NIH has played a major
dollars. The project might become useful imme-
role in making possible many achievements
diately as a diagnostic test or new treatment, or
over the past few decades, including
it might involve studies of basic biological pro-
• Mortality from heart disease, the number
cesses whose clinical value may not be apparent
one killer in the United States, dropped by
for many years.
36 percent between 1977 and 1999.
• Improved treatments and detection methods
Each research grant application undergoes peer
increased the relative five-year survival rate
review. A panel of scientific experts, primarily
for people with cancer to 60 percent.
from outside the government, who are active
• With effective medications and psychother-
and productive researchers in the biomedi-
apy, the 19 million Americans who suffer
cal sciences, first evaluates the scientific merit
from depression can now look forward to a
of the application. Then, a national advisory
better, more productive future.
council or board, composed of eminent scien-
• Vaccines are now available that protect
tists as well as members of the public who are
against infectious diseases that once killed
interested in health issues or the biomedical sci-
and disabled millions of children and adults.
ences, determines the project’s overall merit and
• In 1990, NIH researchers performed the
priority in advancing the research agenda of the
first trial of gene therapy in humans. Scien-
particular NIH funding institutes.
tists are increasingly able to locate, identify,
and describe the functions of many of the
About 38,500 research and training applications
genes in the human genome. The ultimate
are reviewed annually through the NIH peer-
goal is to develop screening tools and gene
review system. At any given time, NIH supports
therapies for the general population for can-
35,000 grants in universities, medical schools,
cer and many other diseases.
and other research and research training institu-
tions, both nationally and internationally.
For more information about NIH,
visit http://www.nih.gov.
NIH Nobelists
The roster of people who have conducted NIH
research or who have received NIH support over
the years includes some of the world’s most illus-
viii
About the National Center for
Research Resources
The National Center for Research Resources
NIH-supported investigators and others special-
(NCRR) is a component of the National Insti-
ized research environments that are profession-
tutes of Health (NIH), one of the world’s fore-
ally staffed, have state-of-the-art technologies
most biomedical research organizations. The
and Web-based networks, and provide col-
institutes and centers that compose NIH fund
laborative research opportunities. NCRR also
biomedical research to uncover new knowl-
supports networks of National Gene Vector Lab-
edge that will lead to better health for everyone
oratories and Human Islet Cell Resource Cen-
in the nation. Among the NIH institutes and
ters, a resource for normal and diseased hu