Virtual laboratories in Molecular and Cell Biology - Immuno-electron-microscopy

A virtual laboratory that includes immuno-gold labelling and transmission electron micrography (immuno-EM). It allows the student to study intracellular-traffic pathways of two cell-surface receptor molecules, following stimulation of the cells with their specific ligand, for different time periods. The programme first introduces the theory underlying the techniques and includes a video of EM work in a real laboratory. The student is then taken through a series of questions which requires them to devise experiments in the virtual laboratory and interpret their electron-micrographs. Immunogold-co-labelling of the receptors and markers of intracellular compartments (Rabs) allows them to track the intracellular movement of the receptors. Data, including EMs can be saved to produce a lab-report. The programme is an installer which places all the files required to run the lab, plus the lab manual (pdf)and a model lab-report (doc) onto the hard-drive in a folder 'BioUKoer - Open University S377 Molecular and cell biology’. The laboratory programme is an executable file, written in C++.