Life Sciences lab classes explained

As part of practical 1 you need to draw a couple of Zebrafish embryos and add a scale bar indicating the size of the embryo. In order to do this you will have to be able to measure the embryos under the microscope. You might find this a little tricky so I have written this step-by-step guide to help you out.... To make any measurements with your microscope you will need to calibrate your   eyepiece micrometer   using a   stage micrometer .  So, first of all, what are these? Eyepiece micrometer  : This is a fine scale that fits inside the eyepiece lens.                                       Its units are  arbitrary. Stage micrometer   : This is a scale fitted on to a coverslip. The size of the divisions are  known . Your aim is to find out how big one division is on the   eyepiece micrometer   at the magnification you are using.  You will find this out by comparing the  eyepiece micrometer   with the known scale on the   stage micrometer .  This is called  calibrating your eyep

In your first practical you will be trying your hand at  biological diagrams .  You will get lots of guidance  in the lab, but I thought I'd share with you some important tips.... Seeing as pictures speak a thousand words, I have created some drawings of the femur or thigh bone in different styles so you can see what makes a good, bad and ugly biological drawing... This is a  bad biological drawing ! You are not after an artistic picture with lots of shading! Plus the title is not very descriptive, unsuitably placed and written untidily. And where are the annotations? Where is the scale bar? Basically, this diagram may look quite pretty but it is actually totally rubbish! This is an  ugly biological drawing !  It is too sketchy - the outer line is not continuous but it is made out of lots of short lines. The labels are not very descriptive and the label lines are untidy and not straight. Again the title is  not very descriptive, unsuitably placed and written untidily

In your first lab you will be considering whether Zebrafish embryos treated with alcohol can be used as a model organism for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome i.e. do Zebrafish embryos respond in the same way to alcohol as human embryos? So what is Foetal Alcohol Syndrome? Foetal Alcohol Syndrome is a range of mental and physiological defects that can develop when alcohol crosses the placenta to the foetus. Symptoms include: Stunted growth A reduced jaw Damaged Neurons Cognitive impairments Heart defects Small eyes A small head Short stature Reduced muscle tone I wonder if you are going to be able to spot any of these in your alcohol treated Zebrafish embryos... Your life107 teaching team

It's not long now and you'll be doing your first practical! Here is a short and sweet summary of what you are going to be doing to help you get into the swing of things :)   (don't forget to read your lab manual for all the glorious details) You will be using a microscope to observe  Zebrafish embryos   (exciting!). You will be looking to see what differences there are between embryos that have and have not been treated with alcohol. Then you will be considering whether Zebrafish embryos are a suitable model for human embryos with  Foetal Alcohol Syndrome .   In this practical you will learn how to: use a compound microscope  create accurate biological drawings of a microscope specimen make measurements of specimens under the microscope This is how the session will be organised: Activity 1 :  Set up a compound microscope (one each) Activity 2 :  Get an untreated Zebrafish embryo onto a slide and examine with your microscope

Hello and welcome to ' inside 107 and 109 ' from your teaching team ! We  writing this blog especially for all you wonderful students taking   LIFE107   and  LIFE109   in the School of Life Sciences at Liverpool!! Some of the fantastic things you will find on this blog are: short and snappy explanatory posts about different aspects of your practical classes tips for different exercises worked examples for LIFE109 math problems links between your lab work and the maths you learn in LIFE109 a chance to ask questions and get quick feedback We are writing this blog as the year progresses, and so if you have any requests for what you want us to include  let us know !!! So sit back and enjoy an interesting, possibly amusing, but definitely useful regular read of this blog. We'd recommend entering your email address on the right in the ' follow by email ' box so that you get blog posts automatically appearing in your inbox. Posts coming for your first pr