Life107 practical 1 in a test-tube

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

                   Create biological drawing of what you see (including a scale bar)

Activity 3 : In a group mark each others drawings against some guidelines
                   Get your demonstrator to mark your drawings and give you feedback    

Activity 4 : In a group think about what you will look for in ethanol treated Zebrafish embryos 
                   to decide whether they resemble human embryos with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

** you need to get to this point one hour before the end 

so you have enough time to finish **

Activity 5 : Observe ethanol treated Zebrafish embryos
                   In your group decide whether these embryos are a good model for human 
                   embryos with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome

Activity 6 : Create a biological drawing of an alcohol treated embryo (including a scale bar)

              

Activity 7 : Tidy up and get your lab booked signed off by your demonstrator

Happy reading, and watch out for the next blog posts - these will be useful for this practical!

Your life107 teaching team