tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87772326415989824392024-03-08T11:04:23.530-08:00Nick's Teaching BlogA collection of blog posts connected to my teaching on biomedical sciences and biochemistry degrees. All views and opinions expressed are my own, and not connected to my past, present or future employers.Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-87035922891119476552016-05-05T08:37:00.001-07:002021-05-25T11:21:36.483-07:00What is the molarity of water?An interesting little question and a fun bit of maths...
The molecular weight of water is: 18.02 g/mol
The density of water is 1 g/ml
Therefore 1 litre of water (1000 ml) would weigh 1000 g
The molarity of something is the number of moles of that thing per 1000 ml volume.
So we have 1000 g of water in 1 litre, and the molecular weight is 18.02 g/mol
Hence mass divided by molecular weight Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-53046929131570387342015-05-25T18:06:00.004-07:002021-05-25T11:19:46.705-07:00Four really useful exam tipsPhoto by Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu on UnsplashRecently I asked some colleagues for some revision and exam tips, and this is what we came up with:
1. Do you know where and when the exam is being held?
Sounds obvious, but it is worth checking you know where and when your exam will be held. There is nothing worse than spending weeks (hopefully) revising and then turning up at the Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-62955617512102773072015-05-25T18:03:00.002-07:002021-05-25T11:17:19.197-07:0017 Revision Tips....Recently I asked some colleagues for some revision tips, and this is what we came up with:
1. Try answering questions from past papers
Have a look at past papers and try some of the questions. However, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that just because a similar question has come up in recent years, it will be on the next paper, or thinking that as a particular question hasn’t been Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-51782176232885900332014-10-04T03:13:00.001-07:002020-02-02T08:49:35.304-08:00Looking for an ELISA plate reader, and why you shouldn't get a HumaReader HSBefore I start this post I would just like to state that the views expressed below are my own and not that of my employer.
For the last 18 months I've been trying to buy an ELISA plate reader, with no success.
Admittedly enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are not new and have in fact been around for at least 30 years (I first heard about them during my first degree, and they were viewedNickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-33309509744302124332014-08-10T21:05:00.003-07:002021-05-25T11:04:49.099-07:00Is your teaching website mobile friendly?Here is an interesting question... Have you tested your teaching website on a smartphone? If not, try it... I'll wait.
Many websites were produced before smartphones were really around (~2007), so they are not mobile-friendly. Your site may look great on a desktop machine...
But on a smartphone, which the majority of students now have, it may look awful.
It may look OK, but it is Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-63965227146687903472014-06-11T05:37:00.002-07:002021-05-25T11:01:57.606-07:00Say hello to the hairy tree rat.... The latest genetics model organism!In a recent post - Designing a virtual fruit fly lab using HTML5 - I wrote about how I had replaced a fruit fly genetics 'wet' teaching lab session with an online session written using HTML5. However, one thing I didn't mention was that we invented a new 'model organism' for the assessment - The Hairy Tree Rat.
The reason we came up with the Hairy Tree Rat was that it had become apparent from Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-55350762194524964072014-06-01T01:56:00.003-07:002021-05-25T11:00:04.320-07:00Designing a virtual fruit fly lab using HTML5A few years back (20111 to be precise) we were faced with a 'crisis' in the delivery of a first-year fruit fly genetics lab. The students didn't seem to be getting as much from the lab as we would have hoped, and it was getting increasingly expensive and difficult to run the session with large groups (we had ~350 students in the year and we run the lab four times).
When the lab was first put Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-89852656094526255672014-04-10T20:43:00.001-07:002021-05-22T11:46:55.375-07:00The importance of cell referencing in Excel spreadsheets...Using Excel correctly in the lab is an important skill to develop, and students sometimes get this wrong by failing to correctly use cell referencing and instead "hardcode" key numbers in to the formulas they are using. The consequence of doing this is that if the student later changes any of the numbers then these changes will not cascade through the spreadsheet, and this can lead to errors.
Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-55109910967823951242014-04-03T20:50:00.001-07:002021-05-22T11:48:55.722-07:00Video of Paramecium, C. elegans and Gram stained bacteriaThe video below I put together from videos shot using the main teaching microscope during classes. The video shows Paramecium, C. elegans, and Gram-stained bacteria. Enjoy!
Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-36529976950897371142014-04-03T19:55:00.001-07:002021-05-22T11:51:14.405-07:00End of a journey - no more blogging at ScitableFor the last three years I have been blogging over at Nature Scitable about bioscience elearning and today, after 143 posts, I have decided to stop.
I have two main reasons for stopping:
The pressure of day to day life as an academic. To much to do, too little time to do it.
I have never really got on with the blogging platform at Scitable as I find it old, slow and clunky, and these days I Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-13196751993174125562013-11-09T19:05:00.000-08:002021-05-22T11:56:49.880-07:00E-mail - dark social media? I think not...Yesterday evening I took part in a discussion with Alan Carr about the use of email in teaching, and for day-to-day communication.
I won't repeat my views and opinions on email here, but you can read them over at Scitable:
My hypothesis: e-mail is evil and deserves to die!
Problems with email….. I appear to have touched a nerve...
What is wrong with e-mail? Can it be fixed?
What is Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-73067587265743316752013-10-25T00:11:00.000-07:002021-05-22T11:58:30.311-07:00Observing and genotyping C. elegansHad a fun day yesterday doing the "C. elegans" practical, which is part of the first-year labs. In the practical, we got to look at live C. elegans, and also set up some PCR reactions to genotype some wildtype and mutant C. elegans. All fun stuff. Below is a movie we shot of the worms on the day of the practical, as well as some stills from the microscopes. Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-86225040701957538492013-10-13T06:11:00.000-07:002021-05-25T09:36:57.479-07:00Fun and games with ParameciumLast week we had our annual first-year 'paramecium practical'. The aims of the session were to familiarise the students with the microscopes and to also introduce unicellular organisms. In the UK we order the paramecium for the practical from a local supplier. However, in Malaysia, despite 4 months of searching, I was unable to find a supplier. This left me with three options: Don't do the Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-75619202543344115912013-08-21T05:33:00.000-07:002021-05-22T12:03:07.024-07:00It is all in the name…. Why am I (not) Dr Nick?In Malaysia, I am called Dr Nick.... And I couldn't understand why... Today I found out. In Malaysia, there are no family names, as in Morris, Smith, Jones etc. Your last name is your father's first name, so if my father's first name was Ian then I would be Nick Ian. Hence as I am Dr Nick Morris this suggests that my father's first name was Morris, and Dr Morris would be my father! This can Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-79373408866589823632013-02-28T22:22:00.000-08:002015-06-02T03:22:20.910-07:00Paper published - Adiponectin corrects high fat diet-induced disturbances in muscle metabolomic profile and whole body glucose homeostasis Great to finally see a paper that I was working on last year out in print…. Liu,Y., Turdi,S., Park,T., Morris,N.J., Deshaies,Y., Xu,A. & Sweeney,G. Adiponectin corrects high fat diet-induced disturbances in muscle metabolomic profile and whole body glucose homeostasis (2013) Diabetes 62 743-752 Pubmed Link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23238294 There is also a very nice commentary (Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-44812889016387991892012-11-14T17:29:00.002-08:002021-05-22T12:04:49.018-07:00Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (GSK3) and Glycogen Synthase (GS) - the phosphorylation equilibriumThis one causes students problems every year - the relationship between Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 (GSK3) and Glycogen Synthase (GS), and their phosphorylation states and activity.
Blog Post Bonus: Download a PDF of this blog post for your class notes.
If you look at insulin signalling overall:
You will see that activated protein kinase B (activated by phosphorylation) phosphorylates and Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-35633671202087502662012-10-20T06:37:00.005-07:002021-05-25T09:18:01.420-07:00Calculating Percentage SolutionsFor some reason percentage solution calculation cause students some problems. However, hopefully, once you have been through this blog post you should have a good understanding of percentage solutions, and how to do the calculations.
If you want to practice your 'science maths' than have a look at: Maths4Biosciences.com
Blog Post Bonus: Download a PDF for your class notes on percentage Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-36416965462323838082012-10-16T13:17:00.001-07:002021-05-22T12:09:54.666-07:003d Structure of the GDP G-protein alpha subunitThe movie below shows the 3d structure of a guanosine diphosphate (GDP) bound G protein alpha-subunit.
The small green molecule in the middle is the bound GDP.
http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/cgi/explore.cgi?pdbId=1TAGNickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-31789454484879811782012-10-16T13:09:00.003-07:002021-05-22T12:11:02.972-07:00Bovine RhodopsinThe structure of a G-protein coupled receptor is often shown as:
However, the crystal structure of bovine rhodopsin shows that the seven transmembrane spanning domains actually form a tight core
J. Mol. Biol. (2004) 342, 571–583 http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/cgi/explore.cgi?pdbId=1U19Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-60336136868662897002012-10-16T13:01:00.002-07:002021-05-22T12:11:35.038-07:003d Structure - β2AR-T4LThe structure of a G-protein coupled receptor is often shown as:
Which shows a receptor with the N-terminal outside the cell, seven transmembrane spanning domains, 3 exoloops, 4 cytoloops and a C terminal inside the cell.
However, it is actually more compact with the seven transmembrane spanning domains forming a tight core.
Lower part = T4-lysozyme in place of cyto 3 Small green Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-24913730376609017332012-10-16T03:17:00.001-07:002021-05-22T12:13:24.983-07:00⍺Gs and Adenylyl CyclaseThe following animation shows αGs interacting with adenylyl cyclase.
The animation is also available as a slightly larger video....
Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-89792382661257161932012-10-16T03:06:00.001-07:002021-05-22T12:14:11.102-07:00GPCR movement of TM3 and 6I have been asked for access to a number of the movies I used in the lectures.
The following animation shows the proposed movements of transmembrane spanning domains 3 and 6 for rhodopsin and β2 adrenergic receptor.
It should be noted that other GPCR may use different methods.Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-33947119004635225302011-01-25T12:41:00.000-08:002021-05-24T11:45:10.965-07:00Back to Basics: How do you study?I have just read a really interesting paper in Science1, which has a very good write-up in the New York Times (New York Times: "To Really Learn, Quit Studying and Take a Test" - link) on how to study.
I am not going to discuss the findings of the paper here, but instead, I will just mention the major findings of the work.
Basically, Karpicke and Janell1 looked at how students learn. They have Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-40841944513332272182010-12-22T13:07:00.000-08:002012-10-14T13:07:47.016-07:00The other blog.... Blogging at ScitableToday I started blogging over at Scitable (Nature Education). The new blog can be found here.
So, why two blogs?
Well, the two blogs have two different functions:
This Blog
The function of this blog is to directly serve my teaching.
I will continue to post material here that is connected with the courses I deliver, and it will also continue to host the 'science' tweets (tweets that link toNickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8777232641598982439.post-22357729156598298852010-10-20T03:50:00.001-07:002021-05-22T12:16:19.640-07:00Why can't I extrapolate the Bradford Assay graph if the Beer-Lambert Law applies?If you are struggling with 'science maths' then have a look at Maths4Biosciences - there is also a course on Beer-Lambert Law and Spectrophotometry.
Blog Post Bonus: Download a PDF of this blog post for your class notes.
If you would like to test your skills working with the Beer-Lambert Law then you might like to look at the Spectrophotometry tests at: Maths4Biosciences.com.
One Nickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00303449397263543615noreply@blogger.com2