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The silencing of GAPDH—an investigation of siRNA in an undergraduate biochemistry lab
Author(s) -
Gabriel Scott E.,
Wright Catherine A.,
Backstrand Kyle M.,
Temple Glena G.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.612.5
Subject(s) - glyceraldehyde 3 phosphate dehydrogenase , gene knockdown , housekeeping gene , gene silencing , curriculum , small interfering rna , rna interference , chemistry , computational biology , biology , biochemistry , rna , gene , gene expression , psychology , pedagogy
This project outlines an 8‐week undergraduate laboratory which investigates the use of siRNA technology to silence a well‐known housekeeping gene, Glyceraldehyde 3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) in a mammalian HeLa cell line. siRNA was discovered just over ten years ago, however there are few published reports on the use of this important technology in the undergraduate curriculum. This laboratory for upper level science majors, aimed to improve students’ mastery of modern day experimental techniques and strengthen their molecular biology lab skills by working with RNA, an inherently unstable molecule. Presented student data will showcase their successful efforts to knockdown GAPDH using siRNA through fluorescence, Western Blot and GAPDH assays. In addition to the experimental results, our course embedded assessment will show that students gained significant confidence in understanding and applying siRNA technology. This project was supported by a NSF CCLI grant #068183789.