lshola Adamson Departmenf of Biochemistry University of Benin Benin City, Nigeria
An Appraisal of a New Undergraduate Biochemistry Research Project
All final year students in our department must offer a 10 unit course in project workldissertation supervised by faculty members. The project covers two terms (January to May). Most students have not had direct ex~eriencein weighing and preparing solutions, although they are good in bas; knowledge of biochemistry. ~ f f o r c made s to insure that students get practical experience during their training since most of them fill research positions after graduation. Approach The Project WorkDissertation was reduced to 7 units, with "pre-project" of 3 units in the first term, as a prerequisite to the project workldissertation. The "pre-project" consists of "set experiments in hiochemistry" compiled into a manual to test the students' abilities to search the biochemical literature, extract experiments from journals, carry them out on local samples, generate data. and interwret the results. students weie paired randomly and partners were scored eauallv . . in the ~racticalwork, hut the final grade was an average of the piactical work ;core and the oral examination score. V ~ s of t the experimrnts werr drawn from recent isrues of t h k Journnl with the "Hesults" and "IXscussion" secriuns deleted. The students were to fill the gaps and to provide alternative introduction to the work. A final typewritten report was later submitted for grading. The following experiments were suggested, as shown in the table. From these ex~eriments.students chose tovics relevant to their projects, and faculty members were able to identify research material among them. Most of the projects were of the analytical type, hut with increasing confidence in the past years, the interested students took the more challenging works involvine " column chromatoeranhv and electro~horesis. , linid work on gas-liquid chromatography, toxicology, fermentation and nutrition. Manuscripts from most of these studies have been prepared hv the co-authors of students and their suoervisors for ~ u h lications in learned journals (13,141.
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Literature Cited (1) Bittman, R.J. CHEM. EDUC. 51.46 (1974). ( 2 ) de Koning, A. J. J. CHEM. EDUC. 51.48 (L974l. (31 Mohrig, 3. R. 3.CHEM EDUC. 15,U (19721. (41 Jsronch, R. J. CHEM. EDUC. 50.647 119731. (51 McCormic,P. G. J.CHEM. EDUC 50,136 (19731.
Suggested Experiments Experiment NO.
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( 6 ) Mitchell, R. H., Scott, W. A., and West. P. R. J. CHEM. EDUC. 51.69 (1974). (7) Somorin. 0.J. Fd. Sri. 39,1055 (1974). (81 Hurlbut, J. A,, Beii,T. N., Pound, H.C.. andGraves, J.L. J.CHEM. EDUC.50.149 119771 ,.... ,.
(91 Hurihut.J. A.. Bi8hop.C. V.,Brittsin,P.C.,sndPrehein. C. W. J. CHEM.EDUC.52.
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Joumal of Chemical Education
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Library Study: (During this week, students will advance reasons in writing about the choice of W i r experiments). Carbohydrates: (Both experiments). (a) Analysis of reducing sugars in breakfast Cereals and other foods. Student to search (b) Determinationof blood glucose. for reference. Lipids: (Ail experiments). Analysis of egg lipids. (a) isolation of egg yolk lipids and the separation of the phospholipidsfmm nanphosphorylated lipids. (b) Colorimetric determination of the pho~phoruscontent of both lipid fractions. (c) The detection of choline, &anaiamine. swine, and inositol in phospholipidsby paper chromatography. (d) The separation of phospholipids into classes by tlc. (el If possible, the determination of the phospholipids by gas chromatography. Environmental Toxicology: (one of the two experiments). (a) Colorimenic determination of otlhaphosphate in detergents. (i) Vanadomolybdate method. (ii) Molybdenum blue method. (b) Determination of pesticide residues. Minerals: Titration of calcium and magne Sium in milk with EDTA. Natural Products: (Both experiments). (a) Extraction of caffeine hom tea. (b) Spectrophotametric determination of caffeine in Nigerian Kolanuts. Eozymopgy: (One of three experiments). (a) Determination of K ,. ,,.V, and KS for me chymotrypsin catalyzed cleavage of Nqiutaryl-L-phenylalanine-panilide. (b) Determination of KI for the inhibition of chymOtrypSin by indole. (c) The effect of pH, temperature and inhibitors on enzyme activity. Proteins: (One of two experiments). (a) The chemistry of normal and abnormal human hemoglobins. (b) Hemoglobin: Isolation and chemical properties.
