Transformation, antibiotic selection, plasmid extraction, restriction digest, gel interpretation.
Your PLTW coursework: Biomedical Innovation ▸ Problem 6: Molecular Biology in Action ▸ "Project 6.1.2 Construction and Cloning of Recombinant DNA"
What to do if absent- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Week overview - Transformation and Gels: selection, digests, and reading the bands
Interpret a bacterial with selection, then read a restriction digest run on a gel against a .
- 1Review the provided plate images and identify which plate shows successful .
- 2Explain in one sentence how selection lets only transformed colonies grow.
- 3Count the colonies on the selection plate and record the number in your notebook.
- 4Examine the provided gel image and locate the lane.
- 5Compare your sample bands to the ladder and estimate each fragment size.
- 6Write one sentence stating whether the digest matches the expected pattern.
- • You will be able to identify successful using selection plates.
- • You will be able to use a to estimate fragment sizes.
- • You will be able to judge whether a gel matches an expected digest pattern.
Daily lessons this week
Open any day for its full lesson, the work due that day, and guided notes.
One sentence explaining why -resistance selection markers are a specific biosafety concern, plus three lab rules you would require.
notes with definitions, heat-shock temperature diagram, selection explanation, and predicted results for each control and experimental plate with justifications.
Wet lab data record: plate counts for each condition, gel photograph with labeled lanes, raw band position measurements, and one result comparison to pre-lab prediction.
Gel analysis table with ladder band distances, (log fragment size vs. distance), estimated sample fragment sizes, predicted restriction map sizes, and a written conclusion on identity.
Complete and gel laboratory notebook: transformation notes, plate counts with units, gel , fragment-size estimates with units, conclusion on identity, one error source, and one future improvement.
Quick intro to the week
- Hook: a glowing plate and a few bands on a gel can confirm that you successfully moved a gene into bacteria.
- Today's goal: read real selection plates and gels like a working molecular biologist.
- Monday bioethics debate connects: how should labs contain genetically modified bacteria safely?
- Reminder: your graded gel interpretation is submitted on the class site.
Your PLTW coursework this week
Do this: Advance your PLTW molecular biology problem by completing your and gel interpretation in the online course shell.
- • selection allows only transformed cells carrying the resistance gene to grow.
- • A provides known fragment sizes for comparison on a gel.
- • Identify successful from selection plates.
- • Estimate DNA fragment sizes against a ladder on a gel.
📋 PLTW evidence due: a plate interpretation and an annotated gel analysis with fragment sizes in the course shell.
All PLTW activities are completed inside the PLTW course environment: this page only gives direction.
This week's PLTW tracker
Your week at a glance. Check off each deliverable as you finish it, then submit so Mr. Mendoza can see how the class is pacing.
Use the code Mr. Mendoza gave you, not your name. Saved on this device.
| Day | Date | Focus | Key deliverable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | Wed, May 5 | Biotech safety debate | One sentence explaining why antibiotic-resistance selection markers are a specific biosafety concern, plus three lab rules you would require. |
| Thursday | Thu, May 6 | Transformation notes | Transformation notes with definitions, heat-shock temperature diagram, antibiotic selection explanation, and predicted colony results for each control and experimental plate with justifications. |
| Friday | Fri, May 7 | Transformation and gel wet lab | Wet lab data record: transformation plate colony counts for each condition, gel photograph with labeled lanes, raw band position measurements, and one result comparison to pre-lab prediction. |
| Monday | Mon, May 10 | Gel map | Gel analysis table with ladder band migration distances, standard curve (log fragment size vs. distance), estimated sample fragment sizes, predicted restriction map sizes, and a written conclusion on plasmid identity. |
| Friday | - | Notebook submit | Complete transformation and gel laboratory notebook: transformation notes, plate colony counts with units, gel standard curve, fragment-size estimates with units, conclusion on plasmid identity, one error source, and one future improvement. |
- M: biotech safety debate
- T: transformation notes
- W: plate data
- Th: gel map
- F: notebook submit
Due by week's end: Transformation and gel notebook.
5 panels from the illustrated semester.
Fiction. There is no such student. The lessons, labs and dates are the real planned course; the student, the classmates and the conversations are invented.
Lab day: what to bring & watch
This explainer accompanies the PLTW lab protocol: watch it before lab.
What to do when absent
Most days, this class is your PLTW coursework: and PLTW is online and individual. So being out usually just means doing exactly what we did in class, from home.
Open Clever, then myPLTWHow to get there: open Clever and sign in with your Microsoft (district) account. Both myPLTW and Schoology are in Clever. Do the activity in myPLTW. Turn the work in on this site or hand it to Mr. Mendoza, because that is the step that counts as submitted. Schoology only shows your report-card grade later.
You can't do those from home: do this instead: Provided plate and gel images.
Class still runs. A substitute will post today's plan: complete the online activity above; it's built to be self-guided. Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
Learn.Genetics (University of Utah): gel electrophoresisVocabulary
Teacher-posted resources
Classroom documents for this lesson are posted in Schoology. Open Clever, then Schoology, and find each one by the name shown on its card.
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched , , molecular evidence by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-6_Molecular-Biology/6.1_Molecular-Biology; keywords:transformation, , molecular. Score 146. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched , , molecular evidence by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-6_Molecular-Biology/6.1_Molecular-Biology; keywords:gel, molecular. Score 142. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched , , molecular evidence by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-6_Molecular-Biology/6.1_Molecular-Biology; keywords:transformation, molecular. Score 142. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
How to get there: open Clever and sign in with your Microsoft (district) account. Both myPLTW and Schoology are in Clever. Do the activity in myPLTW. Turn the work in on this site or hand it to Mr. Mendoza, because that is the step that counts as submitted. Schoology only shows your report-card grade later.