Protocol and data stations
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Rotate through hands-on stations modeling protein purification, HLA matching, and tissue-engineering data.
1. Open your materials
Use the materials named in the first step below. Open lesson resources.
2. Start the work
Open the station packet and table.
Show all 5 required steps
- Open the station packet and table.
- Run chromatography; record protein fractions.
- Score the HLA crossmatches.
- Compare scaffold cell growth.
- Submit the completed three-station table.
Lost your place? Lost your place? Open the station packet and table. Complete whichever station you are standing at, record the numbers, then rotate.
Check your work before submitting
- You'll be able to collect and record data from each Unit 4 station.
- You'll be able to interpret a purification fraction, an HLA crossmatch, and a scaffold comparison.
Before lab work: read the safety rules
- All stations are virtual; no physical chemicals or biological materials are used.
- Ensure your device is charged and internet connection is stable before starting.
3. Turn in your work
DueCheck Schoology- Hand in
- Three-station data table: purification fraction results, HLA crossmatch scores, and scaffold comparison notes.
How to submit and name your file
Use the submission route shown on today's today's page.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
Find this lesson's Schoology assignments
These are existing assignments for your section. Follow the directions in the assignment you are working on; this list does not add new work. Check Schoology for each deadline.
Link will not open? Open Schoology, choose your course and section, and find the title shown above.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: Because the genetic code is shared, inserting a human gene on a plasmid turns a host cell into a manufacturer of the human protein. Today: Each technique answers one narrow question, so only reading them together produces a decision that is not accidentally resting on the wrong evidence.
Optional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Need help? Warm-up, timing, and directions▸
💡 Big idea: Each technique answers one narrow question, so only reading them together produces a decision that is not accidentally resting on the wrong evidence.
- 0-8Read station packet; identify your starting station
- 8-28Station 1 (virtual ): run column, record fraction data
- 28-48Station 2 (HLA matching): compare cards, score crossmatches
- 48-65Station 3 (scaffold comparison): note cell-growth differences
- 65-75Complete shared three-station
- 75-80Submit table; flag any unclear data for follow-up
- • Unit 4 connects three distinct technologies: , transplant matching, and .
- • Today you will touch all three in one block so you can see how they relate.
- • These are VIRTUAL stations done at home from a simulator, so treat your screen like your bench.
- • Accurate data recording is a Lab SOPs skill tested directly on the 072130 WebXam.
- • separates proteins by binding affinity; target elutes in a specific fraction.
- • HLA scores predict immune compatibility between donor and recipient.
- • Scaffold material and geometry influence how well stem cells attach and grow.
PLTW connection and today's work
Open the three station activities in myPLTW: Activity 4.1.3 Protein Purification, Activity 4.3.2 Finding a Match, and Activity 4.4.1 Replacement Parts. Rotate through all three.
Today's stopping point: Recombinant DNA diagram should be done (Tuesday); three-station data table due today.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Course connection
- Activity 4.1.3 Protein Purification
- Activity 4.3.2 Finding a Match
- Activity 4.4.1 Replacement Parts
Use the turn-in directions at the top of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
Need help? Choose a starting point
Finish the assigned lab safely before starting extra practice.
Lesson resources: reading, slides, and vocabulary▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Generated from this lesson's canonical data with a red-team citation check.
Because the genetic code is shared, inserting a human gene on a turns a host cell into a manufacturer of the human .
Each technique answers one narrow question, so only reading them together produces a decision that is not accidentally resting on the wrong evidence.
A library keeps a master plan protected while working copies guide production at different stations.
- Why protect the master copy?
- What information moves?
- Where can an error change the final product?
Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
Genes are regulated biological sequences, not conscious instructions, and one gene rarely determines a whole trait alone.
- • Master plan maps to DNA.
- • Working copy maps to RNA.
- • Production output maps to or a regulated cell function.
Driving question: , HLA , and scaffold growth data all sit on your bench. What decision needs all three?
What you already know: Because the genetic code is shared, inserting a human gene on a turns a host cell into a manufacturer of the human .
New idea: Each technique answers one narrow question, so only reading them together produces a decision that is not accidentally resting on the wrong evidence.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Protocol and data stations. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled testing, treatment, or biological process and identify where evidence limits the decision.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in today's lesson.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: , HLA , and scaffold growth data all sit on your bench. What decision needs all three?
What the evidence supports: E1-E3 and F1 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • : A small, circular piece of DNA that lives apart from a bacterium's main and is used in the lab to carry a chosen gene into a cell.
- • recombinant DNA: Use the lesson context and glossary entry to explain recombinant DNA in your own words.
- • : The process of separating a target molecule, such as a or DNA, away from everything else in a mixture to get a clean sample.
- • : A process that filters waste and excess fluid from blood across a semipermeable membrane, used clinically when the kidneys cannot do this job.
- • HLA: Human antigens, proteins on cell surfaces that mark cells as self, helping the immune system spot foreign cells and guiding transplant matching.
- • scaffold: A supportive framework, such as an engineered structure in repair or a base molecule in chemistry, that other parts build onto or grow within.
- • transplant: The transfer of a healthy organ, , or cells from a donor into a patient to replace a part that has failed.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
Results from different biomedical methods answer different questions, so a defensible synthesis keeps each method's controls and limits visible before combining the evidence.
Limit: Complementary classroom stations do not reproduce the validation, clinical context, or quality systems required for a patient decision.
Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
Limit: Genes are regulated biological sequences, not conscious instructions, and one gene rarely determines a whole trait alone.
You can collect and record data from each Unit 4 station.
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-GEND-2026-12-02 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: medical interventions team member
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the labeled and result claim named on today's page.
- • Argue that the high price must come from expensive science, since itself costs only a few dollars to make.
- • Wait to argue a price until we know how much of the cost comes from patents versus insurance middlemen.
- • Take a stance on access and price that names the likely consequences, the value judgment, and who is burdened.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the labeled and result claim.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the labeled and result claim named on today's page.
Context: Different lab methods answer different questions, so a clinical or research decision is built by reading several data types together rather than trusting whichever one is most familiar.
- • T1: Open the station packet and table.
- • T2: Run ; record fractions.
- • T3: Score the HLA crossmatches.
- • T4: Compare scaffold cell growth.
- • T5: Submit the completed three-station table.
- • E1: Results from different biomedical methods answer different questions, so a defensible synthesis keeps each method's controls and limits visible before combining the evidence.
- • E2: Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
- • E3: You can collect and record data from each Unit 4 station.
Measurements: Use only the measurements, units, graph, or counts supplied in today's task. No additional patient measurement is implied.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for Protocol and data stations. Trace the labeled testing, treatment, or biological process and identify where evidence limits the decision. This is a teaching model, not patient or experimental data.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
Rate or percent = part / comparison total x 100%. Percent change = (new - comparison) / comparison x 100%.
If 18 of 60 records meet a condition, the frequency is 18 / 60 x 100% = 30%.
Name the comparison total. A percent describes the supplied group and does not automatically predict an individual's outcome.
Use today's supplied counts to calculate one rate, risk, frequency, or percent change. Show the denominator and interpretation.
- • The solution must address the stated need in today's lesson.
- • The decision must be supported by E1-E3.
- • The final product must make the success criteria visible.
- • Complete the work inside the 80-minute block.
- • Use only supplied or teacher-approved materials and evidence.
- • Do not trade , accessibility, or privacy for speed.
- • and evidence quality: must pass before scoring other criteria.
- • User need and effectiveness: highest scored criterion.
- • Time, cost, and ease of use: compare only after and effectiveness pass.
Test evidence: For each option, record the E1-E3 result that supports or fails each criterion. Do not assign a score without a named observation.
- Version or option tested
- Criterion met or missed
- Evidence ID and result
- Revision made
- Reason for the revision
- Need and user
- Criteria and constraints
- Chosen option and evidence
- Test result
- Revision and reason
Students often think Students treat the station with the cleanest-looking data as the one that settles the decision.. The trap: Clean data on the wrong question is still the wrong question. A sharp peak says the worked; it says nothing about immune compatibility. Reading the three together is the skill, not picking a favourite.
Three-station data table (my recorded results):
- Purification station (chromatography column): Collected 6 fractions. Protein assay was strongest in Fraction 4 (dark blue, high signal) and Fraction 5 (medium), with Fractions 1-3 and 6 near zero. Conclusion: the target protein eluted in Fractions 4 and 5.
- HLA-matching station: Compared donor and recipient cards across 6 HLA loci. Matches at 5 of 6 loci; one mismatch at HLA-DR. Crossmatch score recorded as 5/6, flagged as a strong but not perfect match.
- Tissue station (scaffold comparison): Scaffold A (dense mesh) showed cell coverage about 45 percent after the modeled growth period; Scaffold B (porous mesh) showed about 78 percent. Note: the porous Scaffold B supported more cell growth, likely because pores let nutrients and cells move deeper.
One-line reading of each: high-protein fractions = 4 and 5; crossmatch = 5/6 (usable); better scaffold = B.
(Tip: write the actual number in every cell, even an estimate like 78 percent, because a data table with words but no values loses the most points.)
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Completes the three-station data table: recorded results from the protein-purification station, the HLA-matching station, and the tissue-scaffold station.
- Name the variables and include units.
- Enter observations without changing the raw values.
- Check labels, calculations, and patterns before interpreting the data.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: turns in the completed data table on Schoology under the Unit 4 Protocol and Data Stations assignment.
- 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.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in Protocol and data stations. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Play the cold open at the start of the unit to set the scene. Each recording is AI-generated and simulated (fictional callers, no real people or student data).
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 for optional reserve or extra-credit work after the required class lesson is complete.
Placement rationale
Matched Organ failure overview and by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-4_When-Organs-Fail/4.2_Organ-Failure; keywords:organ failure, kidney, dialysis. Score 146. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this for optional reserve or extra-credit work after the required class lesson is complete.
Placement rationale
Matched Organ failure overview and by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-4_When-Organs-Fail/4.2_Organ-Failure; keywords:organ failure, kidney. Score 142. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this for optional reserve or extra-credit work after the required class lesson is complete.
Placement rationale
Matched Organ failure overview and by path:Medical-Interventions/Unit-4_When-Organs-Fail/4.2_Organ-Failure; keywords:kidney, renal. Score 138. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Sign in to Clever with your district Microsoft account to open Schoology or myPLTW. Follow today's posted steps. If myPLTW will not open, use the posted alternative and tell Mr. Mendoza. Turn in your completed work through the Schoology assignment.
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Your target protein is pure and the scaffold grows well, but the HLA crossmatch is poor. What does the combined data support?
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Fast retrieval with instant answers, not the commit-then-reveal check above. Try each from memory first: write what you remember about the earlier units, then check yourself here.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
Run this before you touch the bench. It is built from the real lab procedure, so the decisions you make here are the ones you will make with the equipment in your hands. This lesson has more than one, and they cover different skills.
I can name the virtual station sequence and evidence. My device and connection are ready. My data table is open before I start.
Finish the checklist before you handle any material.
- • All stations are virtual; no physical chemicals or biological materials are used.
- • Ensure your device is charged and internet connection is stable before starting.
- 1Open the station packet and table.
- 2Run chromatography; record protein fractions.
- 3Score the HLA crossmatches.
- 4Compare scaffold cell growth.
- 5Submit the completed three-station table.
| Trial or sample ID | Independent condition | Measured result with units | Observation before interpretation | Quality-control note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Before the procedure, predict the result and cite the rule behind the prediction.
After the procedure, compare the result with the prediction and name one limitation or source of uncertainty.
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
Complete the at-home station-data worksheet using the virtual , HLA-matching, and scaffold simulators linked on the class site, then submit your three-station .
Learn.Genetics: Gel ElectrophoresisUse the submission route shown on today's today's page.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
MedlinePlus: Organ TransplantationYou've passed Unit 2, so the optional extra-credit track is open. Complete reserved-unit work from home, including virtual labs, for extra credit. Each item shows its correct submission route.
Open the extra-credit track- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
- Error analysis and method · counts doubleName a specific limit of the method and how it moved your result, and compare what you predicted to what happened. "Human error" does not count; say what about the procedure or instrument caused it.
This week
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