Teaching Biochemistry as Part of a Degree Pro- gramme in Biotechnology. RICHARD O'KENNEDY. School of Biological Sciences,. Dublin City University,.
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Teaching Biochemistry as Part of a Degree Programme in Biotechnology RICHARD O'KENNEDY
School of Biological Sciences, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland Introduction Dublin City University, Ireland, is a Technological University which had its first intake of students in 1980. At that time its title was the National Institute for Higher Education, Dublin. In 1989 it became Dublin City University. In 1983, the first undergraduate degree in Biotechnology in Ireland commenced. This is a four year degree course and the first students graduated in 1987. This paper describes this course and pays particular attention to the role of biochemistry in its curriculum.
Table I Summary of Biotechnology Degree Programme Year 1
Subjects Biology Chemistry Physics Mathematics Computing Process Engineering Biochemistry Microbiology Commercial Biotechnology Mathematics Chemistry Computing Biochemical Engineering Biochemistry Microbiology Cost Accounting Industrial Placement for 6 months (INTRA)
Core Subjects (studied by all students)
Dublin City University In the planning stages of the degree in Biotechnology, the opinion of many academics from both Irish and European Universities were sought. In addition, particular attention was paid to seeking from industrialists what they perceived as being required of undergraduates entering industry. A degree programme was then formulated. This differed from more traditional degrees in that it contained a mix of approximately 30% Process/Biochemical Engineering and 55% Biology and the remainder of subjects such as Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Computing, Cost Accounting and Marketing. There is also a six-month period in the third year, called INTRA, which is spent working in industry.
Course Programme A basic summary of the course is given in Table 1. This shows the breakdown of subjects over the four years. At a very early stage in the planning, it was agreed that the course should provide a very strong academic foundation. Emphasis was placed on quantitative rather than qualitative aspects of biology and biochemistry. The relevance of the subjects to the industrial environment was also stressed. However, in no way was there any compromise in relation to the teaching of the basic principles. This has resulted in great competition for the places available on the course and the qualifications of the students entering
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Biochemical Reactors Waste Treatment Engineering Mixed Microbial Processes Food Biotechnology Industrial Enzymology Microbial Biotechnology Receptors-Structure and Functions Protein Purification and Processing Marketing
Elective Subjects (students study 3 out of 5) Bioprocess Engineering Animal Cell Biotechnology Immunology Genetics Marketing are some of the highest of any university degree programme in the country. Over the years there have been many reports and discussions as to whether or not biotechnology is an undergraduate subject. It is now apparent to us that a four year course provides an excellent format and is required to teach all the necessary aspects of biotechnology. It overcomes the problems associated with some postgraduate qualifications in biotechnology where students from an engineering background lack a good grounding in biology/biochemistry, microbiology or genetics and many biology students have no background in engineering principles and lack the necessary mathematical expertise. Biochemistry and biochemistry-related topics are taught over the four years. These are listed in Table 2. The core and elective subjects studied in year 4 are
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Table 2 Biochemistry-related Aspects of Course Year 1
2
3
Subject Biology
Cell Structure and Functions. Introduction to proteins, lipid and carbohydrates. Enzymes and their applications. Biochemical Physiology (including digestion; the liver; kidney; biochemistry of blood; immunology; detoxification; the nervous system; hormones and reproduction.) Introduction to metabolism. Introduction to genetics. Structure of DNA, RNA, etc. Biochemistry of pollution. Photosynthesis. Plant physiology
Biochemistry
Detailed study of: proteins, enzymes, lipids and carbohydrates; Hormonal Regulation; Catabolism; Anabolism; Biochemical Genetics
Commercial Biotechnology
Covers some aspects of biochemistry in industrial/ clinical studies
Microbiology
Biochemistry of Nitrogen Fixation
Biochemical Engineering
Transport Phenomena Fermentor Design Instrumentation and Data Acquisition Separation Processes Particle Technology
Biochemistry
Animal Cell Culture Biochemical Separation and Analysis Food Biochemistry Toxicology and Pharmacology Immunology and Enzyme Analysis
Microbiology
4
Topics
Control of Gene Expression Introduction to Recombinant DNA technology Topics are listed in Table 1
shown in Table 1. Many of these have a large biochemical component. It can therefore be seen that the course covers most of the lecture material of degree programmes B I O C H E M I C A L E D U C A T I O N 17(4) 1989
in biochemistry. The provision of electives allows students some flexibility of the subject choice in their final year. The students study three electives and do the associated practicals of two electives. They also do a literature survey and research project in the general area of one of their electives. Practical Aspects of the Course Great emphasis is placed on the practicals associated with the laboratory-based subjects and students may fail the year if they fail the laboratory components. As already mentioned, students spend 6 months in industry during their third year. The exams for year 3 are held at Easter and from then until September, the students work in industrial placements (INTRA) in Irish or overseas industries (including Europe and the US). The students must also pass this component of the course. Their work is assessed by academic and industrial tutors and they prepare a full report on INTRA which is also examined. This placement is a very important part of the programme. It gives the students first-hand experience of the workplace. The selection procedure used by the industries is by interview and this gives the students familiarization with job interviews which they find useful when seeking employment at the end of the degree. It also has a definite maturing effect on the students and teaches them to be more self-reliant and to develop better interpersonal skills for the workplace. The main practical aspects of the course related to biochemistry are summarised in Table 3. It can be seen
Table 3 Practical Biochemistry in Biotechnology Degree Year
Subject
Topics
1
Biology
Structure and functions of cells Tests for proteins, lipids and carbohydrates Blood and its components Blood grouping Gel filtration Paper chromatography Introduction to spectroscopy Properties of enzymes Spectrophotometric analysis
2
Biochemistry
Quality control - accuracy and precision (in pipetting etc), Amino acids and their properties, including pKa; Isoelectric point of proteins; Determination of protein concentration (A280, Biuret, Lowry and Bradford assays)
201 Buffers Enzymes - - isolation, properties and analysis Lipids - - isolation and quantitation Isolation and quantitation of DNA and RNA Starch synthesis
labelled antibodies to quantitate cells Isolation of lymphocytes ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) HPLC and metabolism of drugs
Biochemistry/ App. Biotechnology
Aspects of fermentation, cereal extraction, preparation of yeast extract, alcohol/beer production etc.
Biochemistry
Affinity chromatography of enzymes Passage of cell line (trypsinization and cell counting) Chromosome preparation Gradient preparation Uridine kinase assay and liquid scintillation counting HPLC of proteins L D H isoenzyme analysis
Practicals on large scale centrifugation (disc, stack and batch centrifugation), drying (rotary drier and spray systems), evaporation (vacuum evaporator), filtration (ultra, plate, frame filter and rotary vacuum systems), water cooling, distillation, liquid extraction and particle size reduction
Biochemical Engineering
Isolation of lysozyme using concentration methods (PEG dialysis, ultrafiltration) ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration. Determination of % yield. Determination of % purity using SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis Biochemical Genetics
Analytical Immunology
Plasmid preparation CsC1-EtBr gradient centrifugation Agarose gel electrophoretic analysis of DNA Handling and use of restriction enzymes Construction and analysis of DNA restriction maps Isolation and analysis of antibodies Isoelectric focusing Immunoelectrophoresis Immunodiffusion Use of fluorescently-
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Advanced practicals related to the electives chosen. Electives are listed in Table 1 that the course covers much, if not all, the practical work carried out on more traditional Biochemistry degree programmes. The advantage of our degree is that it closely interrelates the subjects of biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, process engineering and cell biology and eliminates repetition. It also incorporates many more applied aspects of these subjects. The students appear to respond well to such applied courses as it shows the relevance of their course-work to the workplace. Over the last few years, students tend to be much mole conscious of the fact that they must optimise their own 'marketability' for jobs and therefore continually question the relevance of all aspects of their course. However, we have also found that they make first-class research postgraduates and their industrial exposure makes them very aware of the importance of setting and meeting deadlines in their work.
Comment The graduates emerging from this course have been readily employed, both in Ireland and overseas, by industry, research institutes, marketing/management companies, technical service and government agencies. They have performed very well in all these organisations. We are therefore confident that their degree programme has demonstrated that a course based on firm academic principles, emphasis on practical work, a placement in industry for work experience and a good research topic can produce a graduate with all the necessary skills required.
