Course Description

As its name suggests, 7.02 / 10.702 is fundamentally an experimental biology course. Thus, you will
spend most of your "in-class" time in the teaching laboratory practicing fundamental techniques in
microbiology, biochemistry, and cell biology. In addition to learning how to perform these techniques
safely, we want to help you understand why techniques work the way they do, and what scientific
questions can be addressed with different techniques. Our focus is on helping you integrate factual
knowledge with an understanding of experimental design and data analysis - skills that will be important
should you later pursue a UROP, take a Project Lab course, or go on to graduate or medical school.
Over the course of the term, you will complete four, three week "modules" in the areas of Microbial
Genetics, Protein Biochemistry, Recombinant DNA Methods, and Development. Through lectures and
recitations related to each module, you will gain context for the experiments you will carry out in the
teaching laboratory, and will be exposed to techniques beyond the scope of this course. In the
laboratory itself, you will be asked to keep a complete record of your experimental work in the form of a
laboratory notebook, to grapple with (sometimes confusing) results, and to fit each day's experiments
into the context of the module as a whole.

Scientific Communication
In addition to working in the laboratory, you will also be learning to communicate your scientific findings
to a broader audience. As you may or may not know, much of a practicing scientist's time is spent
writing and communicating his/her results - in the form of grant applications, manuscripts, talks, and
poster presentations - yet many scientists are never formally "taught" these things. In biweekly
SciComm sections, you will encounter the seven parts of a scientific research article, and will have the
opportunity to practice this type of writing through in-class and out-of-class exercises. Many of the
SciComm assignments connect directly to the experiments done in the teaching laboratory, thus
allowing students to reinforce their understanding of this material through their writing. Scientific
communication - like research science - is a collaborative effort, and thus you will have the opportunity
to read and give feedback on your peers' writing. You will also be encouraged to use the feedback from
your peers and writing instructors to improve your writing through frequent revisions.
The Scientific Communication content for this course can be found in the 7.02CI Experimental Biology -
Communications Intensive, Spring 2005 OCW Web site.
Class Meetings
Lectures
Lectures are held twice weekly for all students and cover material related to each of the four areas of
Microbial Genetics, Protein Biochemistry, Recombinant DNA Methods, and Development.

Laboratory and Recitations

Students are assigned to a laboratory section that meets twice a week. Laboratory for all students
begins with recitation. After recitation, students will proceed to the laboratory.

SciComm
Students will be assigned to a SciComm section. SciComm sections meet approximately every other
week during the term for 2 hours (6 meetings total).

Textbooks and Class Notes

You are not required to purchase any textbooks for 7.02 / 10.702. If you need a good reference book for
introductory biology, we recommend that you obtain a copy of the 7.01x textbook (Purves, Life: The
Science of Biology).
Purves, William K., et. al. Life: The Science of Biology. 7th ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer
Associates; Gordonsville, VA: W. H. Freeman and Co., 2003. ISBN: 9780716798569. (hardcover)
In general, 7.02 / 10.702 lecture notes are not posted on the course Web site; you are responsible for
obtaining lecture notes from a classmate if you do not attend lecture. We will, however, post recitation
notes on the course Web site after the recitation has been given. These are meant to supplement the
notes you take in recitation, not replace them completely.
Other Recommended Texts
Maloy, Stanley R., John E. Cronan, Jr., and David Freifelder. Microbial Genetics. 2nd ed.
Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 1994. ISBN: 9780867202489.
Moran, Laurence A., et. al. Biochemistry. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall,
1994. ISBN: 9780138144432
 Gilbert, Scott F. Developmental Biology. 7th ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates,
2003. ISBN: 99780878932580. (hardcover)
Laboratory
Each student must maintain a laboratory notebook. This notebook must be bound with numbered pages
and must contain carbons, as a copy of each day's laboratory work will be turned in to the teaching
assistants for evaluation. Recording data on loose sheets of paper is unacceptable, as are data
recorded on scraps of paper to be recopied into a notebook later.
Each enrolled student is also required to purchase a set of laboratory manuals. The manuals contain the
experiments and background information for each module of the course, and are required to prepare
each day's laboratory notebook entry.

Laboratory Partners
Students in the teaching laboratory work in teams of two, and are assigned to a particular bench station.
You may request a particular person to be your laboratory partner when filling out the Student
Information Sheet; requests will be honored if:
1. Both partners make the request; and
2. Both students are placed in the same laboratory section.
A word of warning: best friends don't always make the best laboratory partners, so choose wisely!
If you do not request a laboratory partner, one will be assigned to you. We will try to place people with
partners that live on the same side of campus or on the same side of the river to facilitate data
exchange and preparation for lab. No laboratory partner changes will be made after Genetics session 4.