At the Cutting Edge of Molecular Biology

Alain Viel and Robert Lue want their students to think, work, and write like molecular biologists, and in BIOL E-109 Principles and Techniques of Molecular Biology, they have their wish. Offered in the Extension School for the first time this spring, BIOL E-109 provides students with firsthand experience of how molecular biology is done today, exposing them to the experimental logic that leads to groundbreaking discoveries, and giving them the opportunity to participate in research projects that use the very latest laboratory techniques. In addition, graduate credit students write their final papers in the form of National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant proposals. "We want to provide--in 15 weeks--as close an experience as possible to being a real molecular biologist at the beginning of the twenty-first century," explained Dr. Lue.

The impact of molecular biology on everyday life is apparent to anyone who reads a newspaper or watches the evening news. Animal cloning, genetic screening, and gene therapy are in the headlines. Viel and Lue argue that it is important to understand the fundamentals of molecular biology and the process of scientific thinking that leads to breakthroughs in order to be a critical reader or watcher. More to the point, such an understanding is necessary for the future generations of physicians who will, in their offices, implement molecular biology techniques for diagnostic purposes.

The instructors' interest in offering a course like BIOL E-109 grew out of their own experiences as research scientists in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and teachers in the Division of Continuing Education (DCE).

"Teaching the proseminar, we met Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) applicants who lacked the technical skills necessary to obtain volunteer positions in labs," Lue said. "This seriously restricted their opportunities to connect up with potential thesis advisors at the end of their ALM careers." The instructors also met students who already were employed as lab technicians, but who didn't have the conceptual backgrounds to understand the underlying processes of their day-to-day jobs. Viel and Lue decided to develop a course that would serve these students, as well as attract people working in biotech companies or health-related fields.

"Alain and Robert have a passion for both biology and teaching and a deep respect for their students. By harnessing their synergy, the Extension School is able to offer this most challenging and current course on molecular biology," noted Dr. William Fixsen,

Senior Lecturer on Molecular and Cellular Biology and Director of the Health Careers Program at DCE.

BIOL E-109 emphasizes the process of how scientific discoveries come about. For example, the discovery of messenger RNA as a vehicle for storing and transmitting genetic information from DNA to proteins is discussed in terms of the series of logical arguments that first predicted its existence--even before there was any direct experimental proof. According to Viel, researchers used prior observations of simple viruses that infected bacteria to predict what sort of molecule could achieve such a basic task of information transmission. "This sort of reductionist logic laid the foundation for molecular biology, a discipline at the convergence of biochemistry and genetics, and as such is emphasized in BIOL E-109," explained Viel.

The course's labs replicate life in real molecular biology labs, where multitasking, working on inter-linked projects, and using the latest molecular biology kits are the norm. Viel and Lue devised six linked laboratory exercises that introduce students to important recombinant DNA and protein expression techniques, and enable them to join an ongoing project. BIOL E-109 students apply the molecular biology concepts presented in lectures and learn about the construction of an expression plasmid, assays for normal promoter function, and the amino acid sequence-dependence of proper protein folding. The interleafing of experiments will give students the direct experience of being part of a research project with multiple approaches and will result in a more dynamic learning environment.

In one of their last lab exercises, the Extension School students will use part of a mutant protein project developed last summer, when the course was first offered in Harvard Summer School. Although the eight-week calendar presented a special challenge, Lue and Viel were pleased with the pilot effort. Lue cited the experience of one summer student who described how "the scales finally fell from his eyes." He finally understood what was happening in his own field of biotechnology. The course web site address is http://icg.fas.harvard.edu/~biol_110.