BISC110: Series 1 Lab 4 Fig Design Scientific Writing

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Series 1 Lab 4 Scientific Writing and Effective Figure Design

In lab this week, you will have a writing workshop to prepare for your lab report that is due in lab 5. Please be sure to read the Chiesa et al. 1993 article and be ready to present your assigned figure. You will have a chance to analyze scientific writing and figure presentation from a variety of sources.

After the writing workshop, you and your partner will have the opportunity to present your phagocytosis data from lab 3. The presentations will be made in another room. Your instructor will let you know in advance where to meet. Please put your PowerPoint® presentations on the lab conference prior to beginning your presentation.

Finally, your instructor will introduce you to resources for finding primary journal articles needed to write your lab reports this semester.

The following papers may be helpful as you write your partial lab report:

Cytochalasin B
Gavin, R. H. (1976). The oral apparatus of Tetrahymena pyriformis, strain WH-6. II. Cytochalasin B inhibition of oral apparatus morphogenesis. J. Exp. Zool. 197, 59-64.

Nilsson, J. R., Ricketts, T. R., and Zeuthen, E. (1973). Effects of cytochalasin B on cell division and vacuole formation in Tetrahymena pyriformis GL. Exptl. Cell. Res. 79, 456-459.

Colchicine
Stargell, L. A., Heruth, D. P., Gaertig, J., and Gorovsky, M. A. (1992). Drugs affecting microtubule dynamics increase alpha-tubulin mRNA accumulation via transcription in Tetrahymena thermophila. Mol. and Cell. Biol. 12, 1443-1450.

Kovacs, P., and Csaba, G. (2006). Effect of drugs affecting microtubular assembly on microtubules, phospholipid synthesis and physiological indices (signalling, growth, motility and phagocytosis) in Tetrahymena pyriformis. Cell Biochem. Funct. 24, 419-429.

PAO
Kovacs, P., and Pinter, M. (2001). Effects of phosphoprotein phosphatase inhibitors (phenylarsine oxide and cantharidin) on Tetrahymena. Cell Biochem. Funct. 19, 197-205.

Massol, P., Montcourrier, P., Cuillemot, J., and Chavrier, P. (1998). Fc receptor-mediated phagocytosis requires CDC42 and Rac1. EMBO J. 17, 6219-6229.

Cantharadin
Knapp, J., Boknik, P., Huke, S., Gombosova, I., Linck, B., Luss, H., Muller, F. U., Muller, T., Nacke, P., Schmitz, W., Vahlensieck, U., and Neumann, J. (1998) Contractility and inhibition of protein phosphatases by cantharadin. Gen. Pharmac. 31, 729-733.

Kovacs, P., and Pinter, M. (2001). Effects of phosphoprotein phosphatase inhibitors (phenylarsine oxide and cantharidin) on Tetrahymena. Cell Biochem. Funct. 19, 197-205.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. Write a partial lab report based on your experiments, consisting of a Title Page, Results, Discussion and References sections. It will be due at the start of Lab 5. You will not receive any extra credit for including Abstract, Introduction and Methods sections. Write in the style of a scientific research report. The report is worth 25 points. Consult the BISC110/F09:Resources section of the Lab wiki to find helpul guidelines for writing lab reports in scientific style. Please, also, review your notes from the writing workshop. Your instructor may provide additional instructions regarding this assignment. Note that there is a Science Writing peer-tutor available for scheduled or drop-in assistance through the Writing Program and the PLTC. More information about scheduling a session with a writing tutor is available through the Writing Program's web site at: Wellesley College Writing Program Resources.

For your Results section, present the results from all of the experiments that you performed in Lab 3. Your results are the pictures that you took with the digital cameras and at least one graph or table summarizing your phagocytosis results. The figures must be incorporated into the report.

Your instructor will return your report in Lab 6 with comments and a grade.

All assignments must be submitted according to your instructor's directions. There is a 5% per day penalty for late work and no credit is given for work more than a week overdue. Electronic submissions are not accepted without instructor's consent.

2. Your lab instructor may collect your lab notebooks at the end of Lab 5 for inspection. The notebooks will be returned at the beginning of Lab 6.

3. Before coming to the next lab, read all the material in Lab 5 of Series 2, Genetics and, in your lab notebook, prepare a flow chart of the experimental procedures that you will perform in Lab 5.