| Week | Date | Topics | Chapters | Remarks |
|---|
| 1 | Aug 24, 26 | Introduction: A survey of Biotechnology-from historical to current | | |
| 2 | Aug 31, Sep 2 | A textbook case of success: Genetech | | Lab Exercise: Each student identifies a specific product/biotech company and do a web-based research |
| 3 | Sep 7, 9 | Review on molecules of life and principles of biological processes, etc. | | Class discussion: students present their research |
| 4 | Sep 14, 16 | Continue on basic biochemistry | | Sep 16: 1st Exam |
| 5 | Sep 21, 23 | Principles of restriction endonuclease and ligase, electrophoresis, and other techniques commonly used in biotechnology | | Lab 1: Laboratory Safety; Preparation of buffers, reagents, etc.; |
| 6 | Sep 28, 30 | Continue...... | | Lab 2: Biotech in action: How human accidentally produced wine/alcohol |
| 7 | Oct 5, 7 | Expression vector and construction | | Continue... |
| 8 | Oct 12, 14 | Genomic libraries vs. cDNA libraries | | Oct 14: 2nd Exam |
| 9 | Oct 19, 21 | Continue...... | | Lab 3: DNA gel electrophoresis |
| 10 | Oct 26, 28 | PCR to gene editing | | Oct 26, 27: No class (Fall Break)
Lab 4: Plasmid DNA transformation |
| 11 | Nov 2, 4 | Continue and catch-up | | Lab 5: Colony isolation and plasmid DNA Extraction |
| 12 | Nov 9, 11 | Intellectual property, venture capital, and IPO | | Lab 6: “Scale up” of plasmid-positive colony |
| 13 | Nov 16, 18 | --Continue and catch-up | | Nov 18: 3rd Exam |
| 14 | Nov 23, 25 | A survey of career prospects in biotechnology by logging on companies' job sites, resume preparation, mock interview, etc. | | Nov 25-28: Thanksgiving Break
Lab 7: “Scale up” plasmid DNA extraction, restriction endonuclease digestion and DNA electrophoresis |
| 15 | Nov 30, Dec 2 | Catch-up, review, and discussion on issues/student’s lab results | | Catch-up and repeat experiments if needed |
| 16 | Dec 7, 9 | Open / Student project presentation | | |
| 17 | | | | Final Exam |