National Engineering Research Center of Immunological Products, Department of Microbiology and Biochemical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Department of Clinical Hematology, College of Pharmacy, Army Medical University, Chongqing, China.
Biochem Mol Biol Educ. 2020 Mar;48(2):168-174. doi: 10.1002/bmb.21312. Epub 2019 Oct 30.
Biotechnological pharmaceuticals is a key course offered to third-year undergraduates majoring in biotechnology in our university. However, students often experience difficulties in understanding the principles of related technologies. In this study, we developed and implemented an elective course on preliminary structural biology for biotechnology undergraduates, aiming at reinforcing the principles of these technologies by experimental practice. The course was composed of three phases and lasted for 15 weeks, 18 students were randomly divided into six teams and were encouraged to design, prepare, carry out, and conclude a project on their own. The main contents of their project were cloning, expression, purification, and crystal screening of HpaA, a lipoprotein from the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. Examination scores of biotechnology pharmaceuticals were used to assess learning outcomes. The results showed that students who participated in this course gained higher scores in the final examination, and they performed better on the questions specifically related to the elective course. These results demonstrated that the course enhanced students' understanding of the technologies involved in this course by practical applications. Thus, this elective course was effective in helping biotechnology undergraduates to learn the theory and application of biological technologies, and the experience gained in this course may be useful for other technology-based courses.
生物技术制药是我校生物技术专业三年级本科生的一门核心课程。然而，学生在理解相关技术原理方面常常感到困难。在本研究中，我们为生物技术专业本科生开设了一门生物技术初步结构生物学选修课程，旨在通过实验实践强化这些技术的原理。该课程由三个阶段组成，历时 15 周，18 名学生被随机分为六组，鼓励他们自主设计、准备、进行和总结一个项目。他们项目的主要内容是克隆、表达、纯化和筛选来自胃病原体幽门螺杆菌的脂蛋白 HpaA。生物技术制药的考试成绩用于评估学习成果。结果表明，参加该课程的学生在期末考试中获得了更高的分数，并且在与选修课程相关的问题上表现更好。这些结果表明，该课程通过实际应用增强了学生对本课程所涉及技术的理解。因此，该选修课程有助于生物技术专业本科生学习生物技术的理论和应用，而且在本课程中获得的经验可能对其他基于技术的课程有用。
