Introduction to Summer 2025 Labs

Scroll below for In Person lab information. 

For all In Person BIO 183 lab units – Read along in your lab handout with the information in this webpage.  Fill in and answer all questions accordingly in your lab handout.  Your completed lab handout will be turned in on Moodle 24 hours after the end of lab and graded.

Lab Handout – a link will be provided at the top of each In Person webpage to provide the background and directions for what will be done in the lab that day (Summer) or week (Fall/Spring). There is no Unit Handout for this first Introduction Lab.

Lab Policies – important polices on lab attendance, turning in work on time, appropriate lab behaviors.

Lab Safety Guidelines – important safety policies that must be followed to remain in lab.

The Lab Website (where you are now) is where you will get all your Lab Content/Lab Unit handouts and Assignment descriptions. (This Intro Lab Handout will NOT be turned in and graded).

The Lab Schedule Summer 2025 webpage will provide all dates for labs and has a link to an Assignment Schedule with all due dates and point allocation for each lab assignment.

The Lab Moodle section is where you will turn in your work to be graded, due dates are also listed there, and review all your graded worked to read TA comments and find your grades on each lab assignment.(opens in new window)

Activity 1:  How to Use a Micropipette

Micropipetting Use Diagram

• Video – How to adjust the volume on your micropipetter(opens in new window) 
• Video – How to use a micropipetter(opens in new window) 

Practice Procedure for lab: (make as a handout?)

1. We will be using micropipettes to measure small volumes of solution in 3 of our 4 regular In Person BIO 183 labs. Micropipettes are a commonly used in many different sorts of laboratory experiments and it is important to use them properly for your experiment to work and produce consistent data.
2. Each student should familiarize themself with the following parts of a micropipette: plunger button, adjustment knob (DO NOT adjust above or below the range written on the side of the micropipetter), volume window, ejector button and tip placement/attachment location.
3. Your TA will demonstrate how to comfortably hold the micropipette so that your thumb can control the plunger and tip ejector buttons.
4. Slowly depress the plunger button with your thumb. You should feel that there are 2 “stops”. The first stop corresponds to the measurement of solution of the volume that has been set in the volume window. The 2nd stop will be at the bottom point of the plunger.
5. Depress the plunger a few times until you can easily tell the difference between the first and the 2nd stop. This is important EACH time you use a micropipette.
6. Place a tip on the end of the long stem end of the micropipette. Your TA will show you how to do this without touching the tip with your hand. This ensures the tips are clean and not contaminated.
7. To draw up a solution, always set the volume you want to measure in the volume window (we will practice with 25 or 50 ul amounts).
8. Press down on the plunger button until you reach the first stop.
9. Then put the tip of the micropipette into the sample solution.
10. Keeping the micropipette tip in the solution, slowly release your thumb to draw up that amount of solution into the tip. Now lift the tip/micropipette out of the solution tube. Check to make sure you see the solution drawn up into the tip.
11. To expel the solution, first practice by returning it to the solution tube. Place the pipet back into the tube. Slowly press down on the plunger to the first stop, then slowly go beyond the 1st stop to the 2nd stop AND KEEP YOUR THUMB FULLY DOWN. This will fully discharge all solution back into the tube.
12. Lift the micropipette with tip away from the solution tube. The tip should now be empty.
13. Now practice using the provided colored dye and a laminate hexangonnal grid template.
14. Set the volume of your micropipette to 25 or 50 ul. Using the micropipette and the provided color dye, try to aliquot a sample into 1 of the grid hexagon. Follow this by aliquoting 4 more samples into 4 different hexagons. Do all of your colored drops look the same size? If so, you are operating the micropipette correctly. If the drops look to be different sizes, wipe the grid clean with a paper towel or Kimwipe and try again.
15. Take some time and micropipette at least 4-5 droplets of the 2 different sizes on your grip template. Can you see there are 2 different sizes? Are your drop sizes consistent? Are the and you can use the different colored dye at your table. Share the color samples with each other. Try making a fun pattern or picture….
16. If you change colors, remember to change your tip to a new one – so there is no contamination! Eject your tip into the Labeled “Used Tip” beaker by placing the attached tip into the beaker and pressing down on the tip ejector button.
17. Take a picture of your completed practice grid and upload it into Moodle under the Introductory Lab prompt. Your TA will show you how to do this. ***Be sure to save your picture format as a JPG, as HEIF/HEVC iPhone images and items saved as Pages may appear blank in Moodle for your TA (so can’t be graded).***

Activity 2:  Elicit

Elicit: The AI Research Assistant (Elicit Basic is free! You will need to login and make an account)

Over the course of the BIO 183 Labs, students will be working in groups on various assignments outside of the lab room. There will be times that students will need to research a topic and find Primary Journal Articles (a type of published original research) to help you explain your data and/or project research.

If you do not know what Primary Literature or Secondary Literature are, please review this page of the Library Tutorial used in the BIO 181 lab course, but you do not need to complete any assignment here.

In this first lab we’ll practice finding appropriate original research articles (primary literature) using Elicit to explore topics of interest in cellular biology. Elicit is an online tool that can help you find and fine tune your search for pertinent scientific literature.

Researching Topics using AI: Your New Research Assistant Elicit – click the link to access handout directions.

Additional Information

Nice links for further information you may want to explore on your own: