The following is a list of skills obtained by students through GBTI’s laboratory intensive, hands-on training at Athens or Gwinnett Tech. These laboratory skills are learned in addition to traditional college-level courses in Biology, Microbiology, General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry. During the second year of the two-year program, most students are engaged in laboratory work 4 or 5 days a week through regular coursework and obtain additional hands-on experience through independent research projects and/or internships.

General Laboratory Skills
Laboratory Notebook Maintenance (Good Laboratory Practices), Use of Excel Spreadsheets for Graphing, Statistical Treatments of Data

Chemistry / Prep Techniques
Media Preparations Including Selective and Special Indicator Media
Solution Preparation, Serial Dilutions, Molarity Calculations
Sterile Techniques, Sterile Media Preparation
Use of pH and other Ion-selective Electrode Meters
Gravimetric & Titrimetric Methods of Analysis

Protein Techniques
Differential Centrifugation/Purification
Gel Filtration Chromatography
Purification of a Restriction Enzyme Using Ion Exchange Chromatography
Fractionation, Harvest, SDS-PAGE
Purification of GFP by Hydrophobic Interaction Chomatography (HIC)
Molecular Weight Determination
Bradford/Lowry Assays
Enzyme Assays Including Malate Dehydrogenase, ß-Galactosidase, etc.
Immunoelectrophoresis, Western Blot, ELISA

DNA Techniques
Agarose Gel Electrophoresis for DNA Separation/Analysis
Plasmid/Chromosomal DNA Isolation, Restriction Analysis, Restriction Mapping, DNA Ligation
Staining/Destaining/Photodocumentation & Analysis of DNA Gels
Conventional Transformation of E. coli, Electroporation
Construction of Recombinant Plasmid DNA Including Blue/White Cloning of DNA Fragments
PCR, RT-PCR, Southern Blot, Preparation of a Genomic Library

Instrumental Analysis Techniques
GC-FID & GC-MS – Method Setup, Standards Prep & Sample Analysis
HPLC – Method Setup, Mobile Phase Prep, Standards Prep & Sample Analysis
Flame AA – Digestions, Standards Prep & Sample Analysis
FTIR – Liquids, Gases, Mulls, Thin Films, Pellets
UV-Vis – Direct Use of Spectrophotometer & Use as HPLC Detector
Recognition of Problems With All Above, Troubleshooting, and Correction of Minor Problems

Cell Techniques
Growth & Management of Plant Cell Cultures
Preparation of Chloroplasts & Isolation of Physiologically Active Mitochondria, Marker Enzyme Assays
Isolation and Characterization of Genomic DNA
Growth of cells in a biological safety cabinet