How to Add Biotech to Your Biomedical or Clinical Lab Course
Biotech plays an essential role in biomedical, clinical, and medical laboratory science. Engage your students with hands-on lab activities from miniPCR bio based on real-world biomedical tests!
Here’s a summary of the biotech labs that can align with different topics in your lab course curriculum:
Practice basic lab skills: 
- Micropipetting: mastering micropipetting is an essential skill for any lab technician. Use our engaging pipetting art activities to lay the foundation for your students to perform lab assays!
- Microbiology Plate Pouring: learn how to prepare and handle agar plates for bacterial culture and specimen collection
Master essential biology concepts:
- DNA Glow: understand how DNA structure and base pairing works in this hands-on visual lab
- BioBits®: Central Dogma: visualize the flow of genetic information from DNA to RNA to protein
- P51™ Enzyme Lab: β-Gal Glow™: investigate enzyme activity and the conditions that affect it and learn how these concepts can be applied to molecular assays
Applications in molecular diagnostics and human health:
Gel Electrophoresis Labs:
- Inherited Cancer Risk Lab: Lynch Syndrome: discover how genetic testing can diagnose hereditary cancer risk
- Hemophilia Genetics Lab: X-linked Inheritance: determine whether patients carry the X-linked mutation for hemophilia
- Sickle Cell Genetics Lab: Diagnosing Baby Marie™: analyze a fictional family’s DNA for the sickle cell allele
- Viral Diagnostics Lab: Beating the Next Pandemic: determine if patients exhibiting viral symptoms have seasonal flu or are infected with the new virus
PCR Labs:
- Cystic Fibrosis Lab: Missy Baker Missing™: test whether DNA evidence collected from the cars of two different suspects matches Missy Baker, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis
- miniPCR Sleep Lab™: Lark or Owl?: determine your own circadian genotype at a locus that has been associated with morning vs. evening preference
- COVID qPCR Lab: Detecting SARS-CoV-2 Infection: get hands-on experience with the principles of qPCR diagnostics by testing fictional patients for SARS-CoV-2 infection
Genetic Engineering and CRISPR:
- True Blue™ Transformation Lab: Genetically Engineering Bacteria: genetically engineer bacteria and identify transformed cells through their resulting blue phenotype, in a bacterial transformation lab
- Knockout! A CRISPR/Cas Gene Targeting Lab: disrupt a gene in bacteria using CRISPR/Cas and observe the resulting phenotypic change, in an in vivo bacterial transformation lab
- Chopped! Using CRISPR/Cas9 to cut DNA: investigate how the Cas9 nuclease can be programmed to target virtually any DNA sequence, in an in vitro gel electrophoresis lab
Need help narrowing options down? Visit the miniPCR® Biotech Hub and use our biotech lab filter tool to find the right lab for your classroom – sort by unit, technique, topic, and skill level to find your perfect lab matches.
Looking for more guidance? Our biotech curriculum experts are available to help you select the labs that best meet your needs and figure out what equipment you need.
