Circular dichroism spectroscopy: Enhancing a traditional undergraduate biochemistry laboratory experience

Abstract

The undergraduate biochemistry laboratory curriculum is designed to provide students with experience in protein isolation and purification protocols as well as various data analysis techniques, which enhance the biochemistry lecture course and give students a broad range of tools upon which to build in graduate level laboratories or once they begin their careers. One of the most common biochemistry protein purification experiments is the isolation and characterization of cytochrome c. Students across the country purify cytochrome c, lysozyme, or some other well-known protein to learn these common purification techniques. What this series of experiments lacks is the use of sophisticated instrumentation that is rarely available to undergraduate students. To give students a broader background in biochemical spectroscopy techniques, a new circular dichroism (CD) laboratory experiment was introduced into the biochemistry laboratory curriculum. This CD experiment provides students with a means of conceptualizing the secondary structure of their purified protein, and assessments indicate that students' understanding of the technique increased significantly. Students conducted this experiment with ease and in a short time frame, so this laboratory is conducive to merging with other data analysis techniques within a single laboratory period. © 2017 by The International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 45(6):515-520, 2017.

A Review of Biochemistry Education Research

“…139 Access to sophisticated instrumentation in the biochemistry laboratory has been shown to have a significant effect on students' understanding of topics such as circular dichroism spectroscopy. 140 The use of games such as "Hangman" during periods in the laboratory when students have to wait for a procedure to occur had a positive effect on students' ability to learn topics such as the structure and one-letter abbreviations of amino acids. 141 ■ DISCUSSION There are several patterns in the BCER literature.…”

Detection of enzyme‐triggered peptide self‐assembly via laser confocal Raman microscopy and circular dichroism spectroscopy in cellular environment

“…Raman spectroscopy determines the biomolecular changes during the disease progression. Many well‐established optical characterization techniques such as circular dichroism spectroscopy, optical rotation dispersion spectroscopy, Raman optical activity, time‐resolved CD spectroscopy, two‐photon absorption CD spectroscopy, and second harmonic generation spectroscopy have already been used for the study and characterization of protein and its secondary and tertiary chiral structures in bulk solutions.…”