Lab Practical 3 1 pm section sign up sheet
Check out this review of neuron function
3 pm lab people - lab makeup assignment
Exciting week in biomedical research news
A&P news Twitter assignment
Drop in tutoring for this class is available Tuesday nights from 7-9 pm in Kettering 131

Reading/Listening assignments

Week 16
For Mon, Dec 3rd
Take notes on the following questions about the autonomic nervous system:

  • How do the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions of the ANS affect heart rate and blood pressure? What is the purpose of these changes in homeostasis?
  • What types of tissues can the ANS control?
  • The ANS uses motor neurons, but its wiring is a bit different than the motor neurons that control skeletal muscle. Describe what is different.
  • What two neurotransmitters are used by the ANS?

Give some thought to the following questions about the sensory system:
  • What is the difference between stimulus, sensation and perception?
  • Why are sensory signals from the eyes perceived as vision while those from the taste buds are perceived as taste (gustation)?

For Tue, Dec 4th
Hand in all uncollected lab assignments from the past few weeks

For Wed, Dec 5th
We will finish up the last new material for the semester and review for the final exam. The review sheet for the final is here. Come to class with questions.

Data analysis due by the start of the final exam:
By the time you start you final exam on Tuesday the 11th submit the following on Angel:
  • Use the data from lab to create a column graph showing a comparison of 2-point discrimination distance between the arm, back of the neck, palm and finger tip. You can use the same style of graph as you used in your last data analysis assignment.
  • Write a paragraph describing the data in your graph. What do these data show? Explain why or why not there are differences between the four regions. What do these data say about the sensory ability of your skin in these four body regions?
  • Submit your graph and paragraph in a Word document on Angel.

Week 15
For Mon, Nov 26
Watch this TED talk on “The mysterious workings of the adolescent brain”
Read this NY Times article on the recent fungal meningitis outbreak

For Tue, Nov 27
Take this practice muscle practical quiz - view this pdf and write the names of the muscles indicated. We will go over this in lab.
You can find the images from our last muscle practice here.

For Wed, Nov 29
Enter your 2-point discrimination data here.

Week 14
For Mon, Nov 19th
Review what produces an action potential and how waves of action potentials travel down an axon. Come to class with your questions.

Thought question for Monday: We saw that it is the amount of Na+ diffusing into the dendrite and towards the axon hillock that determines whether the membrane potential reaches the threshold of -55 mV that makes the voltage-gated Na+ channels open. How can the nervous system control how much Na+ diffuses into a post-synaptic neuron? Think of some specific mechanisms that could control this? How might these mechanisms be similar to the control over how much force a muscle produces when it contracts?

For Tue, Nov 20
Cadaver Visit!
Bring your completed assessments from last week

Week 13
For Wed, Nov 14th
Watch the new neuron function and action potential videos on the right sidebar
What does the diffusion of Na+ ions do to membrane potentials?
Take notes on the protein channels used to generate an action potential. Where are they and what does each channel do? What is the signal to open each channel?

For Tue, Nov 13th
Bring the completed assessment assignments from the last two muscle anatomy labs

Week 12
For Mon, Nov 5th
Watch this TED talk on robotic arms

Week 11
For Wed, Oct 31
Find two muscles that contribute to each of the following motions:
  • Nodding of the head
  • Circumduction of the arms
  • Doing a situp
  • Doing a push up
  • Doing a curl with a dumbbell
  • Abduction of the arms

For Tue, Oct 30 - Lab Canceled
Measuring muscle activity using electromyography - will be done next week
Lab exercise 20 - muscles of the face, head and neck - complete assessment A

For Mon, Oct 29
Be ready for a text review on muscle contraction

Week 10
For Wed, Oct 24
Use the textbook, class notes, videos and any other sources you can find to review how the release of acetylcholine by a neuron leads to muscle contraction. We will review this on Wednesday.
Also take notes on the following:
  • What molecule supplies the energy for “pulling the rope”? Which protein involved in muscle contraction needs this energy molecule? How do muscle cells make this energy molecule, and what happens if there is not enough oxygen to do so?
  • What is the difference between slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle tissue?
  • Use “Genetics Connection 8.1” to find the causes of Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
  • We will also talk about myasthenia gravis and cerebral palsy.

Week 9
For Wednesday, Oct 17
Use figure 8.6 and the text to understand the relationship between the proteins actin, myosin, troponin and tropomyosin.
  • How do these proteins work together to produce a muscle contraction?
  • If you picture the “sliding filament model” as a game of tug-a-war, which protein is the rope and which is the hands pulling the rope?
  • What molecule supplies the energy for “pulling the rope”?

For Monday, Oct 15 - Practical review and introduction to muscle tissue
Be ready for review of lab practical material - see the review sheet
Use Figure 8.1 and 8.4 to get an introduction to the levels of organization of muscle:
  • Muscle, Fascicle, Muscle Fiber, Myofibrils, Thick and thin filaments
  • Know the labeled structures in figure 8.1 and 8.4
  • What is the relationship between the sarcoplasmic reticulum and the transverse tubules?
What is a sarcomere, and how are the actin and myosin protein fibers arranged in one (figure 8.3)
What two cell types meet at a neuromuscular junction? What is the function of this connection?

Week 8
For Monday, Oct 8
  • What types of tissues are used to connect bones at each of the following joints?
    • Fibrous
    • Cartilaginous
    • Synovial
  • What are some different ways that synovial joints are constructed and classified?
  • What is the difference between osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis

Week 7
For Wednesday, Oct 3
Bring your lab manual and textbooks to class. We will continue working with the vertebral column.

For Tuesday, Oct 2
Complete tissue lab assignments from last week

Week 6
For Tuesday, Sep 25th
Complete lab exercises from last week and turn them in
Review the types of epithelial and connective tissues
Bring you lab book, skim exercises 8, 9 and 11 before lab

For Wednesday, Sep 26th
Draw a section through the skin noting the location of the epidermis, dermis and subcutaneous layer. Take notes on the following questions:
  • What types of tissues are found in each layer?
  • What layers of skin contain blood vessels? Where would you need to insert a needle to so that injected chemicals entered the blood stream?
  • Where in the epidermis are new cells formed (name the layer)?
  • Where does tattoo ink need to be applied so that the body does not remove it?
  • What skin cells lead to each of the three types of skin cancer described on page 121?

Week 5
For Monday, Sep 17th
Use your textbook or any other sources to find out the difference between the terms “gene”, “genome” and “proteome”.
What was the Human Genome Project, and what where its hoped for benefits?
Read this article from the New York Times about a continuation of the Human Genome Project called ENCODE. Take notes on the following questions and be ready to discuss them in class:
  • What is meant by the term “junk” DNA? What was thought to distinguish “junk” DNA from “non-junk” DNA?
  • How do the findings of the ENCODE project suggest that our view of “junk” DNA was incorrect?
  • How could the information from this project be helpful in understanding and treating human diseases?

For Tuesday, Sep 18th - Microscopy lab and review
Be ready to review for Wednesday’s exam. Come ready with your questions.
Bring you lab book and textbook to lab.

For Wednesday, Sep 19th
Exam 1

Week 4
For Friday, Sep 14th
Submit your heart rate/blood pressure graphs as a Word document or PDF using the content tab of the Angel page for the course.

For Wednesday, Sep 12th
Use your textbook or any other sources to find out the difference between the terms “gene”, “genome” and “proteome”.
What was the Human Genome Project, and what where its hoped for benefits?
Read this article from the New York Times about a continuation of the Human Genome Project called ENCODE. Take notes on the following questions and be ready to discuss them in class:
  • What is meant by the term “junk” DNA? What was thought to distinguish “junk” DNA from “non-junk” DNA?
  • How do the findings of the ENCODE project suggest that our view of “junk” DNA was incorrect?
  • How could the information from this project be helpful in understanding and treating human diseases?
  • For Monday, Sep 10th
1. Create a graph in Excel to analyze the effects of exercise on heart rate and blood pressure. I would recommend creating a column graph of the average heart rate and blood pressure for each treatment group. Use your resulting graph to take notes on the following questions:
  • Does one minute of exercise affect heart rate and/or blood pressure? If there was an effect, how great was it?
  • Were systolic and diastolic pressures affected differently?

2. Look over the osmosis experiment data collected here and interpret the results for your experiment. Be ready to discuss your results on Monday.

3. Come to class prepared for a lab practical review

4. Next week we will cover chapter 4, which includes review of a lot of the biological macromolecules covered in class. To prepare for Monday, take notes on the following questions:
  • What is the difference between anabolism and catabolism? What is an example of each type of reaction?
  • I mentioned that the covalent bonds between carbons in a molecule of glucose holds energy. Today we will look at how that energy is transferred to ATP. What bond in ATP holds energy?


Week 3
For Tuesday, Sep 4th
Use this great site from the University of Utah to review “What is DNA?” and “What is a protein?”
Look over the HR/BP data from last week. Does there seem to be a difference in heart rate and blood pressure between the rest and exercise groups?
Read the textbook section on osmosis (page 63-64). What would happen to a cell placed in pure water? Why does this happen?

For Wednesday, Sep 5th
Take notes on the following questions and be ready to talk about them in class:
  • Look over figures 3.19 and 3.20 and be ready to describe how large items can be brought into a cell? Why is it important that cell membranes be “fluid” for this process to work? What role can proteins play in this process?
  • There are many different types of cancer. But what do all cancers have in common?

Week 2
For Wednesday, August 29th
Read pages 50-54 of your textbook
Try the first five parts of this tutorial on cell membranes
Watch this computer generated video showing life in a cell:


For Tuesday, August 28th
Complete the assignments from last week’s lab (Exercise #2) and bring them to class.
  • Label figures 2.1, 2.2, 2.5
  • Answer Assessments parts A,B,C and F
  • For Monday, August 27th
Do the following exercises in your notes and be ready to discuss them in class
  • Draw an atom of hydrogen, placing any protons, neutrons and electrons. Then diagram how hydrogen might interact with oxygen to form covalent bonds. Keep in mind that it is the electrons in the outer shell that determine how an atom will interact with other atoms.
  • Draw a diagram of a carbon atom that has a molecular weight of 14. How is this possible?
  • In class on Wednesday we drew the structure for Na and showed why it often loses an electron to gain a positive charge of 1. Use the periodic table on page 566 of your textbook to find two more atoms with atomic numbers below 21 that could also form ions with a positive charge of 1.
  • Find one element with an atomic number below 21 that could form an ion with a single negative charge (-1).
We will discuss the four groups of biological macromolecules. Use the textbook to find one specific example of each of the following, and what your example does and/or where it is found:
  • Carbohydrates
  • Proteins
  • Nucleic Acids
  • Lipids
Week 1
For Wednesday, August 12nd
Read this article on the international sale of body parts on Wired.com
Use chapter 2 in your text to take notes on the following:
  • What are the differences between electrons, neutrons and protons?
  • Which have a charge and which have mass?
  • Where are each found in an atom?
  • Which are responsible for bonding two atoms together?
  • Sign up for a free Twitter account and check in by tweeting your favorite element using the hashtag #aubio125

For Tuesday, August 21st
Read over pages 4-15 in the Hole’s Essentials textbook to prepare for Tuesday’s lab
Take notes on the following and be ready to discuss:
  • What characteristics are shared by living things?
  • What do living things need to stay alive?
  • What is meant by the term homeostasis? Use the example in the textbook to illustrate how the body can maintain homeostasis, and think about one additional example.
Bring your textbook and lab book to class