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Southern Utah University

Spring Semester 2026

Biochemistry Lab (Face-to-Face)

CHEM 4125-02

Course:	CHEM 4125-02
Credits:	1
Term:	Spring Semester 2026
Department:	PSCI
CRN:	13470

Course Description

Laboratory focused on protein expression, structure, and function. This course will teach students the foundational techniques needed to clone and express genes, and to purify and work with proteins in research laboratories. This course will involve an average of three to four hours per week. A minimum grade of "C" (2.0 or above) must be earned in this course before it can be counted in a physical science major or minor or as a prerequisite for any other course. (Spring) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Co-requisite(s): CHEM 4120 Prerequisite(s): CHEM 4110 - Prerequisite Min. Grade: C

Required Texts

You don't need to buy a lab manual for this class. Protocols for experiments and other information will be provided through Canvas. You will need a calculator, a composition book to use as a lab notebook, and a sharpie. You should bring these with you on the first day of lab. Some lab periods will require a computer to look at protein structures, protein and DNA sequences, analyze data, etc. There are several computers in the classroom, but you may sometimes find it useful to have your own computer along. This will never be an absolute requirement if you don't have one that's convenient to bring to class.

Learning Outcomes

This semester you will gain experience with fundamental techniques used by biochemists in research labs, including measuring enzyme activity and kinetics, primer and cloning vector design, DNA manipulation techniques, purification of DNA and proteins, protein expression, electrophoresis, UV-vis, and fluorescence. You will also use PyMOL to look at macromolecular structures, and be introduced to online tools used to search the biochemical literature and to find information about proteins.

Your use of these techniques will be assessed in lab assignments, lab reports, a group presentation, and a graded lab notebook.

Course Requirements

Grading

Your grade in this course will be based on your lab notebook and lab participation (30%), homework assignments (40%) and formal lab reports and a group presentation (30%).

Lab notebook and participation in lab

This part of your grade will be based on participation in experiments with your group and on good lab citizenship (scheduling and sharing equipment, cleaning up after yourself, leaving equipment in good condition). Each person in each lab group should participate in collecting and analyzing data. If a lab task like data entry is assigned to one group member one week, I expect a different group member to take over the same task the next week.

You will be expected to keep a lab notebook throughout the semester. This will be turned in periodically during the semester for grading, and will be turned in at the end of the semester for an overall grade. Your lab notebook grade will be based on your physical, written book.

Assignments

You will complete specific questions almost every week. Written assignments will either be individual or shared with your lab group. I will let you know which to do each week. Some weeks you may be asked to share your data with the other groups in both labs. In that case, your grade will be based on whether you share your data in the correct format by whatever deadline I give you.

Formal lab reports and group presentation

Your lab group will collect and analyze some data. Each person in the class will write up the results of this work. You can expect to do two formal lab reports this semester. Your group will also do a kinetics project, and will present your results to the class. I will provide a detailed guide to the expected format and a grading rubric for the lab reports and the presentation.

Data presentation

Any work you turn in this semester should follow the guidelines in the rubrics and the data presentation page on Canvas. Data must be neatly organized and thoughtfully presented for full credit on any assignment or lab report. When appropriate, you should organize data into tables or figures. Graphs must be scaled to show the relevant data clearly. If two graphs are to be compared, they should have matching scales. Axes must be labeled. Spectral data should be exported into excel or R or some similar program and graphed there. You should not expect to get credit for submitting screenshots (or even worse, photos of the computer screen) directly from the spectrophotometer or your lab partner's computer or any other piece of equipment.

Grading scale

93% or higher – A
90-92.9% – A-
87-89.9% – B+
83-86.9% – B
80-82.9% – B-
77-79.9% – C+
73-76.9% – C
70-72.9% – C-
67-69.9% – D+
63-66.9% – D
60-62.9% – D-
less than 60% – F

A grade of C or better is to count this course toward a chemistry major. Please note: if you stop participating in the class partway through the semester and earn less than 60%, I will be required to give you a grade of UW instead of F. This can affect your financial aid.

Course Outline

A weekly schedule for this semester is given below. Any changes will be announced in class or on Canvas.

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

I understand that occasionally things come up in your personal life that may make you late with a pre-lab or lab report. Please feel free to ask before the assignment is due if you know you will need to turn something in late, with the understanding that we will agree on a new due date that you must meet (generally within one or two days of when the work was originally due), that this should not be a frequent occurrence, and that I may say no if you are asking regularly. If you miss one or more labs due to illness or personal emergency, I will work with you on adjusting due dates to catch back up with the class. Making up the work later is only possible up to a certain extent, since each week's lab takes up to four hours and I may only be able to schedule one or two make-up sessions that work with both of our schedules. If you have an extended period of missing lab, you may reach a point where you won't be able to catch back up, and will need to consider withdrawing from the class or taking an incomplete, depending on where we are in the semester. If you turn something in late without receiving permission from me before the due date, that work will be penalized 30% of the original points at the time it is turned in and 30% of the original points per week after that.

Attendance Policy

This is a lab, and it is listed as a face-to-face class. You are expected to attend lab each week, and failure to do so will be reflected in your assignment, lab notebook, and participation grades.

We will generally meet as a group at the beginning of class, but different lab groups may be doing different things for the rest of the class period. Your lab group may also need to check on or work on experiments at other times during the week. If so, we will balance this time by planning your work so that you don’t need to stay for the whole lab period in those weeks.

If you have COVID or some other illness, please stay home. Let me know what’s going on, and I will work with you to make up the time you’ve missed, either by making up the lab directly, by picking up some slack in your lab group later in the semester, or by doing data analysis and bioinformatics work.

If you have planned travel on university business, or for graduate school or similar interviews, please let me know as far in advance as possible so that I can figure out how to have you make up the lab.

Laboratory Risk

Chemical exposure and exposure to open flames are constant risks in a chemistry lab. To minimize the risk to yourself and those around you, the following rules must be followed:

Never taste or smell a chemical or pipette by mouth.
Wash your hands before leaving the lab and frequently during the lab to avoid accidental contamination of yourself and others.
Dispose of chemicals only as directed – nothing goes down the sink unless expressly directed. Pay attention to waste container labeling.
Keep your work area clean; wipe up any spills (liquid or solid) immediately.
Replace caps on reagent bottles, and never return chemicals to the original container.
The clothing that you wear to lab must fully cover your feet, legs, and torso, including shoulders and upper arms (short sleeves are allowed). No shorts, tank tops, or sandals are allowed in lab. Long hair should be restrained. Loose clothing like scarves and shirts with very baggy sleeves may catch fire easily and will need to be avoided when working around open flames.
Wear safety goggles at all times when in the lab.

With some medical conditions, you may wish to take additional precautions like wearing a lab coat or additional protective garments, delaying enrolling, or even not enrolling in the lab. In particular, if you are in your first trimester of pregnancy you should avoid exposure to laboratory chemicals or talk to your doctor about the risks. I am not qualified to give you medical advice, but I can help you locate material safety data sheets for the chemicals that will be used in the lab, to take to your doctor.

Failure to follow lab safety rules may result in a lower grade or a grade of zero for a lab. If I see you doing something unsafe, I will ask you to stop. If you continue to do something unsafe after a reminder, you will be asked to leave the lab and will not be allowed to make up whatever you miss.

Course Fees

There is no fee for this course.

Equipment, supplies, cleaning, and waste disposal

Your lab group will be given a bin that contains some frequently-used equipment. Your bin can also be used for storing solutions specific to your group's project. You may be sharing a pipettor set with a group in another lab section (depending on the total number of lab groups). You will be assigned a pipettor set to use all semester. You are expected to take care of this equipment and return it clean and in good working order at the end of the semester. Failure to do so will result in charges for equipment replacement and/or grade penalties.

Guidelines for equipment, supplies, cleaning, and waste disposal are available in Canvas. If you're not sure about something, please feel free to ask me!

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.

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