Two fundamental questions underlie much current research in biology:
- 1.
1How does a fertilized egg develop into all of the diverse cells and tissues that make up a complex organism?
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2How is gene expression controlled ‐ how do cells synthesize the right protein at the right time in the right amount?
In order to examine and find answers to these two questions, researchers must pick an experimental organism to examine. But of the millions of organisms on earth, which ones do researchers pick as “model” experimental organisms? This product examines the six most often used experimental organisms that researchers have examined and chosen as representative species, to help answer the two questions raised above.
These organisms are the mouse, Drosophila, Arabidopsis, C. elegans, phage lambda, and yeast. For each of these organisms, the CD asks and answers the following questions: why each organism is studied, the key biological and genetic properties of the organism, basic lab procedures, advanced laboratory tools and techniques and protocol, specific developmental problems associated with each organism, how questions are answered using modern molecular genetic experimental techniques, real‐world applications of important findings, and image galleries focusing on genetic and developmental principles. The product introduces life science students and their instructors to experimental research.
Users can view high quality video that takes them into top research labs, animations that explain underlying genetic and developmental principles, hyperlinks and bookmarks that relate content areas, and notepads for creating tutorials or lecture notes. Users also have the capabilities to print, copy, make transparencies, as well as have access to professional‐level appendices.
This product has both a PC and a Mac version. The video clips and animations are of high quality; and the content is geared toward the upper high school/college level undergraduate. The content is well worth the price of the product. There are over 50 minutes of video, over 500 images, image galleries for each organism, lists of Internet resources, and many other useful appendices and protocols. For those involved in upper level biology classes in high school or college, this product deserves some examination.
