• The student(s) can differentiate chemicals based on bond types and molecular structure
• The student(s) can explain and apply the fundamentals of spectroscopy, especially photo spectrometry to simple molecules (Course "Chemie voor levenswetenschappen 1")

The aim of this course it to make the student aware of techniques used in biological research, from the molecular to the global scale. The students will be introduced to the principles and research applications of (by increasing degree of organization):

• DNA sequencing (Sanger and next generation with applications in transcriptomics, genotyping and genomic variation discovery, de novo genome assembly and metagenome analysis)
• Microscopy (light, darkfield, phase contrast, DIC, UV and fluorescence, confocal microscopy, electronic microscopy, tunneling electron microscopy)
• Chromatography (gas chromatography, HPLC, column chromatography, gas/liquid chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, GC/MS and LC MS)
• Spectroscopy (asborbance, fluorescence, infrared, raman, and NMR)
• Electrophoresis (gradient, pulse field, capillary)
• Remote sensing, at both the plant and the landscape scale
• Climate monitoring and manipulations (eddy covariance towers, free air CO2 enrichment, IR heaters, rain curtains, lysimeters, ecotrons). This will be accompanied by more general lectures putting these techniques in a broader context
  • Experimental design
  • Mainstream biological models
  • Techniques and ethics

At the end of the course, the student should be able to chose the method best adapted to a give biological question. This will also be the topic of the course task done throughout the semester by students in small groups.