Commentary: Innovation in the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology laboratory
The special section on Innovation in the Biochemistry/Molecular Biology (BMB) laboratory was initiated in 2009. The first 3 years we chose general laboratory exercises that introduced students to basic skills and techniques important in the modern laboratory. Previous manuscripts selected for this series have been published in the January/February issues of BAMBED (2009 2011) Since then, we have selected a specific topic for each year: BMB laboratory in Australia [1] genomic annotation [2] laboratory notebooks [3] and ethics [4] Our primary goal for each series has been to provide examples of experiments based on modern BMB themes that are presented in a creative manner, preferably using student centered, active learning styles such as PBL, research based learning, process oriented inquiry learning, and other high impact educational practices [5 7] Although traditional "wet lab" BMB approaches are still the foundation of most published BMB discoveries, increasingly computational models are providing increased insight into BMB findings and the formulation of new hypotheses that can be tested in vitro. Computational models of kinetics data from stopped flow or rapid quench experiments, for example, have been around for decades. It is possible now to augment structure function studies by the use of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations that consider molecular motions over time, enzyme plasticity (in the presence and absence of ligands) energy landscapes for enzyme catalysis, and so forth. As noted in many of the contributions in this issue, MD is increasingly common in the biochemical literature, and we have anecdotally observed increased interest in MD and other computational methods among undergraduate biochemistry students. Thus, for the 2016 series, our focus is on the use of MD simulations and related computational approaches to introduce students to computational BMB. Professor Donald Elmore of Wellesley College provides an opening editorial discussing the use of MD in undergraduate BMB laboratories followed by four articles with specific activities that can be adapted and adopted by our readers. We hope you enjoy this series and use these articles as an opportunity to gain interdisciplinary collaborations with colleagues across STEM disciplines as MD activities intersect various disciplines, including biochemistry, molecular biology, computer science, physics, and chemistry.
Biochemistry and molecular biology education a bimonthly publication of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology