Our interactive, online lab simulations form part of a blended learning experience, designed to enhance your existing workbooks, teaching labs, and assignments. LabSims can be used to enhance all types of academic or experiential programmes, and are designed to develop skills and strengthen competencies.
Below you will find a complete list of our LabSims for Biosciences, with the relevant skills and competencies that their content maps to, accompanied by a link to where you can find out more information about each one.
What buttons are commonly found on a pH meter
What buffers are regularly used to calibrate pH meters
How to calibrate a pH meter with a buffer of known pH
How to check the calibration of the pH meter
Why it is important to wash the pH probe between solutions
Why it is helpful to calibrate a pH meter against 2 buffers of different pH
What principle components make up a pH probe
How to safely lower the pH probe into solution
How the sample and reference half-cells generate a pH measurement
How to configure the optics to split out light of the desired wavelength
How the laser, fluidics, optics, detectors and electronics of a flow cytometer together measure light signals
What types of light signal are measured by a flow cytometer and what information they provide
How scattered and fluorescent light signals are generated and recorded
What is meant by forward scatter, side scatter and granularity
How the size and granularity of a cell affect the scattered light signals
How to interpret dot plots to distinguish between cell populations
How gating can be used to compare many different parameters and isolate populations of interest
How concentration, molecule size and temperature affect the rate of diffusion
What is meant by diffusion, osmosis, solute, solvent and water potential
How solute concentration relates to water potential and the movement of water molecules
How the relative solute concentration can be described in terms of tonicity
What similarities and differences define diffusion and osmosis
Where examples of diffusion and osmosis occur in real life
How a haemocytometer can be used to count cells
How to affix the coverslip
How to load the sample
How to count cells
Why it is important to clean the equipment prior to counting
Why care must be taken when loading the sample into the chamber
Why it is important to mix the sample prior to counting
How trypan blue can be used to differentiate between viable and non-viable cells
How to calculate the viable cell density of the original sample
How to calculate the percentage viability of the original sample
What centrifugation is used to achieve
How varying the speed and time affects the separation of particles
How to select the appropriate speed and time to separate different sized particles
What is the composition of the gel used in the column
How protein size affects migration through the gel
How to predict the order of elution of different sized proteins
What is the difference between a cation and anion exchange column
How to identify the order proteins will reach their isoelectric point when given a graph of charge vs pH
What are the main features of a purification column
How to operate the column tap to start and stop the flow of elution
What is used to equilibrate the column prior to adding the protein mixture
Why the gel bed must not be allowed to dry
Why care must be taken when pipetting the sample into the top of the column
Why it is important to keep the gel bed flat
When to start and stop collecting each protein as they elute
How to make the initial incisions to open up the peritoneal cavity
How to remove the spleen, gonads, digestive tract, liver and gallbladder
How to remove the heart, swim bladder, part of the kidney and gills
How to separate the head, remove the top of the skull and dissect out the brain
How to use a macroscopic key to examine and record the condition of the fins
How to determine the hepatosomatic index
What external features and fins can be identified on a fish
What is the role of the swim bladder and gills
How to use the terms dorsal, caudal, ventral and cranial to describe the relative positions of organs
How to identify the most appropriate method and approach for sampling rural and urban environments
What is meant by point sampling, line or belt transect, mark-release-recapture and quadrat sampling
What species are suitable for each of the 4 sampling methods
What information can be provided by each of the 4 sampling methods
What is meant by random, stratified and systematic sampling
How to identify and represent diagrammatically the number, size regularity, spacing and arrangement of sepals
How to identify and represent diagrammatically the number, size regularity and arrangement of petals
How to identify and represent diagrammatically the number and arrangement of anthers
How to identify and represent diagrammatically the number and arrangement of the gynoecium carpels
What information can be represented by a floral formula
How to interpret a floral diagram to construct a floral formula
What is meant by a whorl and how do the key parts of a flower arrange into whorls
How the application of an electrical current affects the movement of DNA through the gel
Why the movement of DNA molecules through the gel is affected by their size
How DNA molecules of differing sizes move in relation to each other
How a transilluminator helps visualise the results of an agarose gel
How to identify the number of different sized DNA fragments in a sample
Why a DNA ladder is loaded alongside the samples
How the different sized DNA ladder bands migrate in relation to each other
How to use the DNA ladder bands to estimate the size of sample DNA fragments
What equipment is required to run an agarose gel
What components of the buffer facilitate the loading, tracking and visualisation of samples
How to position the pipette to load the samples into the wells
Why it is important to correctly wire the electrodes to the tank
Why it is best to remove the comb after pouring the buffer
How the amount of buffer added affects the running of the gel
How the voltage selected can affect the running of the gel and the quality of the results
Why a DNA ladder is loaded alongside the samples
What equipment is required to create a gel mould
Why the length and number of teeth need to be considered when selecting an appropriate comb
How to seal the ends of the gel tray to contain the molten agarose
Why it is important to wait for the gel to fully set before removing the tape
Why the agarose must be poured gently into the tray
What are the main features of the set-up once the gel is placed in an electrophoresis tank
How to position the pipette tip to carefully deposit the sample in the well of the gel
What are the typical components of the sample loading buffer
Why it is important to correctly wire the electrodes to the tank
Where the gel should be trimmed after it has finished running
Why a protein ladder is loading alongside the samples
How the voltage selected can affect the running of the gel and the quality of the results
Why a SDS-PAGE gel has both a stacking layer and a separating layer
How to insert the plates into the casting frame and stand and test for leaks
How to prepare the separating layer
Why an overlay is required
How to prepare the stacking layer
Why APS and TEMED must be added just before the layer is poured
How the wells of the gel are created
How to measure the distance the dye front and molecular weight standards have migrated
How to calculate the Rf value for the molecular weight standards
What should be plotted on the axes of a molecular weight standard curve
How to use a standard curve to estimate the molecular weight of an unknown protein
How to identify an unknown protein in the sample based on the molecular weight
Why an SDS-PAGE gel is stained
Why the gel is washed with destaining solution
What is meant by molecular weight standards
What SDS-PAGE stands for
How SDS affects a proteins charge and folding
What is the optimal combination of SDS-PAGE gel reagents
How the size of a protein affects the distance travelled through the gel mesh
How substrate and product concentrations change over time in an enzyme-catalysed reaction
How to calculate the initial rate of reaction from a graph
What data is required to generate a Michaelis-Menten plot
How to transform Michaelis-Menten data into a form suitable for Lineweaver-Burk plotting
How do the gradient, intercepts and axes of a Lineweaver-Burk plot relate to the components in the equation
How to estimate the Vmax and Km from a Lineweaver-Burk plot
What effect competitive and non-competitive inhibitors have on the Vmax and Km values
What does the Michaelis-Menten equation and corresponding plot describe
What are the components of the Michaelis-Menten equation and what do they describe
How to choose a sensible range of substrate concentrations to test
How to estimate the Vmax and Km from a Michaelis-Menten plot
What is meant by crossing over, genetic recombination, homologous chromosomes and sister chromatids
What is happening on a molecular level during Meiosis I and II
How does genetic recombination affect the variation through inheritance
How the distance between genetic loci impacts the recombination and co-inheritance frequency
How the NanoDrop and Qubit differ in terms of sample preparation, type of measurement and accuracy
How to interpret a typical absorbance spectra and results from a NanoDrop
What 260/280 and 230/260 ratios are indicative of significant contamination
Why the absorbance at 260 nm is used to measure DNA concentration
Why the 260/280 and 260/230 ratios indicate the level of protein and salt contamination
What are the main stages of next generation sequencing
What is happening on a molecular level during sample preparation steps
Why it is important to determine the quantity and quality of DNA before starting
What is the purpose of the clustering, multiplexing and sequencing regions of the adapters
What is happening on a molecular level during cluster generation steps
Why DNA fragments must be amplified into clusters
What is happening on a molecular level during the sequencing by synthesis steps
How base calls are generated
What are the main parts of an Illumina MiSeq
How to identify the alleles present in different DNA samples using PCR and agarose gel electrophoresis
What is meant by simple sequence length polymorphisms (SSLP’s)
How an SSLP affects the length of the expected PCR products
What are the names and features of some common items of labware
What items of labware are suitable for measuring volumes
What items of labware are suitable for storing and mixing solutions
What items of labware are suitable for use in a centrifuge
What items of labware are suitable for use in a spectrophotometer
What equipment is required to prepare a blood smear
Why a blood sample is mixed with EDTA when it is collected
How to spread the blood on a slide to achieve an optimal smear
How to dry the blood smear
How the quality of the blood smear is affected when the incorrect volume of blood or pressure is applied
How to select an appropriate area of the smear to examine cell morphology and number
Why gloves must be worn when preparing a blood smear
What is the purpose of preparing and staining a blood smear
What are the steps and reagents involved in performing a Leishman’s stain
What is the effect of over or under exposing the blood smear to stain
What is the purpose of a H&E stain
Which cellular structures are stained by Haematoxylin and Eosin
What is the role of the different reagents used in a H&E stain
How to prepare the tissue for staining
How to stain the tissue with H&E
How to prepare the tissue for coverslipping
Why the solutions for each phase of the staining process must be applied in a specific order
What effect altering the time in the staining solutions has on the quality of the final result
How best to adjust the protocol to correct for some common issues with the H&E stain
How antibodies can be used to detect the presence of an analyte within a sample
What is happening on a molecular level during each step of the ELISA
What it means to immobilise the antigen and why this is necessary
What is meant by a colorimetric reaction
How the results of an ELISA can be used to estimate the concentration of an analyte in a sample
What are the core steps and components of an ELISA
How to immobilise the antigen
How to probe for the presence of antigen
How to detect bound antigen
Why including blocking and wash steps increases the sensitivity of the assay
Why samples, standards and controls should be assayed in duplicate or triplicate
What controls should be assayed alongside samples in an ELISA
How antibodies can be used to detect the presence of target protein within a sample
What is happening on a molecular level during each step of the immunoblotting process
How to set up the blotting sandwich
How to set up the transfer apparatus
How to label the membrane with primary and secondary antibodies
How to detect the presence of bound antibodies
Why the order of the blotting sandwich components is important
Why the orientation of the blotting sandwich in relation to the electrodes is important
Why buffer, a stir bar and an ice pack should be included in the transfer apparatus
Why including blocking and wash steps improves the sensitivity of the technique
Why a loading control is required
How to choose the right secondary antibody to pair with the primary antibody
How the results of a western blot can be used to confirm the presence of a protein in a mixture of proteins
How a western blot can be used to compare the level of protein between samples
How a thermometer should be used to monitor the temperature of the water bath
How the tube should be positioned to prevent leakage and contamination
What level of water and heat should be used to effectively heat the sample
What makes a suitable container for weighing sample in
How to tare the balance and transfer and weigh the desired amount of sample
How to reduce spillages when transferring the sample to be weighed
Why it is important to clean and tare the balance prior to use
What is the purpose of a Gram stain
How the cell wall of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria differs
What four solutions are used to perform a Gram stain
What effect each solution has on the cell wall of Gram positive and negative bacteria
What colour Gram positive and negative bacteria appear after the application of each solution
How the Gram stain relies on the differences in the cell walls of Gram positive and negative bacteria
What order the four solutions are applied
How to apply each solution
How to perform a wash step
What effect adding too much or too little of each solution has on the final result
What equipment is required to pour an agar plate
How to flame the neck of the bottle
Why working under a bunsen burner and flaming the neck of the agar bottle helps reduce contamination
How to handle the lids of containers to reduce the risk of contamination
How to dry and store the agar plate
Why care must be taken when flaming the neck of the bottle
Why care must be taken when pouring the agar into the Petri dish
How to flame the neck of the culture and agar bottle
How to transfer the inoculum and molten agar into a Petri dish
Why working under a bunsen burner and flaming the neck of the bottles helps reduce contamination
How to handle the equipment to reduce the risk of contamination
Why care must be taken when flaming the neck of the bottles
Why care must be taken when pipetting the inoculum and pouring the agar into the Petri dish
How the appearance of colonies differs between those growing within the agar and those growing on the surface
What equipment is required to prepare a smear slide
What should be included in the slide label
How and when to sterilise the inoculation loop
Why the sterile loop should not be used to create a smear while it is hot
How to handle the equipment to reduce the risk of contamination
How to dry and heat fix a smear slide
What factors affect the distribution of bacteria and quality of the smear
How to reduce the risk of burning yourself when flame sterilising the inoculation loop
What streak pattern is used to achieve discrete colonies
Why plates should be placed upside down in the incubator
How the density of bacterial colonies differs in different parts of the streak plate
Why care must be taken when flaming the neck of the bottle
How to reduce the risk of burning yourself when sterilising the inoculation loop
Why the eyepiece graticule requires calibration at different magnifications
How to calibrate the eyepiece graticule with a stage micrometer
How to line up an object with the scale of the eyepiece graticule
How to use an eyepiece graticule to measure the size of a object viewed down the microscope
What lenses contribute to the magnification of an image in a compound light microscope
How to calculate the total magnification of an image when different objective lenses are in use
How to adjust the coarse and fine focus controls to bring an image into sharp focus
Why the magnification should be increased incrementally
Why some objective lens’ require the use of immersion oil
How to apply immersion oil
How to adjust the brightness to increase image clarity
How to use the stage controls to bring an area of interest into the centre of the field of view
Why care must be taken when raising the stage
Why the coarse focus control should only be used on low power objectives
How the level of magnification affects the depth of focus
How the orientation of the image seen down the microscope compares to the orientation of the sample on the slide
What are the steps involved in setting up a microscope for Köhler illumination
What is happening mechanically when the field diaphragm is adjusted
How does adjusting the field diaphragm affect the image seen down the microscope
What is happening mechanically when the condenser height is adjusted
How does adjusting the height of the condenser affect the image seen down the microscope
What is happening mechanically when the condenser centering screws are adjusted
How does adjusting the centering screws on the condenser affect the image seen down the microscope
What is happening mechanically when the iris diaphragm is adjusted
How does adjusting the iris diaphragm affect the image seen down the microscope
What it means to set a microscope up for Köhler illumination
Why every structure seen down the microscope does not need to be drawn
How to identify areas that should be stippled
How to identify features that should be labelled
What should be included in the labels of a drawing
What should be included in the title
How to calculate the magnification factor to record on the drawing
Why every structure seen down the microscope does not need to be drawn
How to identify areas that should be stippled
How to identify features that should be labelled
What should be included in the labels of a drawing
What should be included in the title
Where the place the scale bar or magnification factor in relation to the drawing
What should be used to draw the outline and the lines to the labels of the image
What should be used to write the labels
What format should the magnification factor be written in
What technique is used to indicate darker areas
What should be included in the title
Why every structure seen does not need to be drawn
What are the main components of a compound light microscope
How to set the brightness to a suitable level
How to adjust the eyepiece to match the interpupillary distance
Why it is best to use the lowest power objective when first examining a slide
How best to position the stage to begin focussing on the sample
Why care must be taken when raising the stage
Why the agar must be supplemented with the appropriate antibiotic, IPTG and X-gal
How to identify colonies that have taken up the plasmid with the desired insert
What is the purpose of blue-white screening
What components make up the lac operon in E. coli
How β-galatosidase activity in E. coli produces blue colonies in the presence of X-gal
Why IPTG is seen as an activator of the lac operon
How E. coli are modified genetically to make them suitable for blue-white screening
What is meant by α-complementation
Why bacteria that have not taken up the plasmid die before forming colonies
Why bacteria that have taken up the plasmid with no insert will form blue colonies
Why bacteria that have taken up the plasmid with insert will form white colonies
What processes are utilised to insert a desired DNA segment into a recipient plasmid
How restriction enzyme digests are used to cut out the desired insert and linearize the recipient plasmid
How DNA ligase is used to ligate the insert into the recipient plasmid
How transformation of bacterial cells produces more copies of plasmid DNA
What is meant by a competent bacterial cells
How selection is used to remove cells that have not taken up plasmid
How agarose gel electrophoresis can be used to analyse the success of the cloning
Why the selectable marker in the plasmid determines the choice of antibiotic used in the agar
Why an L-spreader is the most appropriate instrument to spread culture on agar
How use of a positive control can validate the transformation procedure
How use of a negative control can validate the selection procedure
How to use the results of sample and control plates to identify sources of error in the procedure
How bacterial transformation can produce bacteria with/without the plasmid and with/without the desired insert
What is happening on a molecular level when transformed cultures are incubated on agar containing antibiotic
What experimental factors must be considered when designing an appropriate plasmid
How different elements found in cloning plasmids facilitate the insertion, replication and selection of DNA
How components within an expression plasmid facilitate the transcription and translation of a protein of interest
Which reagents and processes are required to isolate plasmid DNA
When to discard the supernatant and when to discard the pellet
Why it is important to thoroughly mix the contents following resuspension, lysis and neutralisation steps
When it is appropriate to vortex samples and when they should be gently inverted
What is happening on a molecular level during centrifugation, resuspension, lysis and neutralisation steps
How the features of a miniprep column facilitate the purification of plasmid DNA
Which buffers are required to wash the membrane and elute the plasmid DNA
Why it is important to wash the membrane
What is happening on a molecular level during each step of the purification process
What reagents and cofactors are required for the ligation reaction
How to select the most suitable restriction enzymes for a double digest
What is happening on a molecular level during the digestion and ligation reaction
How the use of phosphatase or multiple restriction enzymes can prevent religation of the plasmid DNA
How to resuspend the cell pellet in lysis buffer
How the features of a miniprep column facilitate the extraction of RNA
Why it is important to use a low salt solution to wash residual proteins off the membrane
Why it is important to use ethanol to wash salt off the membrane
What is happening on a molecular level during the lysis, homogenisation and purification steps
How do the components of the lysis and binding buffer facilitate their roles in RNA extraction
What happens during one cycle of amplification
What reagents are required to carry out PCR
How changes in temperature initiate the different phases of PCR
How multiple cycles of PCR can be used to amplify a region of DNA
Why dNTPs, DNA, primers and polymerase enzyme are required in each sample tube
Where primers should be targeted in relation to the region of interest
What makes an appropriate positive and negative control in a PCR experiment
How to set the desired cycle settings on the thermocycler
Why it is important to prepare PCR samples on ice
Why it is best to add the DNA polymerase to the reaction mix last
How to use an agarose gel to identify whether samples and controls contain the region of interest
How SYBR green and TaqMan probes differ in their specificity for DNA, interaction with DNA and cost
What are some of the key differences between endpoint PCR and qPCR
What axes are used for an amplification plot
How does the curve on an amplification plot reflect what is happening on a molecular level in the sample
How to use an amplification plot to compare the starting quantities of target DNA
What are the 3 main stages of a PCR cycle and the temperatures at which they occur
What is meant by the term fluorophore
Why an increase in target DNA proportionally increases the fluorescence by SYBR green
Why an increase in target DNA proportionally increases the fluorescence by TaqMan probes
Why the process is called qPCR or RT-PCR
What are the different parts of the organ bath equipment
How to run a single wash cycle
Why the tissue must be washed in between drug applications
How to annotate the force-time trace generated by the chart recorder
How to describe changes in force recorded on a force-time trace
How to determine the effect of different drugs on the aorta by analysing a force-time trace
What are the different parts of the organ bath equipment
How to run a single wash cycle
Why the tissue must be washed in between drug applications
How to annotate the force-time trace generated by the chart recorder
What receptors are bound by acetylcholine, pilocarpine, mepyramine and histamine
How to determine whether a drug causing smooth muscle contraction by analysing a force-time trace
What is an action potential
How the distribution of charge is altered from resting state during depolarisation and hyperpolarisation
What channels are involved in generation of an action potential and how they are triggered
Why the resting potential of neurons is negative
What is happening on a molecular level during an action potential and how this relates to a trace of an action potential
How does varying the signal strength and the presence of myelin have on an action potential
What are the main parts of the electrical conduction system in the heart
What is meant by a positive deflection and negative deflection
What is happening during the P wave, QRS complex and T wave
What the ST segment and QT interval represent
What is meant by a lead
How to position the four limb electrodes for an optimal ECG trace
How to configure the positive and negative electrode for limb leads
How ECG traces relate to the underlying cardiac activity
How the characteristic waveforms of traces differ between leads
What are the key controls on a micropipette
How to correctly position the pipette to aspirate and dispense liquid
How to depress and release the plunger to the correct stops to withdraw and dispense liquid
Why the pipette should not be turned on its side when there is liquid in the tip
How to select the most appropriate micropipette for a particular volume
How to identify the key parts of a micropipette
What range of volumes can be measured using the standard micropipettes, P20, P200 and P1000
How to inspect a micropipette to ensure it is in good working order prior to use
How to set the volume on the display of a P20, P200 and P1000 to transfer the correct amount of solution
How to identify the correct tips to use for a particular micropipette
Why it is important to inspect the condition and plunge action of a micropipette prior to use
How a change in the charge, absorbance max and colour of the CBB dye upon protein binding forms the principle of the assay
How protein concentration affects the colour of the solution and the absorbance reading
How the components of the blank, standards and samples differ and why it is important to prepare all three
Why it is important to mix the solutions prior to measuring the absorbance
Why it is important to leave the solutions for 5 minutes prior to measuring the absorbance
Why it is important to blank the spectrophotometer prior to measuring the absorbance
How the accuracy of the interpolation is affected by where the sample concentration falls within the assay range
When and why it is important to wear goggles, gloves and a lab coat
Why it is good practice to wear clothing that covers the knees in the lab
Why open-toed shoes should not be worn in the lab
Why it is important to tie hair back and remove all loose jewellery in the lab
What steps should be taken in an accident or safety emergency in the lab
What the symbols for a first aid kit, fire extinguisher and eye wash station look like
Why it is important to not run or use mobile phones in the lab
Why fire doors and corridors should be kept clear of bags and bulky items
What is considered good practice when leaving the work station in the lab
How to select the appropriate equipment to transfer and mix the stock and diluent
What is meant by the terms stock and diluent
How to use a graduated cylinder to measure out the correct volume of solution
How to mix the solution thoroughly after combining
How to select the appropriate equipment to transfer and mix the stock and diluent
What is meant by the terms stock and diluent
How to set the volume on the pipette display to transfer the correct amount of solution
How to mix the solution thoroughly after combining
How to select the appropriately sized pipette for transferring the stock and diluent
How to set the volume on the pipette display to transfer the correct amount of solution
How to mix the solution thoroughly after combining
What is meant by the terms stock, diluent and serial dilution
How to identify the concentration and volumes required for each step in a 10-fold dilution
How to use a calibration curve to estimate the protein concentrations of samples
How a Bradford assay can be used to assess total protein concentration in a sample
Why diluent should be used as a reference solution to calibrate the spectrophotometer
How to select an appropriate wavelength to measure the absorbance of a particular substance
What are the main components of a spectrophotometer
What is the function of the three key internal components, the light source, the filter and the detector
What is described by an absorbance spectra
How absorbance is calculated
What are the main components of a NMR spectrometer
What is meant by nuclear spin
How nuclei behave in the presence of an externally applied magnetic field
How changes in magnetic field lead to signal generation and an NMR spectrum