From Textbooks to the Lab Bench: Techniques You Learn
A three-week intensive that trades demonstrations for bench time. Students run the protocols themselves, on the instrumentation working laboratories actually use.
- Duration
- 3 weeks · 2 sessions/week
- Techniques
- 12 documented protocols
- Format
- 100% in-person, capped batch
- Location
- Mountain View, CA
Electrophoresis deck
Your amplicon, resolved and photographed
Cast the gel, load the lanes, run the current, then document the bands under a safe blue-light transilluminator.
Quadrant streaking
From confluent lawn to single clone
Four passes with a flamed loop separate a dense culture into countable, pickable colonies.
Curriculum matrix
Twelve techniques, four disciplines, one bench.
Every entry below is a protocol students execute themselves — not a lecture topic. Expand any technique for the full method.
Master standard operating procedures (SOPs) for working inside a Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1) environment. Students learn rigorous sterile technique, correct chemical hazard identification, personal protective equipment (PPE) protocols, and safe disposal methods for biochemical waste and bacterial cultures.
- BSL-1 SOPs
- Sterile technique
- Hazard identification
- PPE protocols
- Biohazard disposal
Gain muscle memory and precision control over micro-volume liquid handling. Students master the mechanics of single-channel micropipettes (P20, P200, P1000), calibrate for systematic errors, learn how to prevent cross-contamination, and execute serial dilutions down to the microliter scale.
- P20 / P200 / P1000
- Calibration
- Cross-contamination control
- Serial dilution
Extract and purify whole genomic DNA from bacterial cultures. Students master mechanical cell lysis, protein digestion, alcohol-based DNA precipitation, and final elution to obtain ultra-pure genetic material.
- Mechanical lysis
- Protein digestion
- Alcohol precipitation
- Elution
Learn to design primers (short, custom DNA sequences) using professional bioinformatics software to precisely target and amplify specific genes during PCR. Students learn to evaluate primer length, eliminate self-dimers, optimize GC-clamp content, and calculate precise melting temperatures using thermodynamics math.
- Primer length
- Self-dimer elimination
- GC clamp
- Tm calculation
Program thermocyclers to amplify precise gene segments through targeted thermal cycling. Students calculate complex master-mix component ratios, optimize temperature steps for denaturation, annealing, and extension, and run negative controls to ensure experiment validity.
- Master-mix math
- Denaturation
- Annealing
- Extension
- Negative controls
Quantify DNA with spectrophotometers to determine exact concentration and purity ratios (A260/A280). Students analyze micro-volume samples on advanced optical instrumentation to confirm their samples are free of chemical contaminants before running downstream cloning assays.
- Spectrophotometry
- A260/A280
- Micro-volume analysis
- Contaminant screening
Separate your amplified DNA using agarose gel electrophoresis to verify size and yield. Students cast their own agarose gels, load delicate sample lanes with loading dye, apply electrical currents, and use safe blue-light transilluminators to document and photograph glowing DNA bands.
- Gel casting
- Lane loading
- Electrophoresis
- Blue-light imaging
Master sterile plating in a Petri dish, streaking to separate individual bacterial clones, inoculation for starting liquid cultures, and incubation techniques using E. coli.
- Sterile plating
- Quadrant streaking
- Liquid inoculation
- Incubation
Execute heat-shock protocols to insert recombinant plasmid vectors into E. coli to express foreign genes.
- Competent cells
- Heat shock
- Plasmid vectors
- Selection plating
Lyse bacterial cultures and harvest crude protein fractions from E. coli expression hosts. Students master chemical lysis using surfactant-based buffers combined with physical disruption, freeze-thaw cycles, and high-speed refrigerated centrifugation to cleanly isolate soluble cellular proteins from insoluble cell wall debris.
- Surfactant lysis
- Freeze-thaw
- Refrigerated centrifugation
- Soluble fraction recovery
Quantify total harvested protein loads utilizing industry-standard commercial assay kits. Students set up Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) standard curves and execute microtiter plate-based colorimetric methods such as the Bradford Method or BCA (Bicinchoninic Acid) Assay Kit, measuring absorbance profiles on UV-Vis spectrophotometers to normalize sample concentrations for downstream applications.
- BSA standard curve
- Bradford method
- BCA assay
- UV-Vis absorbance
Separate proteins by molecular weight on vertical polyacrylamide gels to verify expression yields. Students prepare samples using denaturing Laemmli loading buffers, cast or load pre-cast vertical mini-gels, assemble specialized electrophoresis chambers, apply constant electrical currents, and execute Coomassie Blue staining to visualize clear, distinct protein bands.
- Laemmli buffer
- Mini-gel casting
- Constant-current runs
- Coomassie staining
Enroll
Pick a cohort and secure the bench.
Tuition is invoiced on acceptance — applying costs nothing and holds your place in the review queue.
Flexible schedules
Pick your cohort
Two sessions per week for three weeks. Batch sizes are capped.
No cohort selected yet — pick one and it carries into your application.
$1,500full program fee
Due upon acceptance. Invoiced directly; no deposit required to apply.
What it covers
- All reagents, consumables, and PPE
- Instrument time on thermocyclers, spectrophotometers, and electrophoresis rigs
- Cohort capped for one-on-one bench access
- Certificate of completion detailing every technique performed
Limited batch size — secure your spot at the bench today.
Questions about safety supervision or fit? Email calscienceresearch@gmail.com.