Bioscience Lab Skills | Virtual Labs

“I don’t think there’s anyone who has the same expertise in-house that Labster has. I haven’t seen anyone else working in the field have this level.”

Dr. Philippos Savvides

Arizona State University

“Labster allows a dynamic visualization of chemical reactions so that students can practice and better understand these concepts.”

Dr. Sabine Matallana-Surget

Stirling University

“The virtual labs really help the students become familiar with the material before they engage in the class.”

Dr. Paul Kasili

Bunker Hill Community College

Bioscience Lab Skills

Virtual Labs

Bacterial Quantification by Culture

Use the serial dilution technique to quantify the effect of a novel antibiotic compound on bacterial growth.

Polymerase Chain Reaction

Learn the techniques and application of Polymerase Chain Reaction and Gel Electrophoresis. Explore a real-world application, such as analyzing unique genetic fingerprints to solve a murder case.

SDS-PAGE: Separating proteins by molecular weight

Investigate each step of SDS-PAGE from gel selection and sample preparation to chamber assembly and what really happens when the current turns on, to separate proteins solely by molecular weight, bringing us one step closer to identifying the protein.

Photosynthesis: Algae pigment analysis

Help Roxy figure out if a mysterious dark algae is able to do photosynthesis using green light and measure this process with the Hill reaction.

Spectrophotometry: Learn the Beer-Lambert law with absorbance experiments

Build your own spectrophotometer to measure the absorbance of a reaction product on Mars!

Light Microscopy

Enter the virtual microscope room to see inside a tissue sample. Learn how a light microscope can magnify an image and answer biological questions.

Western Blot Transfer: Prepare for protein detection

Join Dr. One and two colleagues on their mission to cure cancer. They are using Western blot to compare the level of p53 protein in cancerous and healthy control cells. Can you help Dr. One with the tricky membrane transfer step?

Microscopy

Analyze the microscopic structure of the small intestine and learn the advantages and limitations of light, fluorescence and electron microscopy.

Animal Genetics

Learn about the Mendelian inheritance of double muscling in cattle. Find the responsible gene using linkage analysis and learn how mutation in this gene alters gene expression resulting in double muscled cattle.

Counting Cells: Control the epidemic

Work as a pharmaceutical detective to identify the link between a new drug and a recent epidemic. Use the scientific method to define the different variables and perform a fluorescent cell assay to test the effect of the drug on the cells.

Gel Electrophoresis: Visualize and separate nucleic acids

Solve a crime by using DNA fingerprinting to identify a thief. Use nucleic acid gel electrophoresis to separate and visualize DNA molecules and watch an animation to understand what happens inside the gel tank.

The Scientific Method

Work as a pharmaceutical detective to identify the link between a new drug and a recent epidemic. Use the scientific method to come up with a hypothesis and subsequently design an experiment that will test the validity of your hypothesis.

Lab Safety

Survive your first day in the lab by identifying the different hazards you might encounter in an unsafe laboratory. You will be introduced to the lab dress code, safety equipment and the do's and don'ts when working in a lab.

Experimental Design

Work as a pharmaceutical detective to identify the link between a new drug and a recent epidemic. Use the scientific method to design an experiment and perform a fluorescent cell assay to test your hypothesis.