Biology Experiments Online in a Virtual Lab Environment

Dissect a squid and use its giant neuron to witness the propagation of information in the shape of an action potential created by an electric current. Use this information to identify a neurotoxin affecting a hospitalized patient.

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.

Learn about the concepts of antibodies and antigens, as well as the ABO and Rhesus blood grouping systems and their importance in blood transfusions. Then, you will help a young couple determine a potential risk for Rhesus disease in their unborn child.

Help a microbiologist prepare a pure culture that can be used to identify a microbe causing an infection! Use good aseptic technique to avoid contamination of the sample, ensure your own safety, and avoid surprise fires in the lab.

Visit a research station in Antarctica and help the researcher Nicolas explore bacteria in melting water. Uncover the features that are necessary for bacterial survival and compare these to other bacteria living elsewhere.

Learn about the mind-boggling speed of exponential growth and test how different growth conditions affect bacterial growth.

Learn about the proper techniques of isolating single colonies from a culture sample, how to use aseptic techniques and how to perform plate streaking.

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

Explore different bacterial shapes by using a microscope to look at a sample of bacteria from Antarctica.

Life is hard when you need to constantly work to maintain your body temperature and keep your energy levels in check. Think like a gecksi, make wise choices and try to keep the gecksi alive in three challenging environments!

Have you ever wondered what a simple sugar is? Discover the structure of simple carbohydrates and how you can test for the presence of simple sugars in food samples.

Travel to the exoplanet Astakos IV and use ecological methods to assess and compare biodiversity over time and between different sites.

Embark on a mission to identify the metabolic pathway that produces an antimalarial compound in a rare plant. Can you begin the process of creating a novel antimalarial drug?

Learn about the main biomes on Earth and where they are located with our new Biome Generator. You will be able to adjust different parameters to build your own biome and observe the result of your changes instantly!

Introduction to containment level 3 (Biosafety level 3, BSL3) research laboratory, a hypothetical approach to identifying a potential bioterrorism agent that is classed as a hazard group three microorganism.

Have you ever wondered what protein is? Discover the structure of protein and how you can test for the presence of protein in food samples.

Help determine what a bear ate before it died by building the structure and choose the internal organelles of the four basic types of animal cells found inside the bear’s mouth.

Have you ever wondered what exactly makes bacteria divided into Gram groups? Do they have special barcodes or tiny identifiers at their surface? Let's find out together!

Learn how to detect the hallmarks of EMT using immunofluorescence and knock out the correct gene to revert the process using CRISPR

Review the usefulness of a multi-million dollar operation to identify potential drugs for cancer chemotherapy, and provide your recommendations to the Project Leader.

Assist in a biopsy on a cancer patient and learn how to prepare the sample for mass spectrometry by extracting its phosphopeptides. Will you be able to identify the cancer stage of the patient by looking at the phosphorylation pattern?

Investigate the principles of cancer development and cancer-related gene mutations to assess the risk of breast cancer development in a patient with a history of cancer in the family.

The Carbohydrates Lab explores how carbohydrates are broken down by the digestive system and taken up into the bloodstream.

Monitor three dives of a Weddell seal in Antarctica and discover how long it can dive with the oxygen available in its stores.

Use medical tests to gather information about patients and determine how their cardiovascular systems respond to different exercise intensities.

Find out what it’s like to work in a cell culture laboratory. Learn how to use the aseptic technique to avoid contamination of your cells, and discover what it takes to keep them alive.

Join a cell biology research group to find out how a poisonous compound from a yew tree can be used in cancer therapy. You will be immersed in an animation of a human cell and use light and fluorescence microscopy to study cell division.

Discover the structure and function of cell membranes by launching cargo molecules at a virtual cell. Apply your learning back in the lab to improve the health of synthetic cells that the lead researcher wants to use to produce insulin.

Discover the structure and function of cell membranes using the fluid mosaic model. Apply your learning to improve the health of synthetic cells that the lead researcher wants to use to produce insulin.

Discover the structure and function of cell membranes by launching cargo molecules at a virtual cell.

Explore different cell samples under the microscope to identify the differences between eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Build the structure of an animal cell and choose the internal organelles of four specialized cells.

Help local basketball players understand how the food they eat gets converted to energy through cellular respiration. Use a mouse model to find out what effect exercise intensity has on oxygen and glucose consumption.

Help the basketball players understand how the food they eat gets converted to energy by investigating glycolysis, the first stage of cellular respiration.

Help basketball players understand how the food they eat gets converted to energy through glycolysis, the Krebs cycle and the electron transport chain. Use a mouse model to experiment on the effect of exercise intensity on oxygen and glucose consumption.

Observe how we can monitor and better understand respiration by a method known as Respirometry. Learn the effects of exercise of respiration by observing glucose levels and oxygen consumption through a model organism: a mouse.

Take dive inside a mitochondrion to learn all about the electron transport chain (ETC) and pass on your findings to the basketball team so they can learn too!

Help a basketball team learn about what happens in the second stage of cellular respiration, the Krebs cycle, to help them improve their longevity in the game!

Perform the chromatin immunoprecipitation with exonuclease treatment (ChIP-exo) protocol, and prepare the target DNA to learn how E. coli survive in acid stress conditions.

Explore the similarities and differences between bacterial and eukaryotic cell structures. Discover what structural features allow bacteria to survive in extreme environmental conditions.

Help the residents in Astakos IV to increase the yield of their crops by reducing the competition between different species.

Join this virtual confocal microscopy lab and learn how to take pin-sharp confocal micrographs and 3D renderings. Use the knowledge to save your uncle’s crop from a mysterious plant disease.

A dental patient’s recurrent infection is becoming dangerously septic. Your task is to investigate the cause using diffusion disc assays and prevent further cases by exploring sterilization, decontamination & selectively toxic infection control methods.

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.

Help a mother-to-be who is extremely worried about the fate of her baby. Will you able to diagnose the condition of the fetus using a cytogenetics-based approach?

Research the fundamentals of DNA in humans — where it is, how it’s structured, and what it does — to explain them to a confused reader of your science magazine.

Learn the basics of Type II diabetes.

Help a scientist detect and quantify proteins by using one of the most popular techniques in molecular biology.

Investigate why the Kuppelfangs died when transplanted to the new Astakos IV biodome on Earth. Quantify their realized and fundamental niche, and explore how acclimation affects the boundaries of a niche.

Analyze the effects of fertilizers on the phosphorus cycle and help the residents in Astakos IV to increase their crop yield without compromising the environment.

Help a group of engineers figure out if a mysterious dark alga is able to do photosynthesis using green light and measure this process with the Hill reaction. If it is, your work will help create a sustainable plan that will use sunlight and pollution sources for biofuel production.

Dissect chicken and mouse embryos to visualize and analyze embryonic development. Compare genetic results from the model organisms with the genetic laboratory results from a human case study to determine the cause and effect of Liebenberg Syndrome.

Develop a method for keeping a population of rabbits under control by using hormonal treatments. Investigate how different concentrations of different hormones impact the fertility of male and female rabbits.

Investigate Alcohol Flush Syndrome by studying Alcohol Dehydrogenase kinetics. Learn how to use a spectrophotometer, perform an enzyme kinetics experiment, analyze data and understand different inhibition mechanisms.

Utilize microscopy and spectroscopy techniques to solve a massive fish kill mystery. Investigate how dissolved nitrogen levels and an algal bloom are linked to the fish population.

Learn the basic mechanisms of evolution in order to simulate how a population evolved over hundreds of years, and learn how random mutations are the basis of natural selection.

Follow the million-year evolutionary journey of a canid colony as you create random mutations in their DNA and critique biological evidence to build a taxonomic tree that unites all life on Earth.

Dive into the evolution of whales! Follow the path of a gene from a rare mutation to being stuck in a population through natural disasters and competition.

Dive into the evolution of whales: from a sequence of nucleotides to a 30-meter long blue whale.

Follow the million-year evolutionary journey of a canid colony as you create random mutations in their DNA.

Build a taxonomic tree that unites all life on Earth by exploring the differences between organisms.

In this sports science lab, you will find out how only three times ten minutes of supramaximal sprint interval training per week can increase your exercise capacity and fitness level.

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.

The Labster fertility center needs your help! Some of the samples of sperm and ova have been mixed up in unlabeled tubes and the team needs your sort this out. While exploring the samples, learn about the process of meiosis and mitosis.

In the Fluorescence-automated Cell Sorting (FACS) Simulation, you will learn the basics of flow cytometry and find out how to use a flow cytometer with fluorescence detection.

Learn how to optimize alcohol production in a fermentor. Will you be able to create the ideal conditions for the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce bioethanol?

Enter the virtual microscope room to see inside a tissue sample. Learn how a fluorescence microscope can create a high contrast image and answer biological questions.

Help reduce the impact from humans on an aquatic ecosystem on an exoplanet by using your knowledge of trophic cascades in a food web.

Join the human colony on the fictional exoplanet Astakos IV to study the local alien species. What do they eat?hy and where do they forage for food? Can you build a model using our foraging theories from Earth?

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.

Discover Next Generation Sequencing by analyzing the mRNA from pig tissues and identify a new gene linked to obesity. Confirm your results using qPCR to analyze the expression levels of your gene!

Open your eyes to the vast potential of gene regulation, where you can reprogram cells into any cell that fits your needs. Will you able to help the doctor in restoring the sight of a visually impaired girl?

Put yourself in the place of a genetic counselor and find out if the daughter of a breast cancer patient is at a higher risk of developing breast cancer herself. Help her by constructing a pedigree and finding the defective gene by using linkage analysis.

Prevent Dr. One from wiping out humanity! Complete a number of learning games to understand the three ways of genetic transfer in bacteria, transduction, transformation, and conjugation, and use your learnings to prevent the rise of superbugs.

Join an iGEM team to design a biosensor that can sense biofilm forming bacteria.

Have you ever wondered how the bacteria cell actually gets stained during Gram staining procedure? Discover how the cell retains a certain color during the experiment and to differentiate it under the microscope!

Familiarize yourself with details about Gram Stain procedure. Learn about reagents used during the experiment and repeat the protocol in stepwise manner, to be more than ready for real time Gram staining!

Explore the morphology of different types of blood cells and differentiate them via Giemsa staining. Separate the components of blood and analyze the results of blood samples using an automated hematology analyzer.

Help Adam the farmer grow his milk business by exploring the basic concepts of homogenization, a standard procedure in milk processing.

Visit the exoplanet Astakos IV, where the Kuppelfang population is suffering from a bacterial infection. Use staining, differential media and biochemical tests to identify the bacteria so that the Kuppelfangs can be treated before they go extinct.

Investigating antibody production patterns in populations helps us understand how diseases like COVID-19 spread. Conduct immunoassays to detect blood serum IgG and IgM to discover the vaccination and infection status of a community exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

Investigate the principles of inheritance and draw a pedigree tree to understand how color blindness is inherited.

Investigate the principles of inheritance and help a family determine whether future generations will inherit color blindness.

Turn a mouse intestine inside out and use it to study glucose transport in order to figure out what is wrong with an infant.

Practice obtaining different ultrasound views of the heart anatomy and use different Doppler ultrasound imaging techniques on a giant virtual heart. Apply your new skills to diagnose a patient.

Can you use your food macromolecule knowledge to convince your friend to change her diet to a healthier one?

Global health is everyone’s responsibility. Become a pathogen and invade a body to discover how immune cells and organs provide protection. Learn how researchers from across the planet work together to save the world from pathogenic infections.

The immune system is a complex structure of cells, tissues and organs that work together to protect our bodies from infection. Dive into the complex structures and functions of those organs and cells that protect us from various pathogens every day!

Explore the structure of proteins and learn about the synthesis process inside the cells.

Learn about lab safety, scientific methods, diffusion and osmosis, acids, bases and how to prepare buffers.

Help a group of doctors in their search for the genetic cause of a rare disease by performing a genetic screening using C. elegans as the animal model.

Have you ever wondered what starch is? Discover the structure of complex carbohydrates and how you can test for the presence of complex carbohydrates in food samples.

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.

Discover unique areas within an exoplanet’s landscape and apply your findings to predict the persistence of an alien species by estimating colonization and extinction rates.

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

Collaborate with an anti-doping agent at a bicycle race. Test athletes’ urine for a doping substance using mass spectrometry. Can you find out which athlete has been cheating?

Become an environmental investigator and solve a massive fish kill mystery. First, learn about the different trophic levels of the ecosystem. You will then perform a fish necropsy and use a spectrophotometer to analyze oxygen levels in the water.

Learn about Mendelian genetics, linkage analysis, hereditary cancer, tumor suppressor, oncogenes and how to identify a defective gene in a family.

Help the laboratory investigate some of their samples of lily anthers and explore the phases of meiosis in them. Learn the basics of meiosis and mitosis by comparing the two processes.

Investigate the principles of Mendelian inheritance and discover how color blindness is inherited by observing chromosomal rearrangement in an animation.

Follow a couple as they go through IVF treatment in order to have a baby. Understand how traits are inherited from one generation to the next and how cell division plays an important role in forming, growing and repairing the human body.