How to use this: open the walkthrough first and go at your own pace with the arrow keys or Next. Then open the Lab: run the simulator, practice in the trainer with its hints and worked solutions, and try the real-world scenarios. Use the tools bar at the top of each page to pause the animations, slow them down, have the text read aloud, or get a written description of each picture. Nothing here is graded.
Module 1 Chemistry of life
Elements and isotopes, bonds and interactions, water's properties, pH and buffers, carbon and functional groups.
- CHNOPS
- Isotopes
- Covalent and ionic bonds
- Hydrogen bonds
- Properties of water
- pH and buffers
- Isomers
- Functional groups
Module 2 Biological macromolecules
Dehydration and hydrolysis, carbohydrates, lipids, the four levels of protein structure, and nucleic acids.
- Dehydration synthesis
- Hydrolysis
- Starch, glycogen, cellulose
- Saturated vs unsaturated
- Phospholipid bilayer
- Protein structure
- Denaturation
- Nucleotides
- ATP
Module 3 Cell structure
Microscopy, surface area to volume, prokaryotic vs eukaryotic cells, the endomembrane system, mitochondria and chloroplasts, the cytoskeleton and cell junctions.
- Microscopy
- Surface area to volume
- Prokaryote vs eukaryote
- Endomembrane system
- Secretory pathway
- Endosymbiosis
- Cytoskeleton
- Cell junctions
- Cell fractionation
Module 4 Membranes and transport
Fluid mosaic model, diffusion and osmosis, tonicity and water potential, channels and carriers, the sodium potassium pump, cotransport and bulk transport.
- Fluid mosaic model
- Diffusion
- Osmosis
- Tonicity
- Water potential
- Aquaporins
- Sodium potassium pump
- Cotransport
- Endocytosis
Module 5 Energy, enzymes and metabolism
Thermodynamics, free energy, ATP and energy coupling, activation energy, enzyme kinetics, inhibition and allosteric regulation.
- Laws of thermodynamics
- Delta G
- ATP coupling
- Activation energy
- Induced fit
- Vmax and Km
- Competitive inhibition
- Allosteric regulation
- Feedback inhibition
Module 6 Cellular respiration
Redox, glycolysis, pyruvate oxidation, the citric acid cycle, the electron transport chain and chemiosmosis, ATP yield, fermentation and regulation.
- Redox and NAD+
- Glycolysis
- Citric acid cycle
- Electron transport chain
- ATP synthase
- ATP yield
- Inhibitors and uncouplers
- Fermentation
- PFK regulation
Module 7 Photosynthesis
Chloroplasts, light and pigments, photosystems and electron flow, the Calvin cycle, photorespiration, C4 and CAM plants, and limiting factors.
- Chloroplast structure
- Absorption vs action spectrum
- Photosystems I and II
- Linear and cyclic flow
- Calvin cycle
- Rubisco
- Photorespiration
- C4 and CAM
- Limiting factors
Module 8 Cell communication
Local and long-distance signals, reception, G protein coupled receptors, receptor tyrosine kinases, second messengers, amplification, responses and apoptosis.
- Paracrine and endocrine
- GPCRs
- Receptor tyrosine kinases
- Ion channel receptors
- cAMP
- Calcium and IP3
- Amplification
- Apoptosis
- Ras and cancer
Module 9 The cell cycle and mitosis
Chromosomes and counting rules, cell cycle phases, the stages of mitosis, cytokinesis, cyclins and checkpoints, and cancer.
- Chromosome counting
- Cell cycle phases
- Stages of mitosis
- Spindle
- Cytokinesis
- Cyclins and Cdks
- Checkpoints
- Oncogenes and tumor suppressors
- Mitotic index
Module 10 Meiosis and sexual life cycles
Homologs and ploidy, three life cycles, meiosis I and II, crossing over, independent assortment, nondisjunction, and gametogenesis.
- Homologous chromosomes
- Haploid and diploid
- Life cycles
- Meiosis I and II
- Crossing over
- Independent assortment
- Nondisjunction
- Mitosis vs meiosis
- Oogenesis
Module 11 Mendelian genetics
Segregation and independent assortment, Punnett squares and probability, chi square, dominance patterns, epistasis, polygenic traits and pedigrees.
- Law of segregation
- Punnett squares
- Testcross
- Dihybrid crosses
- Probability rules
- Chi square
- Codominance
- Epistasis
- Pedigrees
Module 12 Chromosomes and inheritance patterns
Morgan's flies, sex determination and sex linkage, X inactivation, linkage and gene mapping, chromosomal alterations, imprinting and mitochondrial inheritance.
- Chromosome theory
- Sex linkage
- X inactivation
- Linked genes
- Recombination frequency
- Map units
- Aneuploidy
- Translocations
- Imprinting
Module 13 DNA structure and replication
The search for the genetic material, the double helix, Meselson and Stahl, the replication fork, proofreading and repair, telomeres and chromatin.
- Griffith and Avery
- Hershey and Chase
- Chargaff's rules
- Double helix
- Semiconservative replication
- Leading and lagging strands
- Okazaki fragments
- DNA repair
- Telomerase
Module 14 Gene expression
The genetic code, transcription, RNA processing and splicing, translation, protein targeting and mutations.
- Central dogma
- Codon table
- Transcription
- RNA processing
- Splicing
- tRNA and ribosomes
- Translation
- Signal peptides
- Point and frameshift mutations
Module 15 Gene regulation
The lac and trp operons, chromatin and epigenetics, eukaryotic transcription control, RNA-level control, development and cancer genetics.
- trp operon
- lac operon
- CAP and cAMP
- Histone acetylation
- DNA methylation
- Enhancers
- microRNAs
- Morphogens
- Hox genes
- Cancer genes
Module 16 Biotechnology
Cloning with plasmids, PCR, gel electrophoresis, sequencing, gene expression tools, CRISPR, GMOs, gene therapy, stem cells and DNA forensics.
- Restriction enzymes
- Plasmid cloning
- PCR
- Gel electrophoresis
- DNA sequencing
- RT qPCR
- CRISPR Cas9
- GMOs
- Stem cells
- STR forensics