General Biology I · Module 8 · Cell communication

Cell Communication Lab

Run a signaling bench and watch each tier of a cascade multiply, then jam it with toxins and drugs; practise amplification math and predictions; put pathways in order; and use signaling to explain real cases. Nothing here is graded.

Part 1: Signaling Bench

Signal moleculeReceptorDrug or toxin Bar: active molecules (log scale)Output over time
Active molecules at each tier
TierGainActive now

Simplified teaching model. Gains are rounded textbook style values per signal molecule bound (for epinephrine: 1, 100, 104, 104, 105, 106, 108), not measured values for any one cell. Each tier rises toward (tier above × gain) with a short delay, so the cascade fills from top to bottom. The receptor blocker leaves 10% of receptors able to bind; the kinase inhibitor leaves 5% of that kinase's activity; extra phosphatase cuts each phosphorylation step's gain to a quarter. Time is speeded up; the estrogen pathway really takes hours.