SSERC are delivering a 2-day course, based at SSERC HQ, to explore techniques applicable to senior phase biology, including National 5, Higher Biology and Human Biology and Advanced Higher Biology.      This programme offers an excellent way of keeping up to date with developments in your subject area.  There will be ample opportunities to build new working relationships with other Biology teachers across the range of schools and local authorities in Scotland.    The course is aligned to the GTCS Standards for Full Registration and the National Model for Professional Learning.  

Among the various techniques, you will explore: 

• bioinformatic platforms for phylogenetic analyses 
• Colorimetry to monitor competitive and non-competitive inhibition of enzyme activity 
• Chromatography to explore photosynthetic pigments in plants
• Quick and simple (and cheap!) tools to explore the absorbance spectra for photosynthesis in plants
• Simple methods to monitor fermentation in yeast, including a microscale protocol to keep costs down
• The use of a simple immunoassay 
• Constructing a standard curve to determine glucose concentration in a diabetes clinic simulation
• The use of electrophoresis to separate protein mixtures 
• Discussing teaching points around chemical synaptic transmission (non-lab based)