VAL Resources

The lab skills resources are all listed in the table below. Many are designed using various versions of Macromedia / Adobe FLASH. Most have also been published as video on YouTube as part of another open education project called Biology Courses. You can visit the YouTube channel by searching for biologycourses.

TITLE	Description	Content Producer
Cell Culture		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Basic tissue culture techniques for mammalian cells	1) Resuscitating cells, 2) Subculturing (splitting cells) and 3) Cryogenic storage	Technician team
Student notes and quizzes	PDF and Word documents containing notes and quizzes	Technician team
Haematology		GIVE US FEEDBACK
How to prepare a blood smear	Video from the Leicester Royal Infirmary pathology department on preparing a blood smear	LRI biomedical scientists
The full blood count	Extensive narrated slide presentation from Queen's College Belfast that is simply too fabulous not to share	Professor McMullin
Automated large-scale blood analysis	Series of 10 videos from the Leicester Royal Infirmary	LRI biomedical scientists
Sickle cell resources	Sickle cell open education project website (SCOOTER)	SCOOTER team and collaborators
Haemocytometry		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Introduction to the haemocytometer	Animations and video clips introducing the haemocytometer which is commonly used in the lab for counting cells.	Ruta Furmonavicience, Viv Rolfe
Counting cells	Animations explaining further principles of counting cells and using the Neubar grid	Ruta Furmonavicience, Viv Rolfe
Performing calculations	Examples of how to perform calculations of cell concentration and opportunities to try for yourself!	Ruta Furmonavicience, Viv Rolfe
Extras	1) Volume Conversion How to convert units of volume 2) Table Calculating Grid Volumes How to calculate the volume of liquid under the grid.	Ruta Furmonavicience, Viv Rolfe
Histology and the Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) Stain		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Historical background to the stain	Background to the history of the Haematoxylin and Eosin stain and the histochemical method.	Mike Ball
H&E steps	1) Step-by-step guide to the H&E stain and 2) clearing and mounting the slide	Mike Ball
Stain chemistry	Basic principles of stain chemistry	Viv Rolfe
Stain recipes	Assorted goodies - a classroom stain manual and PowerPoint presentations	Viv Rolfe
Microbiology		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Basic incubation experiment	Short videos explaining how to set up basic aerobic and anaerobic microbial incubations	Marilena Ioannou
Agar plate	How to streak an agar plate	Malgorzata Rekas
Using API strips	1) Video of how to set up an API strip - 2) API biochemistry - 3) Reading the strip results	Marilena and Malgorzata
Using the portable autoclave	1) Parts of the autoclave and 2)Using a portable autoclave to sterilise laboratory equipment	Technical team
Gram stain technique	1) Preparing for the Gram stain for viewing bacteria and 2) Extra Gram stain resource	Marilena and Malgorzata
Microscopy		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Parts of the microscope	Animation introducing parts of the microscope and a quiz to test you self.	Vivien Rolfe
Setting up the light microscope	Video clips demonstrating how to set up a light microscope. Basic steps to prepare the microscope.	Simon Oldroyd
Setting up the light microscope	Video demonstrating how to maintain a light microscope. Maintenance	Technical Team
Check list	Check list for setting up the microscope.	Simon Oldroyd
Pipettes		GIVE US FEEDBACK
How to use a pipette	1) The plastic pipette	Graham Basten
How to use a pipette	2) The pipette pump	Graham Basten
How to use a pipette	3) Using a micropipette such as a "Gilson"	Graham Basten
Serial Dilutions		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Introduction to the serial dilution	Five animations demonstrating how to perform dilutions and serial dilutions	Graham Basten
Spectrophotometry		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Introduction to the spectrophotometer	Video introducing the spectrophotometer	Ruta Furmonaviciene, Viv Rolfe
How the spec works	Series of six animations	Ruta Furmonaviciene, Viv Rolfe
The Bradford Assay	Animation and video of the Bradford protein assay	Ruta Furmonaviciene, Viv Rolfe
Standard Curves		GIVE US FEEDBACK
Drawing standard curves	1) Animation describing the standard curve and 2) how to interpret the results	Graham Basten
Standard curves in Excel	1) Using Excel (or other spreadsheet) to generate a standard curve and 2) Interactive tutorial	Viv Rolfe
Generating the linear equation	1) Using Excel to produce a linear equation and 2) Interactive tutorial	Viv Rolfe
Calculations	Using Excel to calculate the value of your unknown sample	Viv Rolfe
Should you find any blurps, bloops, cordwangles, red wine stains or gremlins within these resources, please Tweet @vivienrolfe.

VAL Resources

Cell Culture

Haematology

Haemocytometry

Histology and the Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) Stain

Microbiology

Microscopy

Pipettes

Serial Dilutions

Spectrophotometry

Standard Curves

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