• The Biology IMF (Integrated Microscopy Facility) is a research imaging facility administered by Dr. Dana García and managed by technician Alissa Savage. Ms. Savage is not faculty or an IA for this course, but has indicated she will be willing to answer questions within the limits of her available time, if neither Dr. Koke or Ms. Kane is immediately available. She also has the authority to correct misuse of instruments, to ask students to clean up after themselves, etc., and to report such incidents to the instructors of this course (see below, Lab Conduct).
• Instructor: Dr. Joseph Koke. Office hours for this course are 10 - 11,MWF, in SUPP 164. Dr. Koke prefers to interact with students in person or by E-mail (from your Texas State Account only).
• Instructional Assistant (IA): Sarah J. Kane. Click here for the LAB SYLLABUS.
• Textbooks and Web Resources: None is required, but the following are suggested as references. Please note that Wikipedia is not among these resources. The local bookstores do not stock these, but will order if you request. Also, check out Amazon.com or other on-line providers.
• You will need a (minimum) 1GB USB Flash (aka jump, thumb) Drive for this course, to record your images and move them from place to place. This flash drive should be considered part of your lab notebook (see the LAB SYLLABUS ) and may be inspected from time to time by the instructors in the course (so it is a good idea not to put personal files on it).
• Required Software (if you have your own lap top or desk-top) ImageJ. ImageJ runs best under OSX, but can work with other operating systems as long as Java is present. See http://rsbweb.nih.gov/ij/download.html for more information. ImageJ is open source software and is free. A recommended "companion" software package is Adobe PhotoShop (definetly not free but you can get it steeply discounted if you purchase through the University).

• Course Organization is as shown above. In addition to the scheduled lecture,students will meet once each week for lab instruction onTuesday 3:30 p.m. At this time you will receive instruction and arrange times to complete the laboratory task(s) designated for that week. Most of your laboratory work will be done at time other than the scheduled lecture/lab times. This type of scheduling is necessary because much of the lab instruction is one-on-one and requires mastering a skill. If you are a graduate student or an undergraduate student doing research, please meet with Dr. Koke before lab begins so an appropriate lab experience can be taylored to your research project.

• Lab Conduct. During this course you will be working with expensive, delicate equipment, with chemicals some of which are quite toxic, and in research space as well as student instructional space. You will be given appropriate instruction on the proper use, and you will be expected to follow instructions and not abuse equipment. This is to protect you as well as protect the equipment. Students come and go, but the equipment must live on to serve future students as well as the ongoing scientific research - which among other things generated the grant funds to purchase the equipment you will be using. Serious grade penalties may result from repeated episodes of: 1) failing to show up on time for an instruction appointment; 2) disregarding instructions on how to use equipment; 3) disregarding procedural instructions (protocol); 4) failure to clean up after yourself, and 5) using space, equipment, reagents, or computers that you have not been specifically authorized to use.

• Attendance and Grading - Lecture grades will be based on the two exams indicated above, each worth 150 points, for a total of 300 points from lecture. The exams will be given on the dates indicated. If a student must be absent on one of the above dates, arrangements should be made in advance. Laboratory grades will be based on notebook checks and quizzes, and a project to be determined which will culminate in a poster presentation during the last week of class - see the Lab Syllabus. The Overall grade (letter grade) will be assigned on the basis of the percentage of the total points (600) possible that the student earns, where 90% = A, 80% to 89% = B, 70% - 79% = C, and 60% to 69% = D. A grade of W will be given according to Texas State policy. Please remember that the last date to drop with an automatic "W" is also the last day you CAN drop. A grade of I can only be awarded if arrangements are made before the course is substantially completed (in this case, before Thanksgiving).

• License for Access to the Biology IMF for future use by students, regardless of department, is earned by completion of this course with a letter grade of B or better.

All rights reserved. No text or images may be reproduced without the copyright owners' express written permission. Intellectual Property Statement: My lectures and my examination questions and other course materials are protected by copyright law. They are my own original expression and are properly recorded to bring them under the protection of the U.S. copyright laws. You are authorized to take notes in class and to be provided answers to examination questions, thereby creating derivative works from my lectures and examinations. However, this authorization extends only to making one set of notes or answers for your own personal use and no other use. You are not authorized to record my lectures, to provide notes or examination questions to anyone else, or to make any commercial use of them without my prior written consent.