Essential Laboratory Skills for Biosciences

Essential Laboratory Skills for Biosciences is an essential companion during laboratory sessions. It is designed to be simple and give clear step by step instructions on essential techniques, supported by relevant diagrams. The book includes the use of particular equipment and how to do simple calculations that students come across regularly in laboratory practicals.

Written by experienced lecturers this handy pocket book provides:
- Simple to follow laboratory techniques
- Clear use of diagrams and illustrations to explain techniques, procedures and equipment
- Step by step worked out examples of calculations including concentrations, dilutions and molarity

Suitable for all first year university students, the techniques in the book will also be useful for postgraduate and final year project students and enhance the practical and theoretical knowledge of all those studying bioscience related subjects.

List of Figures vii
List of Tables xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction xv
Health and Safety xvii

1 Measurements and Calculations 1
2 Preparing Solutions 23
3 Separation of Liquids and Solids 35
4 Common Techniques and Equipment 55
5 Microscopy and Histology 75
6 Cardiorespiratory Measurements 93
7 Recording and Presenting Data 111

Recommended Reading 119

Appendix 1: Rules for Powers 121
Appendix 2: Rules for Logarithms 123
Appendix 3: Factors to Consider When Making Solutions 125
Appendix 4: Principle of Spectrophotometry 127
Appendix 5: Descriptive Statistics and Formulae 129
Appendix 6: Using Software to Draw Tables, Graphs and Calculating Descriptive Statistics 133

Index 137