Department of Biology
Facilities
The Biology Department is housed on the second floor of the Bush Science
Center. The Departments of Physics and Chemistry are located on the first
and third floors, respectively. The Biology floor contains three large classrooms,
a seminar room, eight student laboratories, faculty offices and research labs,
a darkroom, several collection rooms, stockrooms, and a student lounge.
Classrooms are equipped with computer projection systems and one has a
smartboard for interactive activities. Overhead equipment and VCRs are readily
available. The department also has two Mac-controlled-Laser Disc Systems
which can be moved to the classroom or laboratory for presentation of modules.
All classrooms and laboratories have access to the internet.
Our laboratories continue to be updated with modern equipment. We have
a new liquid scintillation system, research quality UV/visible spectrophotometer,
gradient fractionation and sample detection system, high-speed and ultracentrifuges,
phase contrast digital microscopy imaging system, digital electrophoresis
imaging system, and an UVP Chemisystem for viariable light, florescent, and
chemiluminescent imaging. 
We have developed a tissue culture laboratory housing a two chamber CO
2 incubator, two Bio-Safety cabinets, Leitz compound and inverted
brightfield/ phase contrast/ epifluorescence microscopes, etc. to support
instruction in and research with the powerful methodological approach of
tissue culture employed in cellular, molecular and developmental biology.
This equipment also has permitted us to advance into experimental work in
molecular biology - the screening of gene libraries, sequencing of nucleic
acids and the engineering and expression of genes. This initiative has also
been supported by the acquisition of two thermocyclers (for polymerase chain
reaction), autoradiographic equipment and a variety of electrophoretic equipment
for the analysis of nucleic acids and DNA sequencing.
The physiology lab is equipped with new physiographs and multiple channel
recorders which are used to monitor various physiological phenomena. The department
has many modern binocular Olympus CHBS (40-1000x, oil) compound microscopes,
phase contrast microscopes for microbiology, and Spectronic 20 student spectrophotometers
which are widely used in our program. Several power supplies and multichambered
agarose electrophoretic apparatus are used by students to become familiar
with the use of micropipetters, restriction digestion of nucleic acids and
the electrophoresis and analysis of the resultant products. We have a portable
system for measuring photosynthesis in the laboratory and in the field. We
continue to use a computer simulation of neo-Mendelian genetics (Simfly II)
developed by J. Small of our department which allows students to learn the
principles of inheritance including linkage analysis and the application
of statistical testing of hypotheses.
Nature's laboratory (the "field") offers experiences quite different from
those found in the confines of four walls (the "bench"). The College is adjacent
to Lake Virginia and the Winter Park Chain of Lakes. Several state parks and
wilderness areas are within a short distance to the college. The Ocean can
be reached in less than an hour. The Department maintains a significant travel
fund that permits several four day trips to the Everglades National Park
and a field station in the Florida Keys to study the flora and fauna in their
ecological context. Boats and sampling equipment are available for use in
the study of these natural systems. The College also maintains a modern greenhouse
that is used extensively by both the Biology and Environmental Studies Departments.