Amino+Acid+Starter+Kit

=3-D Molecular Designs=

**Amino Acid Starter Kit**

Mark - This is a very interesting lab exercise. It really does bring the 3-D concept of proteins to life and makes it fully tangible. I would suggest shortening or really making the online portion concise so it is not as long/arduous for the students. The construction portion was very good and very thorough. I think the students would really gain from this portion of the activity.

Alvin Essenburg - Nice computer modeling. This would be too advanced for middle school students.

Jim--I really liked the model. It would be a neat demonstration or lab to show how a linear polypeptide chain attains a three-dimensional structure, depending on what amino acids are present. I wasn't as excited about the computer portion. It was interesting, but perhaps more at a level for college students.

Carrie - It is not too often that you come across a protein lab which really models a 3-D protein. I would at least use this model as a demonstration that proteins are not linear.

Ken - This model kit is essential for the Science Olympiad event - Protein Modelling. It is an excellent illustration for amino acid structure.

Keith Madden - This was the nicest model system I've seen for showing the dynamics of protein folding at a reasonable cost. The addition of the computer educational component makes this a pretty complete package.

Emily- This lab made nice use of 3-D protein structures. I would probably use it as a demo rather than a class lab to illustrate protein folding and 3-D structure.

Julie- Loved the idea of modeling the 3-D image of protein. The chemistry behind the folding is more than I would present to my students at a freshman biology level.

Deb Semmler- I really liked this lab as an extension for one I already do. It was great to show the folding that takes place with proteins and helps emphasize how proteins/enzymes actually work. The computer program that went with it was definitely worth the price.