Lab Reporting Worksheet – The Regeneration Biology Lab

Lab Reporting Worksheet – The Regeneration Biology Lab

In science, reporting what has been done in a laboratory setting is incredibly important for communicating, replicating, and validating findings. However, writing scientific reports can be a little overwhelming. There is a set of agreed-upon components that the scientific community requires when reporting scientific experimentation. Answer the following questions to describe what occurred during the lab you conducted in Labster. Be sure to use complete sentences and descriptions that fully represent what you experienced. Writing a lab report is less about being correct or incorrect than it is about accurately reporting what happened and why. So, do not worry about reporting data that might seem counterintuitive or unexpected. Focus on clearly communicating what you did and what you observed.

TITLE:

What was the title of the lab you completed?

Regeneration Simulation

PROBLEM:

What was the problem you were trying to resolve in the Lab?

Understanding the regeneration process in vertebrates.

HYPOTHESIS:

What information from the textbook and classroom is relevant for the problem you were trying to resolve in the lab? Identify the concepts and explain how they are related to the lab problem.

The textbook and classroom provided valuable information about the concept of regeneration, including the definition of regeneration as the addition of new cells similar to the injured ones. The textbook noted the tissues that will readily regenerate and those that undergo slow regeneration or do not regenerate at all, such as nerve and muscle cells.

During the lab, what information from the THEORY section provided additional background information about the problem? (To review the theory section, launch the lab and click the “Theory” tab at the top of the data pad). Identify the concepts and explain how they are related to the lab problem.

The THEORY section also provided relevant information related to the lab problem. Firstly, the section starts with regeneration definition, blastema definition, blastema formation, description of stem cells and stem cell types, and, finally, green fluorescent protein. Information from all these concepts provided prior knowledge that helped me navigate through all the lab parts. Notably, the THEORY section defines regeneration as the process in which tissues, organisms, or whole ecosystems become renewed, restored, or regrow. An important note from the section states that although the degree of regeneration varies across species, all species can regenerate. As such, some organisms like axolotls can regenerate whole body parts. Key aspects to note in regeneration include blastema formation, blastema dedifferentiation into multipotent stem cells, which maintain their positional information, and cell multiplication to regenerate a fully functioning body part.

Most scientific experimentation involves examining variables and their relationships. A variable is a construct that can be changed and studied. Examples of variables are a condition or measurable quantity. What are the variables you examined in the lab? Which one were you controlling and changing? Which one were you observing was impacted by your change?

This lab mainly involved the amputation of axolotls’ forelimbs and observing the regeneration process. Nonetheless, in one case, the forelimb was sutured after being cut off to observe how this affected the regeneration process. In this case, suturing was the controlled variable, while the regeneration of a fully functioning limb was the variable under observation.

Developing a hypothesis requires understanding relevant background knowledge. Now that you have described relevant background information, it is time to develop a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a simple statement (not a question), grounded in previous research, that predicts the relationship between the variables being studied. Please make a statement that predicts the relationship between the variables being studied.

Suturing prevents regeneration.

METHOD:

Describing what you did during a lab helps other scientists to replicate your work. It is through this consistent replication that scientists are able to see repeating patterns and develop ideas that help move science forward. When you discuss your data, in a later section, you will have to describe what choices you made, why you made them, and any concerns about things that occurred that were unexpected. In order to have enough information to do this, you need to keep very detailed notes. What doesn’t seem important at the moment may end up being something that explains your findings later. A benefit of conducting virtual labs when learning science is that many potential errors are controlled for you. The virtual lab environment often will alert you if something is not going the way it should. This does not occur in non-virtual settings. For this reason, the virtual lab setting can be very helpful to learners. However, we still have to practice documenting so that those skills can be practiced for lab experiences when technology is not there as a coach.

You have already, identify the variables that you studied in the lab in the previous section. Now, take some time to fully define and describe what each variable is and how it was changed throughout the lab.

The identified variables are suturing the wound and regenerating a fully functioning limb. Suturing the wound was independent while regenerating a fully functioning limb was the dependent variable. Observations on how suturing affected regeneration were noted.

In 3-5 sentences summarize what you did during the lab not including your process of logging into the system. This section would be much more robust for a non-virtual lab. For this virtual lab, a short, high-level summary will suffice.

One lab objective was to determine why human body parts, like fingers, do not regenerate below a specific point. To do this, an axolotl’s forelimb was amputated, and the regeneration process was observed to learn about the regenerating tissues. Next, an axolotl’s forelimb was cut off and sutured to find out how suturing affects regeneration. The final part aimed to find out whether blastema cells can dedifferentiate back into any tissue. Accordingly, the experiment for this part utilized a GFP axolotl (an axolotl genetically modified to produce the green fluorescent protein (GFP)) and a wild-type axolotl. Tissues from the GFP axolotl were transplanted into the wild-type axolotl to observe the position of the regenerating cells under fluorescent light.

Describe some of the observations you made. What numbers did you write down or keep track of? What did each of your senses observe during the lab process? What did you see (ex: changes in colors, movement, shapes, sizes, patterns)? What did you hear (ex: sounds from reactions, collisions, error messages)? What did you lab character touch? Did you notice anything that seemed unexpected? Did you notice anything that you did not expect to observe?

I noted that some animals can regenerate whole limbs while humans cannot. During the lab, I was able to observe the blastema and the regenerating cells under a microscope. I also observed and took note of the differences between blastema cells of different ages (new and old).

My lab character could touch all materials and objects that required interaction to complete each procedure. These include the scalpel, suturing needle, model organisms (axolotls), microscope slide, and the Labster X-ray screen, among others. Though most of my observations were expected, I did not expect to interact and join a doctor (Dr. Prometheus) in their daily roles.

Which parts of the lab required you to think more than others and required more time? Which parts were simple and completed easily?

Most parts of the lab required critical thinking and took significant time. Even so, the first part of the lab, which involved amputating an axolotl, observing the regeneration process, and learning about the regenerating tissues, was simple and completed with ease.

DATA & RESULTS:

Many lessons learned as a result of scientific experiments come from the reporting and analysis of data. This part of scientific reporting requires detailed descriptions of technical information and quantities as well as high-level synthesis of information. High-level synthesis requires a mastery of foundational content in the related scientific field and a complimentary mastery in some fields of quantitative and/or qualitative analysis. For this report, let’s focus on big-picture patterns.

What relationships did you notice between the variables you examined? When you changed the variable(s), how did the other(s) change?

I noted that some factors, like suturing, affect regeneration. Notably, after suturing the axolotl’s wound, the limb did not regenerate.

Did you notice any patterns in your data? Any patterns between the variables?

The notable observation concerned how regeneration is affected by different conditions like suturing and even molecules. For instance, the BMP (bone morphogenic protein) inhibitor prevented regeneration, retinoic acid reset the positional information, while dimethyl sulfoxide did not affect regeneration.

DISCUSSION:

The discussion section is used to explain why things might have happened the way that they did in your experiment. Here, scientists describe any potential anomalies or mistakes and why they think they may have occurred.

During your lab, what happened that might have impacted the accuracy of your data? Did the simulation alert you that an error was occurring? If so, how did you resolve it?

Since this was a virtual lab, potential errors were eliminated. Besides, the lab simulation notified me when there was an error. In one instance, I tried to pick a suturing needle while still holding the scalpel. The lab simulation notified me that I could not pick up more than one item simultaneously, which I resolved by putting the scalpel back on the workbench first before picking up the suturing needle.

CONCLUSION:

The conclusion section of a lab report describes how the learnings from the lab experimentation fit in to prior scientific knowledge. This is done by comparing new information to previously known information that was identified in the section of your report that discusses background information.

Review the hypothesis section of your report from above and describe how the results of your lab compare to the background information that you discussed before.

The hypothesis stated that suturing would prevent regeneration. The experiment confirmed this since the forelimb did not regenerate. Accordingly, the background information relates to this finding as suturing stretches the dermis cells over the injured part and closes the wound, an important factor for regeneration. Also, blastema formation is inhibited without the expansion of the epidermis over the wound and contact with mesenchymal cells.

Once scientists have identified how the new knowledge fits into the old knowledge, they discuss the implications of the new information for moving forward. In this class, the purpose of the study is to learn some foundational science ideas represented by the course student learning outcomes. Review the course student learning outcome aligned with this lab in the assignment directions on Blackboard. How is the information from this lab related to the course student learning outcome? What knowledge has the lab supported you with learning that is related to this course’s student learning outcome?

The information from this simulation relates to the course student learning outcome of understanding tissues. By amputating the axolotl’s forelimb and observing the regeneration process under different treatments, this lab deepened my understanding of tissues and what happens when tissues are injured.

Following scientific experimentation, scientists usually come up with new questions that result from what they learned. These new questions often end up leading to new experiments in the future. What additional scientific things do you wonder about after completing and writing about your lab experience?

After learning about regeneration in vertebrates, I have questions about plant regeneration. How do plants regenerate? Do all plants regenerate? Can plants regenerate whole parts?

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It is not a myth that some reptiles and amphibians can replace entire parts of their bodies through regrowth. To advance the science, you will dissect an axolotl and observe the cells that propel restoration.

The final step for this assessment is to complete the lab report. To make the experience more interesting, complete the Hypothesis section prior to diving into the lab.
When you are satisfied with your report, please complete it, and submit your lab report.