GCE A/L Bio Systems Technology case studies
GCE A/L Bio Systems Technology · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Bio Systems Technology is an Advanced Level subject in Sri Lanka's technology stream, taken alongside Engineering Technology and Science for Technology. It suits candidates who want to work in laboratories, diagnostics, agriculture, food processing, fermentation, or quality assurance, and it also opens degree pathways in biotechnology, microbiology, food science and agriculture. The GCE A/L Bio Systems Technology case studies are 5 cases and about 3,600 words.
1A 1 L recombinant culture spill at 01:40
At 01:40 a lone night-shift technician in a university biosafety level 2 laboratory drops a 1 L baffled Erlenmeyer flask of Escherichia coli BL21(DE3) carrying a kanamycin-resistance plasmid. The culture had been induced with IPTG 2 hours earlier and was at OD600 3.2, so roughly 2 x 10^9 cells per mL are now spread over about 1.5 m2 of bench, floor, and the outside of a shaking incubator.
741 words, about 4 min2Banana shoot-tip batch with 38% bacterial contamination
A district agricultural laboratory initiates 400 shoot-tip explants of the banana variety Embul on MS medium with 30 g/L sucrose, 5 mg/L BAP and 7 g/L agar. The pH is adjusted to 5.8 before autoclaving, but the pH meter was last calibrated three months ago.
723 words, about 4 min3Protease titer drop after a peptone lot change
An industrial biotechnology company runs a 50 L stirred-tank bioreactor for alkaline protease production by Bacillus licheniformis . The historical batch reached 1200 U/mL in 24 hours with 18 g/L dry biomass.
711 words, about 4 min4Cloning a glycosylated human gene into pET-28a
A team wants to express human gene X, a 1.8 kb glycoprotein, for a functional assay. They amplify the gene with Taq polymerase for 30 cycles, digest the product and pET-28a with NdeI and XhoI, ligate, transform E.
728 words, about 4 min5Out-of-control aflatoxin M1 ELISA before a tanker deadline
An accredited food safety laboratory supplies a quantitative ELISA kit for aflatoxin M1 in milk, with a limit of quantification of 0.05 micrograms per kg and a regulatory limit of 0.05 micrograms per kg. Over three days the kit's calibrator optical densities fall by 30%, and the 0.05 micrograms per kg quality control sample reads 0.031, 0.028 and 0.034 micrograms per kg.
697 words, about 3 min