Question

QUESTION 1

Although SARS-CoV-2 is currently a global health threat, how might we turn it into a tool for biotechnology?

a. It could possibly be turned into a viral vector against lung cancers

b. Its promoters might be used to express genes in lung cells

c. Its surface proteins could be used for new epitope tags

d. All of the above

QUESTION 2

Which of the following are applications of molecular assembly described in this course?

a. It can be used to create expression vectors for producing proteins

b. It can be used to mutagenize sequences during directed evolution

c. It can used to “humanize” antibodies sourced from animals

d. It allows us to store and distribute interesting DNA sequences

e. None of the above

f. All of the above

QUESTION 3

How is the human adaptive immune response (which generates antibodies) similar to directed evolution?

a. Our bodies produce monoclonal antibodies by fusing B-cells to cancer cells

b. It produces a single antibody that can bind to all possible antigens

c. It analyzes an antigen, and produces a single, perfectly matched antigen

d. It produces millions of possible antibodies and then amplifies cells making the most successful ones

QUESTION 4

You are purifying a protein by cation exchange chromatography, but your target protein always co-elutes with an E. coli protein. This contaminant is essential for growth of E. coli. Which strategy could solve your problem? Choose TWO answers

a. Delete the contaminant from the E. coli genome

b. Choose a different expression host

c. Add five lysines (a positively charged amino acid) to your target protein

d. Repeat the chromatography step under identical conditions

e. Run the mobile phase more quickly through the column

QUESTION 5

Why do we couple so many experiments (enzyme engineering, immunoblots, cell sorting, etc.) to fluorescence measurements? Choose TWO answers

a. Most molecules are naturally fluorescent

b. Mass spectrometry and NMR are easier experiments but provide less detail

c. Proteins and cells must be purified before any fluorscence measurement

d. Because we have different fluorophores available, we can track multiple features in a single experiment

e. Fluorescent antibodies and reagents allows us to quantify otherwise colorless molecules and cells

QUESTION 6

Besides molecular cloning, where else can Gibson Assembly assist in molecular engineering?

a. By allowing us to focus error-prone PCR to a sub-region of DNA

b. By providing sequencing-by-synthesis

c. By joining two fragments with completely different sequences

d. Gibson Assembly directly changes genomes

e. By allowing us to quantify the amount of RNA in a sample

QUESTION 7

How could protein engineering assist in creating a lateral flow diagnostic? Choose TWO answers

a. By increasing the affinity of primary antibodies towards an antigen

b. By creating primary antibodies that can be dehydrated and stored

c. By altering the structure of the antigen to be tested

d. By decreasing the affinity of primary antibodies towards an antigen

e. By lowering the solubility of the mobile antibody

QUESTION 8

How can molecular cloning assist in the production of therapeutic antibodies? Choose THREE answers

a. It can be used to create phage display libraries to improve binding of a therapeutic antibody

b. It uses antibodies to detect proteins bound to membranes

c. It can be used to transfer CDRs from animal antibodies into human IgG genes

d. It is the first step to expressing an a recombinant antigen

e. It uses a cell sorter to retain strongly performing cells

QUESTION 9

During the recent Ebola and H1N1 flu outbreaks, clinical trials tested whether blood serum from survivors could be administered to diseased patients. What was the underlying logic behind these trials?

a. Survivor’s serum would dilute the disease

b. Patients needed donated blood.

c. Surviror’s serum contained different versions of the viruses

d. Survivors’ serum was full of human antibodies against the viruses

QUESTION 10

Suppose you expressed a SARS-CoV-2 surface protein in E. coli, and you intend to use to trigger an immune response in a patient (this is a type of vaccine). The DNA encoding the gene was chemically synthesized. Why is it essential to extensively purify the protein?

a. A contaminant from E. coli could cause an immune response

b. To avoid infection from SARS-CoV-2

c. The human immune system can only recognize one antigen at a time

d. Your antigen won’t work in the presence of contaminants

QUESTION 11

If you were moving optimized epitope-binding CDRs (hypervariable loops) from an mouse antibody into a human IgG, what kind of assembly method would you use?

a. A method that would cut several natural restriction sites in the middle of the CDR sequence

b. A scarless cloning method so that no unnecessary sequence is introduced

c. Blunt-end ligations

d. A method that can only join two pieces of DNA at a time

QUESTION 12

Suppose you performed phage display to improve binding of an enzyme to its substrate. You applied error-prone PCR over a very small window (75 bp) in the active site. You want to characterize the entire population of phages to understand which mutations are more common after selection. You would need to use:

a. High-throughput sequencing

b. Sanger sequencing

Answer 1

1. c is the correct option and other options are not relevant in this case.

2.f. is the correct one, a, b, c is the correct statement for molecular assembly.

3. c is the answer, specific antibody

4. b & d would the most appropriate option.

5. d and f are the correct option as FITC tagged anti-bodies and rest of the given options are not relevant

6. c is correct option, up to 5 different DNA fragment through this process

7. a and b are the correct options

8. a, b and c

9. d is correct, develops immunity against viruses and rest option are incorrect

10. a

11. c blunt end ligation

12. a is correct option, used for genome wise screening, Sanger sequencing used for more than 500 base pairs