Degradation of Red Blood Cells and the Electromagnetic Spectrum Laura Hickman ICLCS ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Key Chemistry Concepts Covered Absorption and reflection of light Ex. We perceive an apple as being red because it reflects red and absorbs other colors Electromagnetic Spectrum Focus on visible light region Using WebMO to calculate UV-vis absorption of a biological pigment (bilirubin – from breakdown of red blood cells) ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Other Concepts Covered Using a color wheel to figure out complimentary colors Predicting the ages of different bruises based on color Degradation of red blood cells in the body ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

When to Cover in the Curriculum? Assumes students have basic knowledge of properties of waves Frequency Wavelength Dual nature of light (wave and particle) Helpful if students are familiar with basic biology and have at least heard of red blood cells. Another module called “Let’s Make Waves” reviews some of the properties of waves and allows students to play around with properties of waves in Microsoft Excel. ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Required Module Materials Why do bruises change colors? Teacher Version Why do bruises change colors? Student Version Bruises WebMO Computer Lab Instructions – Teacher Version Bruises WebMO Computer Lab Instructions – Student Version Bilirubin_optimization.txt (already optimized text file) Computers with WebMO, JAVA, Internet access ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Optional Module Materials These materials are for teachers who want a step-by- step review for themselves on how to import and optimize a molecule in WebMO. This would probably take too long for students to do. Bruises – Practice Importing and Optimizing Bilirubin (in WebMO) Bilirubin_ChEBI_16990.mol (not yet optimized mol file) ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Some larger goals Interdisciplinary questions focus on chemistry concepts but content integrates biology / biochemistry Stand-alone module or lab Hyperlinks to direct students to words they may not know All information to complete module is contained in module but could be edited down Get students used to working with terms they don’t know Common in medical field and in standardized testing Realize that you may not have heard the terms before, but the basic concepts you do know can guide you to the right answers (picking out the necessary information) ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Now let’s explore the module… ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Questions Where in your curriculum do you usually teach this material? What exercises do you normally do? What type of students do you think this might be useful for? Is the material too advanced? Could it be cut down? What do your assessments and test questions usually look like for this material? ©2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees