Monday, March 13, 2000
5:30 - 8:00 p.m.
Lecture Hall D1.502
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

This program will explore the physical mechanisms underlying the process of osmosis and how the body responds to osmotic stress at the celluar and organismal level.  Also included will be a discussion of clinical disorders of the kidney that result in osmotic imbalance. 



Scheduled Speakers 

Overview of Osmosis and Osmoregulation
Robert Alpern, M.D.
Dean, UT Southwestern Medical School

Clinical Aspects of Hyponatremia & Hypernatremia
Robert Toto, M.D.
Clinical Professor, Internal Medicine, UTSW Medical Center
 

A light meal will be served before the evening's program.  A certificate of completion will be provided for purposes of professional development credit. Please check with your school district to determine if credit will be accepted for this event.

Related Links

Aquaporins: Water Channels A brief description of these important membrane proteins. (http://arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu/hbooks/molecules/aquaporins.html)

Aquaporin-1: Destroying the Diffusion Dogma  An interesting undergraduate student project that reviews a current journal article on carbon dioxide diffusion through aquaporin channels. A great model for other students to follow. (http://student.biology.arizona.edu/honors98/group6/)

Nephrogenic Diabetes Insipidus Foundation Glossary An extensive list of terms are defined and cross-referenced to abstracts from journal articles. (http://www.ndif.org/t-a.html)

How the Kidney Works (http://nephron.com/htkw.html) Features demonstrations detailing how the kidney works, its function and specific renal diseases. Take a tour through the kidney and its components using software that you can download from this site.

Classroom Activities

Osmosis Demonstration Lab 
A basic lab activity requireing minimal equipment in which students can observe change in mass of potato cores when subjected to various osmotic environments,  and can observe plasmolysis in the aquatic plant, Elodea.
Download MS Word document (PC version)
View and print PDF document (Mac or PC compatible)

Diffusion & Osmosis (http://www.accessexcellence.org/atg/data/released/0081-JeffLukens/description.html):
A three part lab on diffusion and osmosis that can be performed at any level of Biology. A description of a "new" method to analyze the gathered data using a TI-82 Graphing Calculator is included.

Egg Osmometers (http://www.accessexcellence.org/atg/data/released/0519-NancyIversen/activity.html) 
Examine the dynamics of concentration gradients and diffusion with a simple egg osmometer.

The STARS Program
UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Dallas, Texas 75235-9137
Voice: 214-648-9505
or 1-800-81-STARS
Fax: 214-648-9508
jeannie.han@utsouthwestern.edu