Pre-instruction data were obtained for the introductory biology course, and pre- and post-data were obtained for the evolutionary biology course.
Pre- and post-instruction data were obtained for the evolutionary biology course (allowing us to address research questions 1, 2, and 3; N = 74).
The luciferase activity was determined by using the Luciferase Assay System (Promega) according to the manufacturer's instructions and data were normalized on the amount of protein in the samples.
qRT-PCR was performed on the ABI 7900HT (Applied Biosystems) according to manufacturer's instructions and data were analysed with the comparative Ct method, as described in Applied Biosystems's User Bulletin No. 2. Protein lysates were extracted from cultured cells, run on SDS-page and blotted using standard methods.
Samples were run on Affymetrix U133a chips according to manufacturer's instructions, and data were obtained by using MAS5 parameters with global scaling set to 600.
The protein expression of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines was measured by HQPLEX Analyte Kit (Mouse Inflammation 17-Plex; Cellector, San Diego, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions and data were analyzed using BeadLogic software (Inivai Technologies, Mentone, Australia).
Cell viability and proliferation assays were performed after 72 h of drug treatment using the CellTiter-Glo Luminescent Cell Viability Assay (Promega, Alexandria, Australia) following the manufacturer's instructions and data were represented relative to controls.
Absolute quantification qRT PCR was performed on the ABI 7900HT (Applied Biosystems) according to the manufacturer's instructions and data were analysed with the comparative Ct method (with GAPDH serving as endogenous Control) as described in Applied Biosystems's User Bulletin No. 2. For analysis of target mRNA expression in RKO, cells were seeded and left to grow to ∼80% confluence.
Array CGH was set up according to manufacturer's instruction and the data were analyzed using BlueFuse Multi software (Illumina) and the UCSC genome browser (http://genome.ucsc.edu).ucsc.edu
DNA was sequenced using the 454-FLX technology using the manufacturer's instructions (www.454.com) and data were processed with the accompanying software package.
These assays were performed according to the manufacturer's instructions, and the data were expressed relative to a standard curve prepared for IL-6 or IL-8.
