BME100 s2014:T Group14 L4

BME 100 Spring 2014	Home People Lab Write-Up 1 | Lab Write-Up 2 | Lab Write-Up 3 Lab Write-Up 4 | Lab Write-Up 5 | Lab Write-Up 6 Course Logistics For Instructors Photos Wiki Editing Help
OUR TEAM Name: Caitlin R. Byrne Name: Megan McGuire Name: Wade Savage Name: Theo Hall LAB 1 WRITE-UP Initial Machine Testing The Original Design A PCR machine is basically a photocopier for DNA. It splits apart the double helix by heating in order to make copies of it. For a polymerase chain reaction to take place a particular DNA sequence should be identified and then amplified by creating up to millions of copies of the specific strands. A PCR machine can go through many cycles of this process and can turn a strand of DNA into thousands of copies of the exact same single strands of DNA. The OpenPCR uses a display on the actual device and a USB port to connect to the computer in order to change the parameters of the PCR reaction we want to take place. The OpenPCR machine is basically a "Do-It-Yourself" kit for anyone to buy, make, and then use. Since it's you have to put together, this equipment is open to some errors if not put together right. This is why we tested the PCR machines before conducting our experiment. Experimenting With the Connections When we unplugged (part 3) from (part 6), the machine's display turned off; this is the power cable for the display. When we unplugged the white wire that connects (part 6) to (part 2), the machine's display showed an incorrect temperature. We assume that this is the wire that connects the display and internal computer to the integral part of the device that measures the temperature of the PCR machine. Test Run We preformed our test run of our OpenPCR machine on Thursday March 20, 2014. Set up was simple and went smoothly, we placed the empty test tubes into the machine and ran the machine. After setting up everything correctly, our machine ended up failing the test. The computer program projected that our the time for our reaction would extend way beyond the two hour time period and didn't even finish 1 cycle. This resulted in our machine's failure and was noted to not be used during the experiment. Protocols Thermal Cycler Program DNA Sample Set-up This is the test tube set up we inserted into the OpenPCR system. We had two different subjects of DNA, one female and one male, and we labeled everything as follows on our 8 50 microliter test tubes. row 1 dDNA row 1 1a row 1 1b row 1 1c row 2 ndDNA row 2 2a row 2 2b row 2 2c dDNA -- the disease DNA ndDNA -- the non-disease DNA female subject -- 1a, 1b, 1c male subject -- 2a, 2b, 2c DNA Sample Set-up Procedure Step 1 Step 2 Step 3... PCR Reaction Mix What is in the PCR reaction mix? DNA/ primer mix What is in the DNA/ primer mix? Research and Development PCR - The Underlying Technology (Add a write-up, essay-style, organized into paragraphs with descriptive headers, based on the Q&A's from Section three of your worksheet) (BONUS points: Use a program like Powerpoint, Word, Illustrator, Microsoft Paint, etc. to illustrate how primers bind to the cancer DNA template, and how Taq polymerases amplify the DNA. Screen-captures from the PCR video/ tutorial might be useful. Be sure to credit the sources if you borrow images.)