Dave Gray's Build-A-Gene Experience Notes
These are some notes regarding the Build-A-Gene class experience.
Motivation I was thrilled to here that the class was available. The thought that I could have the experience of artificially introducing a gene into a living organism during my lifetime without taking a college course in advanced biology was amazing. It's that I had an urge to make bacteria fluoresce under UV light. But genetics is up there with the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics in offering a peek into how the universe works, and this was an opportunity to get hands-on experience which should massively increase my understanding of this key field.
The Instructor Lisa Scheifele, a professor at Loyola is conducting the course. She is doing a fine job. Clearly, she has spent quite a bit of time in preparation for each class, ensuring we had the right materials and notes to complete each successive session. The process has many steps and each one is a learning experience. Lisa has also made herself available via email to answer questions that we don't think to ask during class, and I will post my emails and her responses later in this record.
The Sessions In each session, Lisa provides us with instructions regarding the procedure, coaching as needed and answers questions that are raised. The process involves a lot of, as she says, moving around tiny bits of clear liquid. That's because the DNA is so tiny as to be invisible and most of the other solutions we work with involve even tinier molecules. The results are visible at several steps as we use a procedure called gel electrophoresis to sort out the DNA strands by size to see if they are as expected.
In Session 1 we covered the basics of using the pipettes and tiny plastic "test tubes" (about the size of a pen cap). We learned about a process called "PCR" which allows DNA to be rapidly copied and then followed instructions to copy some DNA components that we will be working with. You can read the instructions for that session here. Afterwards, I sent an email with some questions for Lisa. My questions and here responses are here.
