Genes to Genomics

Session 1

Photos:
Day 1 |  Day 2 |  Day 3 |  Day 4 |  Day 5
Day 6 |  Day 7 |  Day 8 |  Day 9 |  Day 10

Course Description

Session 2

Photos:
Day 1  Students were taken through an introduction to Drosophila melanogaster, better known as the common fruit fly, including its uses as an animal model for studying the transfer of genetic information from generation to generation. They further went on to learn about identifying characteristics of male and female flies to help them with analyzing phenotypic (physical characteristics) data. The students also practiced with an important tool in any molecular science lab – the micropipette!

Day 2  Students observed a severe genetic mutation on the XPC gene, a gene coding for an important element in a DNA repair sequence. They used yeast as an animal model for this, running an experiment to observe what happens when you expose yeast carrying this mutation to UV light with varying methods of protection. Also, students observed some developmental biology by studying sand dollar fertilization patterns from fertilization to cell division!

Day 3 Students practiced staining and mounting cells onto slides with a simple experiment studying mitosis in plant cells. Also, they began work on their two week long bioinformatics project by selecting their disorder/syndrome and gathering data for their presentation.

Day 4 Today was a big day for the students. We observed chick embryos after 2 days, 6 days, and 10 days of incubation. Chick embryos are a fantastic model organism used in the study of developmental disorders brought on by environmental and genetic disorders. We also worked on sorting and sexing flies and observing different methods of genetic inheritance.

Day 5 Discussed the results of our fly analysis while going over some pedigree problems. We also observed the results of our yeast sunscreen lab before working on the students presentations for next week.

Day 6 The day consisted of an intensive discussion on drosophila signaling pathways (and their mutations) presented by UoM's Dr. Kenneth Cadigan. Lab consisted of performing a basic genetic transformation using E. coli as our host cells. The students continued to practice sterile technique.

Day 7 | 

Day 8 A busy day with some relaxation at the end. We started the day with a rough DNA extraction from basal cheek cells. We followed this with a quick amplification run utilizing polymerase chain reaction to amplify a segment of DNA shared by all people. We will be using the product of this in tomorrows experiment. After this, we observed some bacterial artwork prepared by the students. Lastly, we practiced replica plating, a process of transplanting colonies of bacteria from one type of plate to another, saving time and aiding in bacterial screening.

Day 9 The students enjoyed a presentation from cytogeneticist Dr. James Zabawski. His discussion focused on developmental chromosomal abnormalities. Later, the students visualized their DNA samples via gel electrophoresis and took one last look at all of their wonderful bacterial plates before cleaning up. The remainder of the day was focused on working on their power point presentations for tomorrow.

Day 10 Student presentations! The day was mostly devoted to the students, with presentations occuring in the morning, some fun and games in the afternoon, and a brief lunch break in between.

Course Description

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