Photos:
Mon, Day 1 | Tues, Day 2 | Wed, Day 3 | Thur, Day 4 | Fri, Day 5
Mon, Day 6 | Tues, Day 7 | Wed, Day 8 | Thur, Day 9 | Fri, Day 10
Day 1:
For the first day of the MMSS, we started by learning how to use our U-M access codes for campus computers and research databases, which
will be useful for a presentation we'll be making later in the class.
Then we had our first lecture and learned the history of genetics as a field and had some basic biology review. We spent some time getting to know each other's names, and most of us know all the names of our classmates now! After lunch was the most fun part of the day - working with the fruit flies under the microscopes. We learned about why fruit flies are a good genetic organism, about their body parts and life cycle, and how to tell males from females. We then learned about a few mutations we'll be examining in this class, and looked at the results of our first crosses.
Day 2:
Today we finished scoring fruit flies for genetic analysis. students counted nearly 200 flies! We saw a lot more variation in our phenotypes this afternoon than we did yesterday. We also did a lot with bacterial genetics today. We learned about indicator media and got to make a creative design on some special petri dishes that will show different colored bacterial colonies tomorrow. We also learned about sterile techniques for bacteria work. We'll get to see the outcomes of our bacteria work over the next couple days.
Day 3:
For Day 3, we learned how to use a very important tool of molecular biology - the micropipettor. This is how we can transfer volumes of 1/1000 of a milliliter from one tube to another! DNA is so small it sometimes only needs to be suspended in 1/1000 of a mL. We also got to see the results of our indicator media. There were pink and white bacterial colonies, and some shiny green ones too. We also got to make a plate of whatever we wanted, like coughing onto it or putting a sample from the drinking fountain on it. We also started an experiment with yeast to test which SPF of sunscreen is most protective - and some people brought in other things to test, like nail polish!
Day 4:
We got to do a special experiment with Charles as a guest teacher today. We went through the process of isolating plasmids from E. coli that we will be using on Monday to make bacteria fluoresce! Carrie also gave a guest lecture about her graduate work in public health and social work and how she's been around the world doing HIV-related work.
Day 5:
Today we got to see the results of our yeast sunscreen experiment and we learned that most of the higher SPF did just as well protecting the yeast as the SPH 15! We also spent the afternoon working on our bioinformatics presentations that we'll be giving next week. We each got to pick a genetic disease to learn about and we researched the diseases on an online genetics database that genetic researchers use.
Day 6:
Although we had class on the United States national Holiday, Independence Day, we still had an opportunity to celebrate - we got to watch the parade in downtown Ann Arbor! We also got to see the results of our DNA fingerprinting experiment from last week. Some students had heterozygous alleles at the locus we were looking at, and some students had homozygous. We also worked on putting a jellyfish protein that fluoresces into a bacteria by using the technique transformation. We'll see the glowing bacterial colonies tomorrow!
Day 7:
Today was a really full day - we heard two guest lectures and visited a real research lab on campus. Dr. Laura Olsen came and told us about how she has undergraduate and graduate students working on discovering the functions of perioxisomes, and then we went to her research lab to see where the research happened. Some of her students showed us various parts of the lab, from protein gels to bacterial screening and even using plant models. Some of the class went to lunch together with Dr. Olsen and Dr. Jeyabalan at a local Indian buffet. We then got to observe our glowing green bacteria from the previous day. We ended the day with Dr. Bob Bender's lecture on HIV and its origins/history, modes of transmission and how it infects body cells.
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Photos:
Mon, Day 1 | Tues, Day 2 | Wed, Day 3 | Thur, Day 4 | Fri, Day 5
Mon, Day 6 | Tues, Day 7 | Wed, Day 8 | Thur, Day 9 | Fri, Day 10
Day 1:
In today's lab, we started Drosophila (fruit fly) phenotyping. We observed wild type (tan bodied, red eyes, normal wings), and compared them to yw (yellow bodied, white eyed), bvg (black bodied, vestigial winged), and evg (ebony bodied, vestigial winged) flies, and learned how to differentiate the sexes of the flies. The phenotypes of the F1 generations of 3 crosses (and their reciprocals) were observed.
Day 2:
Today in lab, we began working with bacteria. Sterile technique was discussed. A mixed culture of lactose fermenters and non-fermenters was separated via three phase streaking on differential media. We also used some extra plates of differential media to draw pictures with bacteria. Afterwards, it was back to fly work. The F2 generation of the fly crosses were observed and phenotyped.
Day 3:
Both yeast and E. coli were handled in lab today. Students looked at their streaking plates and confirmed the isolation of two different types of bacteria. They also observed the different appearances of the two bacteria types on plates of differential media, on which they had drawn their own designs. A UV sensitive strain of yeast will be used to demonstrate the effectiveness of various sun blocking measures (i.e. sunscreens of different SPFs, cloth, etc.). Plates were inoculated and exposed to sunlight and will be viewed on Friday (after adequate incubation time) to determine the effectiveness of the treatments. Students began researching for bioinformatics presentations (namely, looking for genetic information on a condition of their choice through NCBI).
Day 4:
Students were treated to two guest lectures. Dr. Burke lectured on epigenetic effects, as demonstrated through an X-linked gene expressing green fluorescent protein in the skin of mice. Dr. Bender lectured on some of the gross and molecular aspects of HIV transmission. During lab, students began work on replica plating for prototrophic and auxotrophic bacterial mix, selecting colonies to make a master plate for future work.
Day 5:
DNA isolations of a bacterial plasmid and our personal DNA were performed. A pGLO plasmid featuring a Green Fluorescent Protein gene was isolated from DH5a E. coli, for future transformation of HB101 E. coli. Personal DNA was extracted from cheek cells, and the D1S80 sequence (a variable number tandem repeat with no known function) was amplified by polymerase chain reaction. This DNA will be used for DNA simplified fingerprinting, showing the variety of possible genotypes in the class. Before any of this could be done, we started at square one and everyone was instructed on proper use of a micropipette.
In addition to DNA isolations, we continued our work on yeast and bacteria. The effects of UV light and the various sun blocking measures on mutated yeast were observed (and photographed). Bacteria were transferred from the previously constructed Master Plate to a minimal media plate, followed by a complete media plate to demonstrate that proper transferring technique was used.
Day 6:
Gels were loaded for visualization of DNA from the plasmid isolations and cheek cell extractions. Cheek cell extractions failed, but plasmid isolation worked fairly well. Remaining plasmid solutions were used to transform HB101 E. coli. Plates with ampicillin were used to screen out bacteria that did not take up the plasmid.
Day 7
After some minor troubleshooting, the DNA fingerprinting was a success. Individual genotypes could be gleaned from the developed gels. The potential low yield of transformation was demonstrated, when a plate without antibiotics was compared to one with (the one without antibiotics had a lawn of thousands of bacteria, while the one with antibiotic showed that of those thousands, only up to around ten in our case took up the plasmid, expressing GFP). A mock microarray was assembled in the morning, demonstrating the differences in levels of gene expression (or for some genes, the lack there of) between normal and cancerous lung cells. In the afternoon, students were given more time to work on their Bioinformatics presentations, to be given Friday.
Day 8
Guest speaker Carrie Rheingans presented information on AIDs testing, as well as outreach and activism. Later, sand dollars were induced to release gametes via an injection of potassium chloride. Eggs and sperm were observed with a compound microscope, as well fertilization events, and various stages of embryo development.
Day 9
Today was another double-presenter day. In the morning, Dr. James Zabawski presented information on cytogenetics, and in the afternoon, Dr. Pamela Raymond presented information on stem cells, as well as allowing a tour of her zebrafish retinal development lab. In between, the development of chicken eggs was observed, with four, seven, sixteen, and nineteen day old chick embryos. The later stages of the sand dollar embryos were also observed.
Day 10
A little population genetics demonstration of the prevalence of the ability to tastes PTC (a harmless substance with a bitter taste for people that have the genetically determined ability to taste it) paper was carried out with students. Students presented their findings for their bioinformatics assignments. A movie loosely about the ethics of genetic engineering was viewed, and students visited the University of Michigan Natural History Museum in the afternoon. |
