Hello world! I have been spending quite a bit of time in the lab recently, which does not excuse my lack of recent blogging, but does at least give me an excuse to share more pictures! I thought it might be fun to show the general lab work I do with some brief background. Let’s do Science!
I have been extracting DNA for barcoding analysis. Often described as the “beginning of the Star Trek tricorder” DNA barcoding hopes to create a unique ID for each species so that species identification and classification can keep up with our discovery rates. I’ve mentioned before taxonomy is facing some hurdles, and I promise I’ll get to that post!
Step one: Start the tunes.
You may think I’m joking, but lab work can get incredibly tedious without background noise. My other co-workers often prefer NPR, but I need the dance party! This little speaker is awesome and available on Think Geek. Warning, you will spend too much time on that website!
Step two: isolate clean tissue.
Often the outsides of samples have come into contact with other species during sampling and you want to get DNA unsullied by cross-contamination. So sometimes I have to get a little close with my samples. 🙂 I promise nothing cute or fuzzy is harmed during my science-ing. Invertebrates only! Though I find them cute. Sorry, non-disclosure on actual sample species. *shrug*
Step three: digest tissue.
A proteinase (an eznyme that breaks-up proteins) is pippetted into the tubes with the tissue and a buffer solution. In between samples I also have to clean the dissection tools. Guess what that means?
Oh yeah. Fire. Sharp objects on fire. Isn’t Science fun?
Step four: Steep.
The precious samples are put in a nice warm bath. The temperature helps promote the enzyme activity, and lets our samples know we love them. It’s a big, warm, melty hug.
Step five: extract DNA.
Now samples get to ride the merry-go-round! At 6,000g. 😀 The DNA is caught in a filter to help remove RNA, proteins, sugars, you know… cell stuff. Then the DNA is isolated. This is where the tunes really help – this step is about an hour of repeated pipetting. Also known as robot-miming.
Step six: check gel.
Gels are fast and inexpensive ways to make sure we actually isolated DNA. The blue stuff is a dye that binds in between the two strands of DNA. That way it shows only DNA and not RNA. Quick refresher on Gel Electrophorisis: DNA is slightly negatively charged, so when it is placed in the gel it will migrate towards the positive end of the gel box (which is kind of like a weak battery).
You will not believe how hard it is to get pictures of the bubbles. The DNA is then further stained with UV dyes so that the DNA can be visualized.
So pretty. Next I’ll be trying to isolate specific genes from the DNA that can be used for the barcode. That will be another post! Hope you enjoyed my lab work as much as I do!
a spoonful of ginger 