While some students enjoy theory more than prac work, those who enjoy the ‘hands on’ side of Biology were in their element this afternoon.
Students are aiming for careers across a wide spectrum—from speech pathologist to cardio-thoracic surgeon; from vet nurse to marine biologist—and inevitably their studies will include time in labs conducting experiments.
Teacher, Lainie Lockwood, explained that today’s experiment was about transforming E coli bacteria by adding a plasmid—a circular ring of bacterial DNA that contains DNA from 3 sources: bacterial DNA, a gene from the Hepatitis B virus and a GFP glowing gene from sea jellies.
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Growing the bacteria using this process allowed students to work out which of their two bacterial samples now contained the different genes within them.
Even if this process sounds incredibly complicated, what is important is how incredibly significant it is: it’s the same method used to create insulin for diabetics.
The insulin gene is added to a bacteria, and grown until there is enough that can be purified for use to treat people with this disease.
This is clearly one practical prac!
