Author: gabarbe

Today, our research culminated into a 2-dimensional memory of progress and growth. We presented our semester of work to our lab’s instructors and other faculty members on campus.

DNA barcoding is a precise process. Luckily, our mentors and peers are here to help each other all along the way.

Today, we are grateful for sharpies and label-makers. We are gathering quite the collection of tubes, and they are all so very important! We keep track of all our data with written labels both on the tubes and in our lab notebooks.

Today, we used a practice sample of Daphnia magna as we began a group wide process of running a DNA mixture through a centrifuge with various buffers and 100% ethanol in order to isolate and elute (dissolve) our pure DNA. This photo shows how much liquid run-off we got from our first centrifuge run! This means that after one round of centrifuging at 6,000 revolutions per minute for one minute, there was a lot of non-DNA liquid that ran through a piece of chromatography paper in a spin column. Next time, we will do this same process on our own, and with our actual field samples of Daphnia!

In this photo, I, Gabby Barber, am working with my lab partner, Lily Harrel, to run gel electrophoresis from PCR products we have combined in class. This image shows me excitedly holding our tray with various test tubes that we will need to run the gel as I sport a pink lab coat with lavender gloves. Science is both fun and fashionable, and I love every second of it. Thanks, Drs. Ren and French for such a great opportunity!