Mesa Yee, Katrina Walling, Zainab Altamimi, and Fray Olson. Sponsoring Faculty: Michelle Messmer.

In order to learn about gene expression, this experiment allowed us to visualize it in real-time. Often it is difficult to understand concepts in Biology since they are on such a microscopic level. However, using the GFP gene, which is found in bioluminescent jellyfish and allows them to glow in the dark, we are able to see this gene expressed working with bacteria in the lab. Overall, fluorescence is an important tool in biotechnology research because it allows scientists to visualize and track changes in gene expression over time. In addition to GFP, there are many other fluorescent proteins available that can be used for a variety of applications in molecular biology and genetics research.

In this lab, we worked with the pGLO plasmid and E.coli to learn more about gene expression. In the first part of the experiment, we transformed the bacteria with the plasmid so that the green fluorescent protein (GFP) would be activated with arabinose and that it would also be able to grow in the presence of ampicillin. In the second part, we learned how to isolate the pGLO plasmid from the bacteria that we grew in the first part of the experiment. Finally, in the third part, we learned about restriction enzymes and how they can be used to genetically modify other plasmids. 

Rania Kovara, Yik Huen Chau , Adelia Hayes, Brady Carandang Sponsoring Faculty: Michelle Messmer.

The goal of the project is to transform bacteria with a gene that codes for Green Fluorescent Protein. One of the hypotheses we came up with is, if the bacteria with the pGLO plasmid was grown on a plate containing LB and AMP then the bacteria will grow but not glow under the UV light. We used restriction digests on the pGLO plasmid DNA and used enzymes to cut the DNA specifically at sites to make some sort of fragments of different sizes.