Post 2

Since the last time we posted a lot has happened, so get ready to see a lot of progress that has happened in a really short period of time. We're now going to actually be starting our research and we couldn't be happier.

Escaping the Trash Compactor with Dr. Wilson

Over fall break we got the opportunity do pre-trial at the Sam Michelle herbarium with Dr. Wilson. After arriving we collected a list of samples from the herbarium's massive storage cabinets. While we were collecting samples, we felt like Han Solo in the trash compactor. The vast amounts of samples at Dr. Wilson's lab were held in shelves that moved side to side. Once we got out of the scary moving cabinets, we immediately prepared for lab and extracted our first 16 samples. To the right is a picture of Andrew on the left digging through the sample boxes to find the best samples for us to use while Jason sorts them to the right. Following this, we came out of the compactor, and escaped the dark side of the Wilson Lab, into the natural light, with many more samples.

Andrew(Left) uses a micropipette to add a solution to the samples with the guidance of Dr. Wilson(Right)

After all of our work in the lab, we were able to extract the DNA from 16 different samples which was a lot more than we expected we would ever be able to complete in our pre trials.

Thank you so much for your help Dr. Wilson!

Andrew(left) looking through one of the herbarium's cabinets to find our samples while Jason(Right) sorts the samples

After we had our samples collected we took out a small piece of the samples and began to extract the DNA. This was the first time any of us had used these new DNA extraction kits, so we were as excited as ever. With Dr. Wilson's guidance we were able to completely learn the procedures we will need to use for the DNA extraction and purification and how to be really efficient in doing so. He even gave us some pointers on how to better extract. In this case, using sanitized sand to help grind up the samples was much more efficient than just grinding the cells with a pestle ( A little stick to mechanically break the cells open).

Camden(Left) and Jason(Right) prepare to add a solution to our sample tubes

The Re Pitch

After getting approved with re pitch at our first pitch, our team spent a lot of time practicing so we could be better presenters. We needed to become better presenters so that our team can do the best we possibly can when we present at science fair. We practiced almost every other day for about a month refining our presenting skills before we finally re pitched. Our presentation skills improved so much that we were finally fully approved! We couldn't be happier that we can now finally start our research.

Ordering Our Kits

Since our project was fully approved we have ordered all of the supplies that we still need for our research. The only thing we still needed to order was our DNA extraction kits. These kits allow us to take the DNA out of the cells and then filter the DNA from the other cell parts so that we can then make copies of a part of the DNA.

We would like to give a special thanks to Mr. Bob Wikle at Omega Bio-Tek for giving us a buy one get one free deal on our extraction kits which saved us $119.

Our First Day Of Lab Work

The day has finally arrived for us to begin our research on our own and it's a little bit nerve wracking. We have been working on this project now for almost 8 months. Getting to know our team mates, learning our methods, collecting our samples, writing our proposal, pitching our project, getting funding. Now all of our hard work in the past months is paying off and we will finally be able to begin our research!

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We are so excited to have finally start research in class! Initially we had planned to fully extract 24 samples over one class period, but due to time constraints we had to extend our extractions over two days. To the left is a time lapse of all of us adding ethanol to the samples to aid in breaking open the cells to better able extract the DNA. The entire process for extraction took about 4 hours for the 24 samples, which we spread out over two days... We had encountered some problems as this was our first extractions by ourselves, but we will be running PCR tomorrow amplify the DNA that was extracted

Join the Funguys in their next post, as they discover a potential issue, as well as gain more experience in the lab...

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