In the middle: Birthday girl, Erica, enjoying her cake. Thanks Shannon!
Today the lab celebrated Erica's birthday. Erica is a scientist in the lab, the coordinator of the DNA Discovery Residency, and also an extraordinary person! She helps every intern through this program, answering questions and giving guidance.
In the Pritzker Laboratory scientists use different variations of procedures to carry out their research. Much of lab work is based off of preference. In the Pritzker Lab, although there are protocols, each individual manipulates the protocol to fit their project based on coherence and validity. A few of the major procedures that most of the scientists in the lab use are PCRs, gels, and sequencing; however, as mentioned before, each team or scientist tweaks the protocol. Thus, we will be showing you the methods we (Team Shark) use to carryout our research.
Lets Begin:
1. The first procedure we do is a PCR or polymerase chain reaction. A PCR is a way to amplify or make millions of copies of a specific gene sequence of DNA, making it much easier to study and analyze later. A PCR only requires a small amount of DNA, so it's very easy to make tons of copies to work with after starting with only a small amount of tissue or blood to extract from.
How to do a PCR:
*NOTE: We did this PCR with DNA that has already been extracted from a shark's fin.
2. The next step is to see if our PCR was successful. For these purposes we run a Hi-melt Agarose gel. We pipette dyed DNA into a gel and run it through an electric current. DNA fragments move through the gel from negative to positive (since DNA is a negatively charged particle). Shorter bands travel farther through the gel while longer bands travel shorter distances. Using ultraviolet light, we can see the DNA on the gel and see if the bands we are looking for appear. If the samples look good, then we're ready for sequencing.
How to run a Hi-melt Gel:
3. Finally, we determine banding patterns using fragment analysis. We add the finished and checked PCR samples to a master mix of LIZ500 which acts as a ladder for comparison and Hi-Di formamide which denatures DNA. We add the samples and master mix to a sequencing plate which is loaded into the 3730, a machine worth a quarter of a million dollars. Once the 3730 is done analyzing, we can pull the data off a computer and begin scoring the data.
That's the overall procedure and goal of Team Shark. It may sound simple (or extremely difficult) but we repeat these same protocols over and over again for many loci. When we run into errors, we sometimes have to repeat everything over again. Working in the Pritzker Lab has truly taught us the importance of patience.
Depending on who you ask, a cool thing about working in the Pritzker Laboratory is that it is an actual exhibit within the Field Museum. It is referred to as the “fishbowl” because part of the lab, named the DNA Discovery Center or DNA Disco for short, is behind glass with an added exhibition for museum visitors.
Visitors are able to see exactly what goes on in the lab. That means you are able to see frustration on an intern's face when they get contamination, or relief when they have finished pipetting 96 samples into a sequencing tray. Similarly, the museum visitors are able to interact with scientists rather than just the occasional wave. Week days between 11 a.m. and 12 a.m., there is “Talk to the Scientist Hour”, where guests are able to ask scientists any questions on their mind.
Welcome to “The Life of a DNA Intern” Blog! This blog is dedicated to documenting the experiences of six high school aged interns working in the Pritzker Laboratory at the Field Museum. The Field Museum is located in Chicago, Illinois, on the lakefront near downtown. Residing on the upper level of the museum is the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution and Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice DNA Discovery Center. In this lab scientists work with the DNA of different organisms to learn about different aspects of their anatomy, evolution, ancestors, or life in general. There are many scientists working on a slew of different organisms, but the interns in the DNA Residency are being split up into three individual projects. Since there are six high school students and three educators we are split up into teams of three, consisting of two students and one teacher. Each group was assigned a central project. One group works with the evolution of different venomous fishes, another with emerging pathogens in birds, and a final group dealing with population trends of lemon sharks. Each of these teams has an advising scientist, who supervises and tackles any of the numerous questions we ask.
To carry out the research for these projects, each teams uses the DNA of their specimens to run a variety of procedures to ultimately sequence the DNA and analyze their results. For example, the shark team will be comparing their fragment analysis results to that of previously collected data of lemon sharks to analyze population trends such as migration patterns.
Another part of this internship is to educate others about our research and how DNA is used to answer questions regarding natural life. Each group of students is using some sort of digital media as an outlet to teach others and spark an interest in science of those who many disregard it altogether. This brings us to why this blog was created. "The Life of a DNA Intern" was created by the shark team to document the experience and research of the interns and to make it readily available to the public.
Hopefully, with this blog we will be able to make the discoveries and novelties of the Pritzker Lab a bit more understandable and attainable for all those who seek it.
