Feb 16th 2012
Today I made gel
with Ms. Urban. On the station that we made the gel in was instructions with
exact measurements to make the gel. 1g of Agarose, 500ml of water and 65 ml of
buffer. Then them mixture is heated in a microwave to 1mnt 30secs. Afterwards 1
microliter of Ethedium Bromide (C21H2ON3Br) is added so that it can
bind the DNA together; the mixture is then poured into casting trays
with combs when the PCR product will be put in.
After 5 minutes of
cooling, the gel is put into gel rig for
electrolysis. The gel rig is filled
with buffer before putting the gel in, allowing the electricity to pass
through. After another 5 minutes, the gel rig is turned off, and the gel with
PCR reaction is taken for observation. We got 1 positive result for the
experiment, on ZAL 74 with optimum temperature of 510C. With the
results 510C should be the optimal temperature for our next
experiment to get positive results. Also the positive result in this experiment
was the one with increased amounts of MgCl2, Primers and Taq. Next
time though, we could also increase the primer a bit more because the band we
got was a little faded. And the Thermo cycler program would be NAD51L for the
new temperature, and we would add 5 cycles to make 39 cycles instead of 34.
With this lab
experience, I have learned names of new machines and procedures that will
surely be useful later. I measure the agarose in a special weigh scale; I put
the PCR reaction into the gel in the gel rig. All these things are important
for any lab work and because I plan to work on a lab this is a very valuable
learning experience for me.
