pGLO Lab

pGLO Observations , Data Recording & Analysis

1.

Obtain your team plates.  Observe your set of  “+pGLO” plates under room light and with UV light.  Record numbers of colonies and color of colonies. Fill in the table below. Plate Number of Colonies Color of colonies under room light Color of colonies under   UV light - pGLO LB 0 Opaque white white + pGLO LB/amp Around 50 Opaque white white + pGLO LB/amp/ara Around 75 Opaque white Glowing green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have?
	Our new bacteria grew/multiplied in colonies and can glow when under the UV light.  The new bacteria are also now resistant to ampicillin.
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic. In the 100 uL of bacteria, I estimate that there were about 50-80 bacteria. This is because a colony is one bacteria that split up to form more, so if you count the colonies then you will get an estimate on how many bacteria there are.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates? The role of arabinose in the plates is to make the bacteria is to make the bacteria glow when the UV light is shined on them.  It glows because arabinose makes the plasmid produce GFP and shine under UV light.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science. 3 current uses for GFP in research or applied science is they can be applied to cancer cells, so doctors can track and observe the cancer cells for developing a cure or just for research. The second reason that I found is scientists attach GFP to insulin producing cells for diabetic research. Another way GFP is used is to track the spread of diseases like HIV.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. An application of genetic engineering is in the food industry. A lot of our foods are GMOs or Genetically Modified. Farmers change the makeup of crops to make them more visually pleasing and last longer and more preventative to diseases.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

1. When I analyzed the results of my gel electrophoresis lab, my results were that nothing had really moved except for the red and blue dye. The red dye band and the blue dye band's width was the same as it's reference band.  However the red dye traveled father than the blue dye which signifies that the red dye is smaller than the blue.

2.  The dye bentanin would probably move towards the blue dye because both of those are bigger than other dyes which means that they would probably come together. Likewise, Citrus Red 2 might move towards Red 40 because they are also similar in size.

3.  Dog food manufacturers put artificial food colors in dog food in order to make the food more appealing, and to make dog owners feel like they want that for the their pet. The more fresh it looks (by adding dye) the more pet owners feel like that is  what they should be feeding their dogs.

5. The factors that control how far a dye migrates is what size the dye is : smaller dyes move father than larger dyes and also the positive pull on the particles determine how far they move. In gel electrophoresis, the reason they move is because there is a positive electrical current pulling it, so that electrical current is a factor to how much the particles move.

6. The force that helps move dyes through the gel is the electrical current. The particles being pulled have a negative charge and there is a positive charge on the other side which is pulling the particles toward it.

7. The smaller particles or dyes move faster  and farther than the longer and larger particles of dye of dye. This is because the positive electric current pulls the smaller ones farther than the larger ones.

8. I would expect the molecules with a mass of 600 to move the furthest then the 1000 then the 2000 and lastly the 5000 to move not that far from its starting place. 

SMART goals

My goal for this class is to make sure I watch the vodcast entirely without skimming or not paying attention. I want to do this so I get a better grasp of the information, so I will not come to class unprepared to have a discussion of what I just learned. Another part of my goal is to not be afraid to watch the vodcast one more time if it is on a concept I do not fully understand. In order to make sure I don't get distracted mid-vodcast, I will try to remember to wear headphones every time I listen do a vodcast to cancel out distractions around me.

My second goal is to not procrastinate, because in first semester that was a big issue for me. I want to learn how to manage my time more effectively. By doing so, I will have more time to take up more extracurriculars or anything I want to do. The way I can achieve this goal is by coming home and going straight to studying rather than watching things on YouTube and Netflix which often leads me to procrastinating for hours.  Doing both of these will definitely help me work to my ultimate goal which is to be a better student in second semester than I was in first semester.