12/13 The GMO Interview Compilation

The interviews we conducted the 11th and 12th were…. interesting. And quite diverse. Everything from GMOs causing infertility to GMOs being the answer to “populous sustainability.” The general consensus of GMOs, at least at Castle View High School, is inconsistent — unclear. My partner, Logan Linder, and I were specifically impressed with some of the interviews with the teachers. McClintock especially shocked us, not that we didn’t expect deep, accurate, and profound answers, but he seemed to be the “ideal” interviewee who was educated and understood the ideas of Gene Editing, with a touch of the explanation of misconceptions and where misconceptions come from. We couldn’t have asked for a better random interviewee. The students of Castle View High school tend to have the same opinions and knowledge of what GMOs were, how they are used, and why they are used. Although some were partially incorrect, a handful of students provided what Logan and I think to be accurate representations of what others know. Putting the video together is what we are working on now, and it will be released on 12/19/2017. Unfortunately, we were not able to interview an extremely diverse crowd (all interviewees came from Castle View High school), but the results we got were different, and that’s what we wanted. The video will consist of three main sections:

1.) DNA Dude(my funny teacher, alter-ego) introducing and explaining the video/project in a fun way.

2.) The main section of the interviews. The most profound and important answers will be shown in this section. These are our results…. we are here to show them to you!

3.) The discussion/informational section. Logan and I will sit down in front of the camera and indirectly discuss the misconceptions and clear them up using UNBIASED and FACTUAL information. We do not want to offend anyone, so we will not be shaming or calling anyone out.

Stay tuned…

PROJECT/EXPLANATION: Uncovering the Misconceptions of GMOs 12/11

Why are the first three results when googling “GMOs” all anti-GMO? There seems to be a great misunderstanding with GMOs among the majority of the population across the world. But why is that? Is everyone actually scared? Do people actually know what they are eating? Are people educated enough to make informed decisions and create logical opinions? In our project, Logan Linder and I are conducting interviews in the Colorado area(specifically, but not limited to, Douglas County) to uncover the misconceptions that exist, and address them through Documentary style video(s). In the video(s) we hope to get a wide variety of people with different backgrounds and understandings in order to understand what people think about gene editing and GMOs. Today, we will begin interviews and data collection. With a list of questions that we have prototyped several times, we hope to get the information we desire and carry out an informative conversation.

Extraction and Purification of GFP using Bacterial Transformation

This week(10/19-10/26) in Biotechnical Engineering II, the class began to transform E. coli with pGLO plasmids in order to extract the made protein from a large colony of E. coli.

Part One: Transformation

Using E. coli allowed us to easily transform colonies, and artificially select for the E. coli that we knew expressed the gene of interest. Using a pretty standard procedure,we were able to guarantee that all of the E. coli we would use expressed GFP. By inserting a plasmid with the GFP(Green Fluorescent Protein…. it glows under UV light!) gene, the antibiotic resistance gene and araC promoter sequence(this sequence only allows for the transcription of the GFP gene in the presence of Arabinose), into a colony, we were able to guarantee that all of the bacteria that grew in the presence of Ampicillin was not only resistant to antibiotics, but also had the GFP gene and araC promoter sequence. We then were able to isolate all of the E. coli that survived(thus, were successfully transformed) and move onto the next part of the lab, Extraction of Protein.

Part Two: Protein Extraction

The class was faced with a tough task at hand, and collectively we knew little to nothing about how we could go about extracting ONE specific protein inside of a living organism. After a deep conversation and a lot of explaining

A Short History of Nearly Everything: Cells

In Bill Bryson’s 24th chapter, I learned a lot of new things that I had not known before about cells. Looking back in time and reading about theories and research that was happening to learn more about whatever the heck those small units of life were, I can’t imagine that what we know is perfect or exact. We still know little about proteins and their functions (only 2%?). Are we stumped? Who’s the Darwin with the new “greatest idea anyone has ever had?” I knew enough about certain sections that were brought up to understand and know what he was referring to, but many things that I did not know were only touched on. The most amazing thing to me was a dispute to a misconception. A misconception that I, and many other people made: The “strong” cell wall was not made of some thick material that could only be cut open by something sharp. In fact, the lipid that gives the cell wall its structure is compared to “machine oil.” And that at the atomic scale that cells exist in, water is a strong gel. And that “machine oil” is more like iron. Another interesting thing that was brought to light was that not an atom’s length of space is unused in a cell. Everywhere and always, things are moving and interacting. I’m curious to learn more about what differentiates cells and why certain types of cells live longer. Why is it necessary that our brain cells do not replace themselves, while nearly every other cell in our bodies do? I’ve never done this, but shoutout to my cells for keeping me going. Couldn’t have done it without you.