Unit 6 Reflection

     This unit focused mostly on biotechnology and the ethics attached to it. Biotechnology itself is the study or manipulation of living things in order to benefit mankind. Examples of it include biofuels, CSI work, and fermentation. Also, genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are created using biotech. Ethics are also discussed when talking about different biotechnological possibilites, and the specific name for that is bioethics. Bioethics is the study of decision-making as it applies to moral decisions that have to be made because of advances in biology, medicine, or technology. A few examples of bioethical questions are: Should humeans be cloned to be organ donors?; Should drug companies be allowed to patent genes? and Should we use stem cells from embryos in order to treat diseases of living people? We also learned about recombinant DNA. Recombinant DNA is DNA that has been made by inserting the DNA of one organism into the DNA of another. It is created using restriction enzymes and ligase. The enzymes look for a specific sequence in DNA. From there, a new DNA strand can be formed by attaching a new strand to the sticky ends of the old one, using the enzyme called ligase. This DNA can also be used in bacteria. When plasmids and recombinant DNA are mixed and put in bacteria, the bacteria can grow a specific protein which can be extracted and used. Finally, there was a vodcast about the pGLO lab, which included a review of gel electrophoresis. It involves a plasmid called pGLO, ampicillin, and arabinose. It will be explained more later in this reflection.

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     My strengths were almost the same they always are. I did all the vodcasts and other assignments and turned them on time. I paid attention in class and during labs, while also doing parts of the lab. I also believe that I have my topic for my 20 time project. A weakness I have is probably procrastinating because sometimes I do the vodcasts the day before they are due. Also, I left the textbooks until near the due date. I also think that I can have better lab skills because during the pGLO lab, I reused a pipette when the procedure said to get a new one after each time you use it.

   Successful transformation of E. coli with pGLO plasmid! #biology #gofalconpower pic.twitter.com/a0lgGzVul2

— Mr. Orre's Class (@OrreBiology) January 27, 2017

     The 3 labs we did were the electrophoresis virtual lab, the candy electrophoresis lab, and the pGLO lab. The virtual lab was going through the steps of electrophoresis and using it on DNA (all virtually). First, you extract DNA and then load it into a gel. At one end is a negative charge and at the other end is a positive charge. DNA will move towards the positive charge because it is negatively charged. If a strand is long, it will move slower and therefore, faster, and smaller strands will move quicker therefore longer. Then, you can measure the length of the DNA in bp (base pairs). The candy electrophoresis lab was actually electrophoresing different dyes of different candies to see how long each of their DNA strands are. The pGLO lab was using bacterial transformation. Using a plasmid called pGLO (some with DNA and some with no DNA), we had to combine the plasmid with arabinose, ampicillin, and GFP (glowing fluorescent protein). Then, we had to freeze and heat shock the bacteria so that it would pick up the plasmid. On three different plates, we tried to grow the bacteria. If it picked up the plasmid, the bacteria grew. Adding arabinose caused one of the bacteria to glow (an expected result). As always, I got better at doing the labs and following the procedure while also reinforcing the concepts that I had learned in the vodcasts, like gel electrophoresis and bacterial transformation.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Gel_electrophoresis_2.jpg/320px-Gel_electrophoresis_2.jpg 

      I have no questions that I want to have answered. I want to learn more about genetically modified organisms. Also, bioethics is interesting to discuss because there can be so many different views on one topic or question, and it is always important to hear everyone's ideas to make an informed decision for yourself. My SMART goals were to study in different ways for tests and participate more in class. I think that I have partly acheived my second goal because I have talked more in small dicussion groups, like the Biotech World Cafe. I have not made progress on the first goal. So, my next steps are to raise my hand more during class and make some changes to my studying technique.