Unit 6 Reflection

     This unit was called biotechnology.  Biotechnology is the manipulation of living organisms in order to benefit mankind.  Biotechnology is very broad, but in this unit, we focused on the question, "What is the purpose of biotechnology?"  Biotechnology generally focuses on topics such as DNA, proteins, and inheritance.  Throughout this unit, we learned various subjects of biotechnology such as sequencing, PCR, and gel electrophoresis.  Watching the nightly vodcasts, I learned a lot of detailed facts about these various subjects, but there is a bigger scope than just memorizing the facts about the subjects.  Sequencing, for example, can be applied into the bigger world rather than just a biology class.  Sequencing can find the exact order of the DNA.  This is impressive and also can be used in the outside world.  Sequencing can be used for forensics to see who committed the crime with the given DNA sample.  Another example is PCR, which stands for polymerase chain reaction.  This is the process that amplifies a certain DNA segment into making millions and millions of copies.  Again, PCR can be used in the outside world in cloning.  If a scientist wanted to clone something, he or she would use the process of PCR.  Gel electrophoresis can also be used in the real world.  Gel electrophoresis can be used to identify criminals that ran away from the scene.  The forensic scientist would scoop up a DNA sample and can try and find the culprit.  The DNA would be put into the tiny wells into the agar gel to run the gel electrophoresis and analyze the data like in my previous blog post about gel electrophoresis.  These subjects are just a few of the many topics I learned this unit.

     This unit was short and sweet.  Some strengths in this unit for me was that I just came off a nice long vacation after the stressful finals week.  My family and I went out of town to visit family and this was a nice break from the constant stress of school.  My brain was allowed to be relaxed and decompress, which made my mind fresh for this unit.  I also had a clearer idea of how to study and tackle various assignments such as vodcasts, tests, and lab reflections.  Some setbacks, however, included the constant studying I wanted to accomplish.  I wanted to constantly study after each vodcast, but I was not able to do so.  A success I would like to share is the use of note cards for studying for the big unit test.  I convert all my vodcast notes into note cards and this is a neat way to study in short chunks separated by a few minute breaks in between.

     In this unit, we did the Candy Electrophoresis Lab and the pGLO lab.  In the gel electrophoresis lab, I learned about how to get the DNA.  In this lab, we did the candy with dye.  The dye acted like the DNA.  The different DNA would run against the control DNA, and I learned that the results were never exact.  Some were pretty close, but not all of them were 100% perfectly this color or length.  More information about how I analyzed the lab can be found using this link:  http://leibiologyblog.blogspot.com/.  The other experiment we did in the biotechnology unit was the pGLO lab.  In this lab, we tried to use different possibilities to try and see which DNA would glow.  In this unit, I learned the reason for each substance that we used.  For example, the calcium chloride would be used for loosing the membrane and the arabinose would make the bacteria glow.  With all these chemicals, I was able to find out what each substance did to the final result.  My analysis can be found with the same link which is: http://leibiologyblog.blogspot.com/. 

     As always, there is never enough to learn about a various topic.  Biotechnology is so broad that we barely covered the fundamentals.  I wonder about the real world of biotechnology and how it can be implemented to benefit our society to make things easier.  For example, the movie GATTACA.  GATTACA was a dystopian society where everybody was perfect genetically.  I want to prevent things like that, but also use biotechnology to benefit our society.

     In the beginning of the year, we wrote a New Years Resolution.  My goals were to maintain my grades fairly high.  So far after around three to four weeks, my grades are still maintaining a high percentage.  The hardest part of the semester is definitely the first month.  This period of time is the hardest of all because the grades fluctuate a lot.  If you get a 5/10 on your first assignment, you will have a D as a grade.  Right now, I am still around where I would like to be grade wise.  There are a few steps, however, I could start doing.  The first thing for biology is to study proactively.  This means after each vodcast relate and review and CFU, I need to study the material so I could come in prepared with all my questions that needed to be answered.  This way, I do not need to cram the last minute.

pGLO Lab Analysis

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 grey-white grey-white - pGLO LB/amp 0 Clear (nothing) Clear (nothing) + pGLO LB/amp 49 grey-white grey-white + pGLO LB/amp/ara 64 Glowing green Glowing green

2.	What two new traits do your transformed bacteria have? The first trait that I observed was that the transformed bacteria started to glow,  The second trait that I saw that the transformed bacteria were not only growing, but the bacteria were both green and glowing.
3.	Estimate how many bacteria were in the 100 uL of bacteria that you spread on each plate. Explain your logic. I think that there are too many bacteria to count in the 100 uL of bacteria.  Bacteria are microscopic and with that, it is hard to tell how many single bacterium there are.
4.	What is the role of arabinose in the plates? The role of arabinose is to provide a way to control expression of the GFP gene.
5.	List and briefly explain three current uses for GFP (green fluorescent protein) in research or applied science. The first application of GFP is US Company Yorktown Technologies sold florescent green zebra fish in order to detect pollution in waterways. The second application of GFP is that a Japanese-American team created florescent green cats as a proof of concept to use cats as a model organism for disease. The third application of GFP is that a South Korean Team bred red glowing dogs which allowed scientists to study the genes that cause humans diseases such as blindness.
6.	Give an example of another application of genetic engineering. Genetic engineering can be used to design various things.  An example of genetic engineering would be to mass produce human growth hormones in the field of medicine.  Genetic engineering can mass produce other various things such as vaccines and insulin.

Candy Electrophoresis Lab

1.  Two of our group's dyes did not look normal.  The first dye was our green dye.  Instead of having one dye in one place, there was a blue dye and a yellow dye at two different spots.  The blue dye was in the same place as the sample and the yellow dye was in the same place as the sample as well.  Our group's brown dye looked a little off.  Instead of showing one distinct spot of where the dye is, there is a faded spot of where the dye might have ended.  The space between the final spot and the starting spot had a trail of red colored dye.  These two dyes that had errors could be another kind of dye other than the four that our group observed.

2.  I think that the carminic acid would be the brown dye because the structure of the carminic acid seemed stretched out just like our brown dye.  The betanin (beetroot red) would be the red dye because the color of the dye is red and red is in the name of the dye.  The fast green FCF would be the green dye because the name says green, so the dye is probably going to be a green-like color.  Lastly, the citrus red 2 would be the yellow dye because I think of yellow as a red-like color but not exactly red.

3.  I think the main reason manufacturers put artificial food coloring in dog food to make the food look more appealing to the dog eating the food.  Also, enhancing the color of the dog food makes the dog owner attracted to how good the product looks.

4.  The main reason artificial food colors are preferred over natural colors is because of the appearance.  The overall look of the food really influences how much the person eating feels.  For example, eating a brown apple is much worse than eating a ripe red apple.

5.  The two factors that control the distance the solutions migrate are if the pieces are larger or smaller and the amount of electricity the gel is receiving.  Larger solutions tend to travel slower and less and smaller solutions tend to travel longer.

6.  The electrical current causes the solutions to move through the gel.

7.  The components of the electrophoresis system to separate by size are the gel lanes and the amount of voltage running into the gel because it determines how fast the short size solutions are going and how slow the large are.

8.  The 600 Dalton DNA solution would move the farthest, the 1000 Dalton DNA solution would move the second farthest, the 1200 Dalton DNA solution would move the third farthest, and the 5000 Dalton DNA solution would move the least.  The 600 Dalton DNA solution would move the farthest because it is the lightest and the 5000 Dalton DNA solution would move the least because it is the heaviest.

New Year Goals

     New year, new me.  Each year, I try to become better at what I do.  I can achieve this by setting a few goals to get my year on track and onto a productive year.  My two SMART goals of 2017 are to get 95% or higher in each unit test for this class and to get 95% or higher on all my course grades.  This may seem almost impossible at first, but with a few simple steps, I could set myself on track to achieve these goals.

     My first goal is to get 95% or higher on all unit tests in this class.  This goal can be accomplished with a few easy steps.  My first step is to first get the big picture.  I need to understand what the unit will be about before diving into the great detail.  Before every unit, I will look at the unit and see what the unit is about and what the different vodcasts are about.  Doing this, I can better understand what I am learning about.  Then, I will learn the material vodcast by vodcast.  After each vodcast, I will do the usual CFU's and Relate and Reviews.  In addition to my normal routine, I will study each vodcast before that and the vodcast I just learned.  Actively reviewing will help me keep the information fresh in my head so I will be ready for the unit tests.  Next, after I learn all my vodcasts, it is time for me to review everything.  By now, I will have all the vodcast information onto notecards.  I will already have learned the information and the information should not be new to me.  The last week before the test should be all review.  One week before the test, I should be only reviewing, not learning the concept.  I will be reviewing and identifying any concepts that I am having trouble with and seek for help by looking myself, asking friends, and lastly asking my teacher.  These steps should point me to where I want to be.  After each test is graded and I do not get a score I like, I need to reflect on this and change something for the new unit.  After the unit, I should also review the previous units I have learned as well as the unit I have just learned to keep the information in my head for the final.

     My second goal is to get 95% or higher on all my classes.  In the previous semester, I struggled to get the grades I wanted.  With my experience from my first semester of high school, I can utilize the information I learned about getting good grades to the next semester.  Each course is different in terms of how easy I find it or what the material is about, but I need to find a way for each class to maintain a high grade.  I can maintain a high grade in each course with a few simple steps.  The first step is to pay attention to everything the teacher says of hands out.  Paying attention to the teacher because they tell you what they want and if I do not listen, I will not know what they want.  The second step is to work thoroughly.  For each assignment and project, I need to not just slap work together, but to put extra time and effort to show the teacher that I deserve my grade.  Executing these steps consistently through the course of the semester should bring me the grades I think I should earn.