Carnegie Mellon University

Science Outreach: Protocols and Plans.

PCR-based analysis of VNTRs

In March of 2014, the Teaching Club visited Ringgold High School to teach students in Mrs. Lori Schalles Accelerated Biology classes about genetic inheritance and variability, and the use of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to investigate such variability.  Approximately 148 students participated in the two day outreach that involved preparing a genomic prep of thier DNA from cheek cells harvested from saliva and then performing PCR on the DNA.  On the second day, students learned how agarose gel electrophoresis can be used to separate DNA strands based on size and visualized their amplified DNA on a gel.

Graduate students involved in this outreach:

Ming Zhang (instructor), Andy Kehr (instructor), Zach Weinberg (instructor), Dylan McCreary (instructor), Shanna Bowersox, Amanda Soohoo, Rachel Vistein, Dan Shiwarski, Katie Lagree, Salini Konikkat