DNA Resource Center Internship By Allison Lewis

What is the DNA Resource Center? The DNA Resource Center is the site for a network of teachers, trainers, researchers to support teachers so they may implement programs and give all students hands- on experience with labs and access to information about opportunities in biotechnology.

My Job as an Intern is to… Label Bags. Prepare samples for lab and fill bags with materials. Pack boxes to send out to schools. Load and unload boxes into MCPS van!

We put together many types of labs including… –The Calf Thymus DNA extraction –The Fingerprinting lab –transformations of Lamda DNA and PGreen DNA labs – The Alu PCR lab

Labeling Bags

The DNA Resource Center is very organized. In order to package the lab materials, we must label the bags with the appropriate Lab Name School Name Teacher’s name Materials enclosed This way the Teachers are able to find materials for their class!

Gathering and Making Lab Materials Filling the Tip Boxes

I gained Pipetting skills by helping prepare samples of different materials for each lab.

Pack boxes to send out to schools After gathering and filling the bags for the labs, we pack all materials and equipment into boxes for transport.

Load and unload boxes into MCPS van! After all boxes are packed, we put the boxes into Ms. Furr’s Van. Ms. Furr then drives the van and the lab equipment to different public schools of Montgomery County. Later she will pick up the equipment when the school is finished with it.

Sending to Schools

The DNA Resource Center distributes lab equipment to Public High Schools all over Montgomery County. We also distribute Lab equipment to select Middle Schools including Cabin John and Frost.

Other Labs During My Internship I also conducted two other Labs. –I tested to see if Multi-Purpose Solution would serve as a substitute for Prep buffer in the Calf Thymus DNA extraction Lab –I tested a method for cheek cell extraction.

Calf Thymus Hypothesis- If I replace the Prep buffer with Multi-Purpose Solution then the DNA extraction will be successful because they both contain buffering properties. Data-There was no DNA precipitate and the lab was not successful.

Cheek Cell DNA Extraction During the Cheek Cell DNA extraction lab I tested different concentrations of Protease (enzyme) to see the lowest concentration that would work in the lab. My results showed that the lowest concentration of Protease to have a successful extraction is 15mg/ml.

Reflection I learned the importance of providing schools with biology labs and equipment. I have mastered basic laboratory skills. Developed my own hypothesis. During my internship I was most surprised about the level or organization and order in the DNA resource center.

The End!