Forensic Science: Building Your Own Tool for Identifying DNA

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deasiab
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Forensic Science: Building Your Own Tool for Identifying DNA

Post by deasiab »

Hi.
What other things could I test this project with, besides food coloring?
brandimiller610
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Re: Forensic Science: Building Your Own Tool for Identifying DNA

Post by brandimiller610 »

Hi,

I think for this project it might be interesting to compare different brands of food coloring and see how the bands are the same and/or different following electrophoresis. You could look at band size or migration, or both. Food coloring dyes are recommended for this experiment because they are edible and safe, allowing this experiment to be conducted at home. You could try different concentrations of agarose gel, alter the power supply, etc. You could also try DNA extraction from strawberries or onions (using other projects here on Science Buddies -- https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... wberry-dna or https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... -onion-dna) and run them on your agarose gel. Keep in mind you will need a gel stain for these applications so you can visualize the bands.

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any more questions. Good luck!

--Brandi
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