Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello,
My son and i are up to the part where we have to pick a title/question for his science fair project. I was wondering if you guys could help us. The title we chose so far is "Can DNA be extracted from liver if one variable is omited?". The problem is he is in 6th grade and i don't think all of the kids will understand that title and i do not think that it sounds right. We are doing a project where we extract the DNA from beef liver with household products. We ar4e going to also try and extract the DNA from the liver without using one of the products, so we just need a interesting, engaging title.
Thanks, Jessica and Dominick

Dear Jessica,&Dominick,
How about these suggestions.
1. Successful extraction of DNA from liver using various household products.
2. Do you need all household products for successful extraction of DNA from liver
3. Does DNA extraction from liver need all or some ?

I thought of these . The experiment title should be reflective of the experiment and hence if it is too catchy it may not reflect the project that well.

Take care,
Jay

Thanks, i really like your topics. when my son get's home from school i am going to have him look at them and see what he likes. Again thanks you so much for the help, we got everything else down but the title lol..Jessica

Hi Jessica,
I particularly like one of Jay's suggestions for a title- #1. I think #1 is a great start. The suggested titles 2 and 3 are not specific enough and are vague and unclear, so they are not appropriate titles for your science fair project. Moreover, I think you can modify #1 to be an even stronger title, one that reflects the goal of the project, which is to use materials you have at home (household products) to isolate DNA from biological material. I think you can also make the title a bit more fun. How about something like- "Do it yourself (DIY) DNA"? What do you think? Do you have any other ideas for cool titles?

Your project could consist of designing a protocol with materials/chemicals you can find at home that would allow you to isolate DNA from biological material. Is there a particular reason why you chose liver? There are other biological materials that would be easier to work with. I will wait for your response to this to suggest starting materials other than liver.

As part of designing the protocol, think about the key (active) ingredients in the household products you are using in the protocol. What are they doing to the sample? How are they allowing you to isolate or extract DNA? Once you show you can use the protocol you designed successfully to extract DNA, you can leave out each of the ingredients (one at a time) and see what happens to the final result.

What do you think about these ideas? I think this has the potential to become a great project.

If you need any help with thinking about the protocol, let me know I'll be happy to help.

Happy research!
Veronica