Summary
Areas of Science
Difficulty
Time Required
Average (6-10 days)
Material Availability
Most items are readily available; any specialty items needed can be ordered from online vendors.
Cost
Average ($50 - $100)
Safety
If bacteria or cell lines are used as the source of material for purification, SRC approval may be necessary. Adult supervision is recommended.
Credits
*Note:
For this science project you will need to develop your own experimental procedure. Use the information in the summary tab as a starting place. If you would like to discuss your ideas or need help troubleshooting, use the Ask An Expert forum. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions and offer guidance if you come to them with specific questions.
If you want a Project Idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk (*) at the end of the title.
If you want a Project Idea with full instructions, please pick one without an asterisk (*) at the end of the title.
Abstract
In order to study individual biochemical compounds like proteins, DNA, or RNA, biochemists need to know how to purify these components from a complex mixture. This is especially important for biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, which sell purified biochemicals as reagents or drugs to consumers. Do an experiment to purify DNA, RNA, or protein from a complex mixture (for purifying DNA, see the Science Buddies project Extracting Onion DNA). The source of the material can be a cell line, bacterial culture, plant extract, or yeast culture. Which purification strategies work best for your compound of interest? Can you use enzymes like protease, DNAse, or RNAse to test the product of your purification to see if it worked? Are there ways of altering the protocol to make it work better and increase the yield? For example, you could try changing detergent concentrations, salinity, or pH, or adding enzymes.
Ask an Expert
Do you have specific questions about your science project? Our team of volunteer scientists can help. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot.
Careers
If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers:
Career Profile
Growing, aging, digesting—all of these are examples of chemical processes performed by living organisms. Biochemists study how these types of chemical actions happen in cells and tissues, and monitor what effects new substances, like food additives and medicines, have on living organisms.
Read more
Career Profile
What do the sequencing of the human genome, the annual production of millions of units of life-saving vaccines, and the creation of new drought-tolerant rice varieties have in common? They were all accomplished through the hard work of biological technicians. Scientists may come up with the overarching plans, but the day-to-day labor behind biotechnology advances is often the work of skilled biological technicians.
Read more
Career Profile
Doctors need information to decide if a person is healthy or sick, if a baby's earache is bacterial or viral, or if the man next door needs medication to lower his cholesterol and prevent a heart attack. The information often comes in the form of results from lab tests. Medical and clinical laboratory technicians are the people who perform these routine medical laboratory tests, giving the doctors the information needed to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease.
Read more
Career Profile
When a patient gets sick, his or her doctor will take sample cells from the affected part of his or her body and send them to a lab for testing to figure out what is wrong. This is where the cytotechnologist steps in. The cytotechnologist will take the sample cells, make slides from them, and examine the slides under a microscope. Cytotechnologists are trained to detect abnormalities in cells that come from all body sites in order to to make a diagnosis of cancer or other diseases. These…
Read more
Related Links
Cite This Page
General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization, for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.MLA Style
Science Buddies Staff.
"Purification Strategies." Science Buddies,
20 Nov. 2020,
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/BioChem_p026/biotechnology-techniques/purification-strategies.
Accessed 30 Sep. 2023.
APA Style
Science Buddies Staff.
(2020, November 20).
Purification Strategies.
Retrieved from
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/BioChem_p026/biotechnology-techniques/purification-strategies
Last edit date: 2020-11-20
Explore Our Science Videos
Racing Drones: Does Practice Make you Faster?
Squishy Circuits Introduction
Flower Dissection – STEM Activity