Week 12, Semester 2

This week is focused on expanding my extraction protocols to include additional bacterial species. To date, E. coli has been the sole species utilized for all extractions and polymerase chain reactions(PCRs). The additional species that have been included are : Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, and Staphylococcus aureus. The two former were chosen due both to availability and their status as gram-negative bacteria; the protocol I am using for extractions was specifically developed for application against gram-negative species, due to the structural differences that exist between gram-negative and gram-positive species. S. aureus, though gram-positive, was selected both to test to efficacy of the gram-negative protocol against a positive species and to be used as the base species for design of a gram-positive specific protocol. It is expected that my current protocol will be ineffective at producing DNA from a gram-positive organism due to the gram-negative specificity of the cell lysing agents used in the developed protocol, thus a separate protocol will have to be designed.

Until the next blog, please enjoy the following links.

Everything you always wanted to know about unlocking and sequencing the human genome can be found at this fascinating Smithsonian website:
http://www.genome.gov/smithsonian/

Gain access to my personal favorite scientific study, the Gombe Research Project, which Dr. Jane Goodall has been conducting for more than 50 years; use Google Earth to enjoy the panoramic views of chimpanzee individuals, their family groups, and the Tanzanian park within which they reside.
http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/gombe-tanzania/

Photo credit: Fanni, photographed by Anup Shah for National Geographic Magazine.
Access additional photos and background information at:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0304/feature4/zoom4.html