WRA’s biotechnology students certainly know! They have been working hard these past two weeks first learning how to extract DNA from hair and then from cheek cells. They achieved this by rupturing the cells and then getting rid of all the proteins and cell debris. They then made millions of copies of the DNA using a technique called polymerase chain reaction (PCR) which clones the DNA by cycling it through various temperatures and then they built their DNA fingerprint.The DNA test they used is one commonly used for paternal testing
and in some crime labs. The only difference is that they tested only one specific area of chromosome 1 as opposed to the 15 or so that are used for such tests. After a couple of misses, the students finally obtained good results today.
