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Revision as of 01:37, 12 September 2015

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Freiburg Science Fair - Inspire the public for science

  • Cougar

    Preparations

  • Lions

    Explaining

  • Snowalker

    Take a look at DNA

  • Howling

    Presentation

Excited children, curious tourists and the magic of DNA wrapped around a piece of wood

On a sunny weekend in July, our team was offered the opportunity to inspire the public for synthetic biology at the local annual science fair. In the heart of Freiburg's old town center we explained the key of life: DNA - the genetic information of each and every cell.

The DiaCHIP Game

For our DiaCHIP-Game we broke down our diagnostic device into a wooden board with magnets. A falcon containing paperclibs represented the patient blood sample. Children as well as adults could try out the basic principle of our diagnostic tool: antigen-antibody-interaction. This binding event was visualized by the magnets and paperclips. By obtaining different signals of magnetic attraction on several wooden boards the wanna-be doctors just needed to match the signal to the corresponding antigen from a list of several diseases. After a successful diagnosis the doctors were rewarded with gummy bears.

Isolating DNA

While giving curious visitors the chance to extract DNA from bananas and tomatoes, we aimed at illustrating the importance and power of this small molecule. People of all ages and different backgrounds were fascinated by the simple experiment at our iGEM booth. Attracted by flasks with colourful liquids everyone passing by took the time not only to visualize DNA but also to learn something about our project.

On-stage Interview

Both, the game explaining our iGEM project and the simple experimental introduction to genetics were very popular among the visitors. Since our booth was constantly overcrowded, we were rewarded with an on-stage interview right in front of the main entrance of the famous cathedral of Freiburg. We appreciated the chance to advertise iGEM and our project.

Extracting DNA from Fruits

Here we provide a simple protocol for DNA isolation from fruits:

Materials needed:

  • Lysis buffer:

    • 5 g NaCl
    • 50 ml dishwashing detergent
    • 450 ml Water
  • 70% - 99% ethanol (ice cold)
Workflow:
  • smash 1/2 banana with a fork within a beaker
  • add ca. 25 ml of lysis buffer and stir until you get a more or less homogenous solution
  • filter the solution (paper filter) into a new beaker to get rid of the crude cell fragments
  • put 1-2 ml of the filtered solution into a test-tube
  • slowly pipette the ice cold ethanol into the test-tube
  • two phases of alcohol and water are formed with precipitated DNA being visible in the alcohol phase