T-2 hours till I break on up outta here. I'm kind of in a holding pattern at the moment - I need to wait and see if the gel I ran this morning looks good (meaning the DNA extractions I performed in April were successful) before I continue. If the gel image looks like crap, then I've got to do the extractions again, setting me back 4 or 5 days. I wanted to press on, but if there's no DNA in my samples, then I'd just be throwing away gov't $$$ on reagents - and so I sit. Gels work by forming a matrix through which the DNA molecules travel. The matrix is full of pores, and smaller fragments migrate through the pores more quickly than larger fragments. DNA has a slightly negative electrical charge, so the application of electricity forces the DNA through the gel matrix towards the positive pole. The separation comes as a result of varying fragment sizes. The following picture shows a gel; the row of bright spots across the top represent where the samples were loaded. The samples closest to the bottom are the smallest DNA fragments; the fragments increase in size as you go up. The last column of samples on the right are size markers; each band has a known size, and you use it to estimate the size of any particular band you might be interested in. You use a nasty mutagenic substance called ethidium bromide to visualize the DNA bands; the ethidium bromide binds to the DNA and flouresces in the presence of UV light.
Last night's blog ended rather abruptly - my labmate had taken care of my gel for me and was locking up as I began typing, so I had to leave. The same thing may happen today - everytime I try to type, I have to get up and do some work... Don't you hate that?
I'm heading down to LA tomorrow. I need to call Desiree, because I don't quite remember where the exit is off I-5, or "THE FIVE", as it's called out here. I'll try to take some pix. At least I don't have to worry about getting a duplicate sermon; Mr. Meredith's going to be speaking live. Oh well, I've got to go take a picture of my gel, and get ready to go to dinner. Ciao!
3 comments:
Ha! Ha! And I was thinking you were really into your hair gel. Duh.
Desiree and I were talking about you and Mark Sat. nite. We were trying to imagine how the two of you would have responded to the buildings and landscaping on the Ambassador College campus...
I would love to have the opportunity to see them in person. I remember looking at the yearbooks from Ambassador College each year when I was younger. The oppulance was amazing.
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