DNA evidence assists in criminal, missing persons, mass disaster, and paternity cases. It can be used to identify a perpetrator or exonerate the innocent. Using real DNA as evidence, your students play the role of crime scene investigator to figure out for themselves "Who done it?" The six DNA samples in the Forensic DNA Fingerprinting Kit are plasmids engineered to mimic the natural variations in DNA that exist between one human being and another.
Electrophoretic techniques that distinguish DNA fragments by size are essential in forensics and in the mapping of restriction sites within genes. The Analysis of Precut Lambda DNA Kit demonstrates basic procedures and principles of DNA gel electrophoresis, including agarose gel casting, sample loading, size-based separation of DNA fragments, DNA staining, and graphic analysis.
Grow a bacterial library
The Crime Scene Investigator PCR Basics? Kit is an introductory PCR kit that allows students to simulate DNA profiling as it is commonly used in forensic laboratories. The laboratory activity is designed to introduce the concepts of PCR, which is widely used in forensics, diagnostics, and archaeological procedures.
With the PV92 PCR Informatics Kit, your students use real-world forensic techniques to extract DNA from their hair follicles or cheek cells, and then use PCR amplification and electrophoresis to fingerprint their own DNA at a specific genetic locus.
The Fish DNA Barcoding Kit is an advanced PCR kit that allows students to determine the species of a fish sample based on its DNA sequence of the cytochrome c oxidase I gene.
The GMO Investigator? Kit uses PCR and DNA electrophoresis to test for the presence of two different GMO-associated DNA sequences: the 35S promoter of the cauliflower mosaic virus and the terminator of the nopaline synthase gene of?Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
The Comparative Proteomics I Kit: Protein Profiler Module guides students through the thought processes involved in a laboratory-based scientific investigation. Students make predictions about their results in pre-lab activities using Internet databases and published phylogenetic information.
The Comparative Proteomics Kit II: Western Blot Module is the second part of a two-part laboratory. In the first part of this laboratory (Comparative Proteomics Kit I: Protein Profiler Module), students use sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) to generate protein profiles and to visualize the unique array of proteins comprising muscle tissues from different fish.