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Asked by emily8 to Seyyed, Judith on 18 Jun 2012. This question was also asked by rachelfitzpatrick18x.
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Seyyed Shah answered on 18 Jun 2012:
Hello Emily.
Well, they would listen to talks to introduce them to the topics, and also to give them some useful information about how and why genetics is important. I would also like to cover the following:
(1) A small group role-play about how to investigate a particular genetic problem, using set techniques and experiments. This will help students to think about how they might approach a research problem.
(2) Hands-on experience with a laboratory technique. This would very likely involve isolating some DNA and running it on a gel, and then viewing it. This is a common technique we use to check that we have DNA and also look if it is the right one.
(3) Get an opportunity to talk to scientist working in genetics. This would be very helpful if students had any questions, like career opportunities in genetics and where to get more information.
(4) Students will attend the summer school/masterclass at the University of Leicester. This will be a great opportunity to have a mini tour of the University and get a feel for what life as a University student would be like.
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Judith Sleeman answered on 18 Jun 2012:
Probably we would grow up some DNA in bacteria and put it into human cells. We’d grow up a ‘fusion’ gene that makes a human protein, found in the nucleus of the cell, attached to a protein from jellyfish that glows bright green down the microscope if you shine blue light on it. Then we would look at the human cells down the microscope and make movies of them. We’d see where the protein was and how it moved over time.
I’d try to make sure we tried out a new fusion gene, so we could see something that no-one else had ever seen before. If that all goes smoothly, we might have chance to design another experiment: maybe to see what a particular drug does to the fluorescent protein in the cell. I’d get the students to choose what that experiment should be.
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