DNA Chips: Genes to Disease

Introduction


Background:
     In order to fully appreciate the contributions of present, microarray analysis, the collaboration of genomics, computer science, and nanotechnology has expanded what was known about genetics. What would have taken centuries to map and decipher, long codes of genes can be compiled into a microarray chip for analysis. Each chip starts as a solid matrix, like a glass slide, and is imprinted with a specific pattern of designated zones, all containing a specific oligonucleotide representing part of a genome. Granted that this technology can be used to compare different species or families, the more practical use is for cancerous and healthy tissue comparison. By dying the different DNA strands, geneticists can compare which genes are active in cancerous tissue and which are turned off, the same applies for healthy tissue. By synthesizing this data, they can find which genes may be responsible for the cancer, which may lead them to the cure or specified treatment.
Objective:
     The objective for this lab is to familiarize students with how six particular genes are expressed in healthy and cancerous tissue, in essence, the basics of microarray technology. By using lung cancer tissue this opens the door to comparing several diseases and possibly their causes
Procedure: the following steps are to prepare a microarray slide

1. Take 6 tubes of different genes from 70 degrees Celsius water
2. Pipette 20 micro-liters of each of the gene samples onto the slide
3. Then add 20 micro-liters of hybridization solution (cDNA) to each of the spots
4. After solution is added, the color of the gene samples, will change to different colors 

Hypothesis:

     I think that there will be varied colors, and genes expressed in healthy and/or cancer tissue, but results can't be predicted

Results:

    Questions summarized the results of the experiment. As seen in the video, the microarray we created contained not only solid pink and solid blue, but purple as well, suggesting both healthy and cancerous tissue have this as an active gene.

No discussion for this lab.