This guest post was contributed by team member Ally Huang. While I had always enjoyed learning about biology in high school, it wasn’t until I started working in my first molecular biology lab in college that I really fell in love with it. Something about being able to actually hold all those seemingly abstract biological reactions that I learned about from […]
Guest post by Lab in a Box recipient Jennifer Allsbrook My name is Jennifer Allsbrook and I have been teaching secondary science since 1993. I teach college-level Biology 111 and 112, Chemistry, and Introduction to Biotechnology at Polk County High School in Columbus, North Carolina. Students enrolled in these classes range from 10th to 12th grade. I created a […]
In fall 2017, Genes in Space established the Lab in a Box biotechnology equipment loan program. This free program offers educators a chance to put DNA analysis tools in their students’ hands, allowing them to experiment with essential molecular biology techniques like polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis. We are proud to have wrapped […]
At miniPCR bio, our goal is to make equipment and activities that genuinely improve student learning while remaining affordable. Still, we realize the state of school funding, and understand that any purchase of lab equipment can represent a sizable investment that can stretch or even surpass many classroom budgets. Grant funding can be an excellent […]
BioBits™ Health is an educational kit for teaching antibiotic resistance and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing in classrooms, made possible by the development of user-friendly lab activities based on freeze-dried, cell-free reactions and supporting curricula. BioBits™ applications are now being developed at miniPCR Bio, and will soon be available at the miniPCR store! Learn more about BioBits™. Artwork by […]
Student-led experiment edits yeast genes to study DNA repair in space May 23, 2019, Cambridge, MA – For the first time, astronauts have used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to edit DNA in space. The gene editing technique was deployed on the International Space Station (ISS) to induce targeted breaks in the yeast genome. Molecular changes left behind as yeast […]
PLoS One. 2019 May 9;14(5):e0215642. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0215642. eCollection 2019. González-González E1,2, Mendoza-Ramos JL1,2, Pedroza SC1,3, Cuellar-Monterrubio AA1,3, Márquez-Ipiña AR1,2, Lira-Serhan D3, Trujillo-de Santiago G1,3, Alvarez MM1,2. Author information Abstract The development of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic systems has received well-deserved attention in recent years in the scientific literature, and many experimental systems show great promise in real settings. However, in the case of an epidemic emergency […]
by Melissa Gaskill, NASA. Earth’s atmosphere shields life on the ground from cosmic radiation that can damage DNA. Astronauts in space have no such protection, and that puts them at risk. An investigation on the International Space Station examines DNA damage and repair in space in order to help protect the long-term health of space travelers. An organism […]
Research could help protect astronauts from radiation damage on long missions to deep space KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. (May 3, 2019) – The winners of the 2018 Genes in Space competition, Aarthi Vijayakumar, 17, Michelle Sung, 17, Rebecca Li, 17, and David Li, 18, of Minnesota, will see their DNA experiment launch to the International Space Station (ISS) […]
Add some fluorescent spice to your old leaf chromatography lab. If you teach or learn biology, you have likely performed some version of leaf chromatography. In its best form, leaf chromatography can clearly separate the distinct pigments that give leaves their color. In its more common classroom variation, leaf chromatography shows a smudge of green […]
