We have a new guest blogger, Amanda Koenig, who works part-time with us as a student writer during the school year. Amanda is a senior in chemistry at Missouri S&T. This summer, she is working in a laboratory at Saint Louis University.
AMANDA:
I hope the summer is going good! My summer has been pretty busy already. I ended up going swing dancing a week after I started at SLU and got elbowed in the face. I showed up for the lab safety training with a black eye, which was a little embarassing.
Anyway, I figured the first blog entry should give some background about the project that I'm working on. I tried not to make it too technical or dry. I'll probably send in updates fairly often, so long as I have something to write about.
Would it be okay to send pictures sometimes too?
VISIONS: Yes, photos are great!
AMANDA:
This summer, I am taking on a research project with Dr. Dana Baum in the biochemistry department at St. Louis University. Dr. Baum's lab deals with nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, but not in the typical sense.
Nucleic acids, DNA in particular, are generally viewed solely as the carrier of our genetic code. In the 1980s, it was shown that RNA is used within cells as a necessary catalyst for a range of important biological reactions. Prior to this discovery, it was assumed that nucleic acids had no catalytic activity, and that protein-based enzymes or metals were the components driving these reactions.
DNA also shows select catalytic activity in laboratory tests, but the double helix form of the molecule is so stable that it does not catalyze reactions within our cells. This is important because we do not want the carrier of our genetic code to be tampered with!
My project this summer is to attempt to test a variety of DNA molecules for use in bio-fuel cells. Bio-fuel cells are driven by reduction-oxidation reactions. RNA molecules have been shown to catalyze these kinds of reaction in cells, but DNA was chosen for this project because it is a much more stable molecule.
I have been observing in the lab for just over a week now, and I've become familiar with most of the techniques involved in setting up these experiments. Part of the process is to radio-label the DNA sequences with phosphorus-35. It's a bit intimidating to work with radioactivity, but I'm becoming used to the clicking of the Geiger counter.
Tomorrow I am going to meet with Dr. Baum about setting up reactions for my portion of the project. If all goes well, hopefully I will start running reactions next week!
Leave a comment