Reply to comment

Students from the Brooklyn International High School have been researching the life and work of Harold Varmus to prepare for the Pioneers in Science event, during which three representatives from the group will interview Dr. Varmus. As part of the preparation, the students visited the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Harlem DNA Lab to perform a bacterial transformation experiment. Their experience was filmed

The students examined the results of their bacterial transformation experiment at the Harlem DNA Lab. In this lab, the students genetically engineered the bacterium E. coli to uptake genes for antibiotic resistance and bioluminescence. Following overnight incubation, they compared the transformed bacteria to unexposed bacteria for their ability to grow in the presence of ampicillin and fluoresce.

Stella

Our experiment did not work (I think the fungus caused the problems). This also happens to professional research scientists, but the benefit of an experiment not working is that it helps us understand more about the process and can learn from our mistakes next time. I think people should conduct experiments even if there is a good chance the experiment will not succeed, because you can discover more and know what may or may not work. Sometimes it might also relate to our real life and help us figure out how to deal with situations where things go wrong.

Nibh

A few days after we did the bacterial transformation experiment at the Harlem DNA lab, we looked at our petri dishes to see the result. We expected that the petri dishes with antibiotic in them would not have any bacterial growth and the bacteria with the plasmid would glow green. But when we examined the petri dishes, we saw that there was some growth in the dishes with the antibiotics--we are not sure if that’s bacteria or fungus. Also the petri dishes with the plasmid do not glow. We were not sure about why the experiment didn't work, although we do have some theories. But I’m not frustated because we can try the experiment again and now with some experience, we’re less likely to make a mistake (or at least not the same mistakes!).