Team:Georgia State/STEM

As part of our community outreach, and as a continuation from last years GSU iGEM ASL outreach, this year we hosted an event for a STEM camp specifically catered to local deaf and hard of hearing high school students. The students came from all over Georgia for a week long stay at GSU, with the main goal being exposure to various STEM related fields. iGEM GSU hosted one of their activities which spanned over the course of 2 days. The activity we decided on was DNA barcoding, which was both simple and representative of many of the techniques we use in lab.The 16 students paired off and each pair brought in a plant leaf of their choice. After teaching them the basics of DNA, they donned their lab coats and gloves and began the DNA extraction protocol. Despite being high school students, some as young as 14, they picked up lab techniques quickly, and by the end of day 1 the purified DNA was amplified in the thermocycler. Day 2 started early, the amplified DNA was loaded onto a gel and, after a brief fire drill interruption, the results were analyzed. Six out of eight teams got bands at about the right size, and those were sent off for sequencing. After sequencing, the results were compared to a DNA databank to determine the original plant species, and those final results were sent to the students.