DNA experiment A-OK to biology students

by Emily Hines

In biology you learn about many things having to do with life and how you function as a living person. Biology has to do with cells, organs, and why living organisms do what they do.

In Mrs. Clement’s biology class they are currently working with the structure and chemical make up of cells and their functions. Mrs. Clement decided to take a different approach to learning about cells by doing an experiment for a grade. The experiment was found exciting among her students.

“We extracted cheek cells just by swishing water in our mouth and then spitting it back into the cup. Then we put some different detergent and some other chemicals in the cup that break down the cell membrane and leave the DNA intact and make it cling together so it could become visible,” shared Mrs. Clement.

Students thought it was a good experiment to do because it helped in many areas of understanding biology. “It was a good visual, like instead of just talking about DNA, to actually see it helped,” stated sophomore Abbie Brackman. Up until the lab experiment took place students may have been a little confused with how the cell DNA actually worked and looked. “All we saw for a while was models of DNA and not what it actually looked like; seeing it was really cool,” stated sophomore Autumn Buckner.

This procedure isn’t so easy when it’s time to make it happen. There are many steps that involve looking at your DNA correctly. “The challenging part was when you had to wrap the cell around the rod so you could see it the right way,” stated Abbie Brackman.

Mrs. Clement’s experiment isn’t absolutely necessary in taking a biology class but she thought it was a good idea. “We’ve been studying DNA and the chemical structure and studying what it does and it was just kind of a fun way to kind of wrap up the unit and actually see our DNA,” shared Mrs. Clement.