The Mystery of DNA and the Genome

Grades: 7-8

Dates: Oct. 20 - Nov. 10

Meeting Times: Thursdays, 1 PM - 2:30 PM **This course is now cancelled. Please contact Summer Sessions for details or alternative course suggestions at 474-7021**

Cost: $195

Description: When you watch a crime show, detectives are always looking for tiny traces of body fluids that can be used to link suspects with crimes. They are searching for DNA, but what IS DNA, and why is it helpful in solving crimes? How much do you know about this amazing molecule that allows us to inherit traits from our parents? Do you know that studying DNA has helped scientists understand heredity relationships between individuals, groups of people, and different types of plants and animals? Did you know that tiny amounts of DNA in the environment can give scientists an understanding of the types of organisms that live in that environment, from marine mammals to bacteria and viruses? Traces of viral DNA in city sewage can help us predict outbreaks of viral diseases. There is a lot to learn!

In this course, we will extract real DNA from the cells of plants. Study the structure of DNA molecules and learn how copies of genes can be passed down to our children. Utilize actual research data from the waters off Alaska’s coast to identify segments of marine mammal DNA from the environment. From that information learn how to identify mammals who have visited the area. As well as visit the genomics lab in the UA Museum of the North to see how scientists collect and store DNA samples in liquid nitrogen and use those samples to study life in Alaska.