Check
Out What the Class Did Today Horticulture and the
Science
of Plants |
| Tissue Culture The class visited the tissue culture laboratory of Dr. Dan Lineberger. The students viewed a slide show and several video clips about tissue culture. Then they went in the his laboratory and transferred tissue cultures of African violets into sterile Petri plates. |
|
 Dr. Dan show a couple of videos and a slide show. |
 Dr. Dan demonstates the proper techniques to work in the laminar flow transfer hood and keep everything sterile. |
 Alex |
 Andrew |
 Marki |
 Megan |
 Nathanael |
 Raji |
 |
Dr. Dan allowed the students to
take their tissue cultures home. He also gave them an
"acclimaiton chamber" and demonstrated how they should transfer their
cultures to soil in 4-6 weeks.
|
| Genetic Engineering
and Genetically Modified Organisms We had a discussion about what is happening the current "Genetic Revolution". The students learned what a gene is, where it is, what it does, and how scientist can put the gene from one organism into another to create GMOs. We talked about why this is contreversial for moral, ethical, religious, fiscal, etc. reasons, and that each person needs to decide the "limits" they are willing to tolerate in what scientist can do. We talked about how GMO plants are controversial, GMO animals are even more controversial, and genetically modifying humans (for example gene therapy) is extremely controversial. We visited the Norman Bourlag Crop Improvement Center and toured a molecular biology lab. The students saw a sample of extracted pecan DNA and the equipment the scientist use to study DNA. |
|
 We used colored yarn to demonstrate the structure of a chromosome, the DNA molecule, and the genes. The students are holding up the long strand of DNA and eating pineapple at the same time! |