Aulendorf – The advanced biology courses of grades 11 and 12, together with their teachers Sophie König and Luisa Kiebler, visited the LIFEScience Competence Center, a genetic engineering laboratory, at Bad Waldsee High School. Laboratory S1 is one of five competence centers in the administrative district of Tübingen. In the laboratory, the students got an insight into the molecular biological way of working.
It was pipetted, centrifuged, restriction digestion with enzymes was prepared, gel was prepared for gel electrophoresis and it was loaded. With the help of DNA fingerprint simulation, a fictitious criminal case was solved and proof of paternity was provided. The students worked in teams of two and performed all the necessary work steps by themselves, first they had to practice handling the micropipette, but all the students succeeded very well in this, which was shown during the evaluation of the results.
The voltage increased when the light was turned off and gel electrophoresis was started: would bright bands appear on all gels? Who is the culprit, and who is Hajda’s real father? The UV light showed that all groups were working properly. DNA bands could be read on each gel and all groups of students could solve their case.
Working in the lab gave a completely different insight into the world of genetic engineering than books and worksheets could. That’s why everyone was happy about the opportunity to carry out these very complex tests in Bad Waldsee.
(Press release: Gymnasium Aulendorf)
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