I just wanted to let everyone know, that we are building a MicroBiology/Genetic Engineering lab here at DMS, right now we are working on a monthly recurring class that will teach the basics to people such as pipetting, gel electrophoresis, PCR and other topics.
The plan for the monthly recurring class is to have people take their own DNA and amplify it with PCR, then we will run it on a Gel as well as send it out to UT SouthWestern to have it sequenced at two zones of your mtDNA which can tell us some basic information about your ancestry.
The class will also do a basic bacterial transformation where you will add a marker gene to ecoli, and thus do your first Genetic Engineering experiment, which will be selected under an anti-biotic.
I have also done the research and now development for a DNA barcoding class, in this future class you will be able to test food from the grocery store to see if it is GMO or not, you will also be able to test and see what species something is, for example it has been found that man restaurants lie about what type of fish they are serving in their sushi or what type of meat is included in hamburgers, I also wonder if Bison meat is really what is being sold.
There are many opportunities for interesting work in this class.
We also are working on a Plant Genetic Engineering class where you will be able to do a basic modification of Tobacco plant making it flourescent under a UV lamp. This class is still in basic development.