Day four: Back to Class

At nearly 1am, I got an email from Paul Vanouse stating that I should come to his class later that day; they would be working on restriction enzymes and it would be beneficial to learn the basics, as I will be developing a protocol involving those for my project. Restriction enzymes are proteins that are used to cut DNA strands at specific locations, and are used for “fingerprinting” DNA (electrophoresis). There are A LOT of different enzymes to do this job, and when used with the same DNA, every one of them will give a different “fingerprint” pattern (electrophoresis banding pattern). So great to learn the techniques behind Paul Vanouse's iconic artworks of The Latent Image Protocol!!!

We also discussed various ways of constructing anaerobic chambers, as the traditional jars used in tht labs are not going to be that handy for this project, considering the number of plates required. The jars would mostly be too small, and too costly. So, I will have to construct my own anaerobic container…which gives me the latitude to design it to be aesthetically pleasing, meaning I could integrate them with the exhibition if I so wished J (and I do!!)

It is interesting to note that some jars work with little packets that, once activated, absorbs the oxygen in the jar and replace it with a different gaz. Since I will probably not have access to nitrogen or CO2 tanks in my home lab, it is nice to know that there are alternatives to be able to grow anaerobic bacteria in my own lab.

For those who are curious:

The Latent Figure Protocol is using the electrophoresis process to create images, by using a specific technique that renders bands in a specific configuration, thus creating an image. This is what an electrophoresis normally looks like: