Workshop unc3
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The three-day workshop taught students about cancer terms and techniques, including that cancer is caused by mutated genes and proteins. Students performed experiments on isolating DNA from a sample using household items, identifying oncogenic genes in a patient sample using electrophoresis, and attempting but failing to identify oncogenic proteins in another sample using protein electrophoresis. They also learned about cancer research and treatment programs at UNC.
Workshop unc3
- 1. Workshop UNC - From DNA to Protein During the three-day workshop from UNC we were taught several terms related to cancer and some techniques used in cancer research. We learned that cancer is caused by mutated genes and proteins. Oncogenic proteins cause abnormal cell behavior and erratic cell function. The first experiment we did consisted of isolating our DNA using Gatorade and alcohol. The second experiment was a bit more complicated. We were given a “patient’s” genes and we had to determine if those genes were oncogenic. To do this we used electrophoresis. By comparing the patient’s genes with our positive and negative controls we were able to determine that our patient was positive for the oncogene. In the last experiment we studied proteins. We had to conduct protein electrophoresis, unfortunately ours didn’t work and we weren’t able to come to any conclusions about whether or not our patient had an oncogenic protein. Additional to all these workshops we were also given a short presentation on the different programs offered at UNC. They told us a bit about ‘Translational Medicine’, which is a program that takes research that is being done and sees how it can be directly applied to treatments in the clinic.