EMCC Presentation of Tusken Spines

Today I did an oral presentation on the work I have been doing in the lab. I presented the best method, in my experiment, to extract DNA from cholla spines. The best method for the extractions was by using the ZYMO™ Plant DNA kit. The best primers to use were the Universal Rice primers because they actually amplified the DNA, and I was able to see banding. It was a good experience and my last at an EMCC conference. Now I am on to creating a poster for the final presentations at Metro Tech. I will be going with a tan outline of my poster and not so much blue. I hope it does not hurt anyone’s feelings here at Phoenix College.

The Sand People Emerge

This week I was able to determine what were the best methods in going about extracting DNA from the cholla spines I collected. Below are results from prickly pear cactus spines and how their banding looked after two extraction methods, but both extraction methods ran with the same Universal Rice Primers. I cannot wait to exert these methods upon the teddy-bear cholla spines collected from Dreamy Draw.

These are the gels from the first DNA extraction from the kit ran with Universal Rice Primers 1-4:

These are the gels from the first DNA extraction with InstaGene matrix ran with Universal Rice Primers 1-4:

As you can see, both DNA samples are amplified, but the better banding results from the first extraction method.

Collecting Tusken Spines from Tusken heads

The day right before spring break was a blast! My mentors and my SSTEM peer Lucas traveled through Dreamy Draw for a nice, early hike. We saw some pretty interesting insects, including a Gila monster. We found some nice Cylindropuntia bigelovii populations and we were able to collect some spines for my DNA extraction. I wish more people had gone to experience what a great time we had. I was pretty worn out by the end of the trip and wanted to crash out. It was all worth it though since I had gotten the spines I needed. 

Here is a video of us finding the Gila monster: