4 and Analysis
DNA Isolation
As a Manufacturing Technician at
Fluidigm, Corp. Suman Dasgupta uses
photolithography to manufacture the
“molds,” or silicon wafers, that are an
integral part of Fluidigm’s microfluid array
chips. The arrays are used to study DNA,
RNA, gene products, gene expression, and
genetic diversity and have applications
in personalized medicine and in wildlife
conservation. Suman is “gowned up” to
protect the array chips from contamination.
Learn more about Fluidigm’s new
technologies at www.fluidigm.com.
Photo by author.
It has been said of the biotechnology industry that, “DNA is the flash, and proteins are the cash.”
This is because isolating and modifying deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules use some of the
newest scientific technologies. By utilizing the new techniques, companies are able to manufacture
and market hundreds of new protein products.
In the following lab activities, you will learn some of the techniques used to grow specific cell
lines. Working with bacterial cell cultures, you will learn how to isolate and analyze DNA from the
cells. Some of the new lab techniques in this chapter include the following:
• sterile technique
• growing cells, also called “cell culture”
• cell culture media preparation (media prep)
• Gram stain analysis
• bursting cells open, or “cell lysis”
• separation, or precipitation, of genomic DNA
• DNA analysis by horizontal gel electrophoresis
These are introductory DNA laboratory procedures. In later chapters, you will learn how to
introduce foreign DNA into cells to modify their characteristics. This is called genetic engineering, the
technology that revolutionized science in the 1970s. Another revolutionary technology that will be
discussed later is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a method to make billions of copies of short
sections or DNA for research and diagnostics.
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Chapter 4 Laboratory Manual