Biology

Week 5 our Year 12 Biology students visited Ecolinc in Bacchus Marsh to use specialized equipment to determine whether common processed foods such as corn chips, polenta or potato chips contained GMO plant DNA.  They did this by extracting the DNA from the food, then amplifying the DNA using a PCR machine until they had millions of copies.  This technique is called Polymerase Chain Reaction.  

To identify which DNA had the GMO DNA, they loaded their DNA sample into a machine that uses electric current to separate out the DNA strands and compared the strands to a known sample.  This process is called Gel Electrophoresis.  These techniques are commonly used together for COVID testing, genetic screening or forensic profiling.

Claire Wallace

claire.wallace@smseymour.catholic.edu.au