GTAC EXCURSION

YEAR 9 AND 10

Some KSC Year 9 & 10 students made their way to GTAC this week to contribute to a real research project identifying species using the unique DNA sequences of these animals. 

Working with practicing PhD scientists from research labs around Melbourne, they used DNA technologies such as Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis to generate DNA “barcodes” for the animal of interest, and the DNA generated by each team will be sent to the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) for sequencing.

In a few weeks these students will participate in a follow-up virtual learning workshop and will analyse the DNA data sets generated by their teams. It was a great hands-on learning experience for them, and an opportunity to contribute to an actual research project! Well done to all these students, who produced some great DNA samples for further analysis.