I took a molecular biology course when I was attending Minnesota State University: Moorhead (MSUM). It was the first course I took that required extensive laboratory time. I was a great introduction to some of the common laboratory techniques including gel electrophoresis.

We went through all the steps from making agarose to micro pipetting a ladder into the wells. We ran a lot of assays and were required to take extensive notes. It was a really great experience, and my favorite laboratory course I’ve taken.

To make the agarose we measured out gelatin powder mixed it with water and microwaved it. This acts as the matrix for which the DNA must travel. The matrix slows down larger sections first, and those bands show up closer to the wells, while the shorter snippets travel further down the agarose matrix. Once the gel is made, it’s placed in a device that electrifies the gels which draws the DNA through the gel (see image above).

Most of the assays we performed required that we test it by running a gel and photographing it and running analysis based on how it fluoresced. This was essential when we were running PCR (polymerase chain reaction) to amplify snippets of DNA to make sure we amplified the section we were seeking.