Isolate your own DNA, dissect a locust, or find out how much caffeine is in our 'favourite' drinks? All this was explored last week by the participants of the Junior University of the USB Faculty of Science. Almost a hundred high school students tried out various laboratory techniques under the guidance of teachers and students of FSC USB.
The first Junior University courses of this year took place in the week from 5 to 9 February. High school students had the opportunity to experience, for example, a molecular biology laboratory exercise in which they saw chromosomes with their own eyes and compared how they look during the different stages of cell division. Those who were brave enough could try dissecting a locust while preparing meiotic preparations and see what such a locust looks like inside.
In the laboratory of applied biochemistry, students of the secondary medical school tried two methods of DNA isolation. First, they isolated their own DNA from a drop of blood, which they then used to determine whether they carried mutant genotypes of alcohol-degrading enzymes. In the second part of the practice, they isolated plasmid DNA using the alkaline lysis method.
Last but not least, the students looked at the world's most consumed psychoactive substance 'COFFEIN'. Using liquid chromatography, students determined the concentrations of caffeine in beverages and identified and compared the caffeine content of coffee, tea, and energy drinks.
Last week we had students from České Budějovice, Český Krumlov, Prachatice, Volyn, and other South Bohemian towns. More open courses of the USB Junior University are waiting for their participants! You can find a list of them on the faculty website.
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