Gel Electrophoresis Practice

thingiverse

My inspiration for creating this for Dr. Johnson was my struggle to fill in the wells of the gel the first time through. Gel electrophoresis is used to determine the approximate size of the genome of DNA. This is done by directly pipetting (inserting) the DNA into a well in a gel, where there is device that runs electrical current through it. This causes the solution, or the DNA to move through the gel. Although having a plastic version of a gel isn't the same effect as a normal gel that is practically see through, I thought that it would still benefit people to submerge the plastic in water and load in food colored water into the wells and practice keeping a steady hand and figuring out how to use the pipette efficiently. Even though that the material we use isn't the best for holding liquids, it could still give a student a good idea of how it works and get an idea of how it should be done.