Saturday 11 May 2013

Thrift Store Dress / DIY Science Experiments #2 (Extracting DNA at Home)

Do you all remember how I mentioned that there was a charity thrift shop just 50 metres down the road from my new house? Well, I finally caved and bought something. It's been one month since we moved and this is the first item of clothing I've bought in that whole time, so I think I'm doing pretty well. Even though it was quite ridiculously priced for a charity store ($10! Sydney op-shops, what are you doing??) I had to buy it because it's so dang cute. I can never walk past a good heart-print, after all, and the collar detail reminded me of Christine's Lady Ties, which I always love the look of.

By the way, I just wanted to mention that reading all your comments the other morning on my last post made me so happy. Obsessively checking your emails every morning before you're even out of bed isn't always the best idea, but the other morning it put me in the best mood. Thank you to everyone who leaves me thoughtful comments - and thank you for reading, even if you don't!

dress - Thrifted
bag - Thrifted
belt - Thrifted
shoes - c/o Yes Walker
socks - Cotton On
hat - c/o Wholesale

Yesterday in my lab session at university, we extracted our own DNA (for sequencing, to see how things like forensic analysis and paternity/maternity tests work). But while extracting DNA sounds super sciencey and complicated (and impressive - when I was telling my friends about how I was extracting and sequencing DNA this week their reaction was always to go "wow! Awesome!"), it is actually something that you can do yourself with a blender, salt, pineapple juice and alcohol.

1. Figure out what you want to use as a source of DNA. You can get your DNA from anything living - but you might want to use fruit,  vegetables or parts of a plant for this experiment, because you'll need to blend up the cells and so using animals would be just a little bit  unethical (okay, so I said above that I extracted my own DNA, and I did do this without chopping myself up, but this is a little bit harder - we took cheek swabs and then had to centrifuge everything for about a million hours, so if you don't have your own bench-top centrifuge, then use strawberries or something instead).
2. Blend it up so it becomes a paste (blend on high for 15 seconds). This breaks open (lyses) many of the cells. Also add a pinch of salt.
3. Add detergent. This will lyse the cells further and also break open the cell's nucleus, which is where the DNA lives.
4. This step is not necessary if you just want to extract and look at DNA, and not do any further measurements with it (like spectrophotometry). But if you have it available, add some pineapple juice to your mixture. Pineapple juice contains an enzyme called bromelain that eats proteins. You need to add this to remove proteins from your solution - because cells are also full of proteins, and when you break open your cell, a whole bunch of proteins will come flowing out. And if you remove the proteins, the stuff you extract will be more "pure" DNA.
5. Add vodka/rubbing alcohol/anything with a high ethanol content. Carefully add the alcohol to the top of your mix. DNA does not dissolve in alcohol, so if you add enough it will "precipitate" out of the solution. Stringy white shapes should appear in your solution. This is strands of DNA! (Yes, you can see it!) You can then put a straw or skewer into the solution, twirl it and pull it out. The DNA you have extracted will look a lot like mucous or snot ;)
(Image source)
And that's how you extract DNA at home! You don't even need any fancy lab equipment. Pretty easy, huh?







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28 comments:

  1. such a cute outfit! especially love the shoes, bag and dress!

    Sarah
    xoxo

    http://absolutelysarahx.blogspot.com

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  2. I love ixtracting DNA, and I think I 'm way more excited then other students, I'm like "OMG this is the essence of life", but nevermind, they already know I'm way too nerdy for my own good :)
    I didn't know about DIY DNA extraction, but it makes so much sense and I'm definitely going to try it. Btw I founf out few days ago that next semestar I can take forensic chemistry classes. And I got so excited I keep telling that to everyone(duh I'm writing about that in a blog comment :D )
    Anyway... I love that hearty dress and the way it goes with your hair color (which is very pretty btw). I can't believe you found it in a thrift store, only thing I find there are clothes that look so shabby and dated that even the price of 1 or 2 $ seems too much.

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    1. Hahaha yay! You sound exactly how I sound when I extracted DNA for the first time. A lot of people in my class went "EW GROSS DNA IT LOOKS LIKE SNOT" (??!) SERIOUSLY! WHAT!

      Forensic chemistry sounds reaaaally cool, I would definitely be excited about doing that. What do you do in forensic chem? Does it use biochem techniques and is it things like PCR?

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    2. Stuff like how to take different kinds of sample for analysis,analytical techniques for blood and tissue analysis, characteristic reactions for identifying drugs/toxins in blood and tissue, devices used to create DNA bases and finding possible matches within DNA samples and some more stuff. I just can't wait :D

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    3. Oh awesome, I did heaps of stuff like that last year - and also diagnosing diseases using blood and tissue samples - and it was really interesting. You'll really love it :)

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  3. This outfit is so cute! My dad promised me to try to extract DNA together sometime soon!

    http://wakingbones.blogspot.nl/

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  4. I am so excited that I stumbled upon your blog! Not only do I love fashion, I'm a huge science nerd as well!!!!

    In my AP Biology class a month or two ago, we extracted DNA from strawberries using a similar method. We didn't have a blender so we had to mush FROZEN strawberries by hand! I couldn't feel my fingers afterwards! We added detergent to the strawberry mush and put it on a coffee filter that was rubber-banded to the top of a cup. We let it filter for a few days and we actutally got some DNA! We didn't precipatate it, we just looked at it under the microscope. It was cool, but I wished I knew about the whole blender thing before I sacrificed my poor fingers haha

    Your dress looks so cute on you! I'm so jealous because I can never find anything in the thrift store near where I live..

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    1. Awwww yay! So happy to get your comment! I love knowing that there are other science AND fashion loving people out there! It seems like two really incongruous passions, haha, but I've now found quite a few people like me and it makes me super happy :)

      Haha awww oh no! Tell you teacher you should have used a blender, that's cruel! Or at least give you a mallet or something? Honestly, there needs to be more science education funding...

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  5. I love the collar.
    We extracted DNA from potatoes in Biology last year. It went really badly, but I was really excited any way :)

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    1. Haha, yeah, all our experiments in molecular biology seem to fail as well. This DNA extraction one that I did in my lab kind of failed right at the start because my cheek cells didn't weigh enough or something :| hehe. Oh well. Gotta keep persevering!

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  6. I love that dress (I didn't even realize it was little hearts at first!), and I loove those Yes Walker shoes. I have a couple of pairs of flats from them, and I'm definitely thinking about ordering more, since they have a BOGO deal. The DNA extraction is SO cool! Kind of blows my mind.

    xox Sammi
    www.thesoubrettebrunette.blogspot.com

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  7. I just want to say that I *adore* this blog because of things like step by step DNA extraction(!!!), holy Bowie! I love DIYs as a whole, and you've just killed every other fashion blog I read with this one. :D.

    also, that dress is suuper cute. I was gonna buy a similar-ish one, except with larger hearts, longer sleeves, and in a sheath shape. Buuut the thrift (op) shops in Los Angeles have gotten crazy. 17$ for a dress? nuh-uh.

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    1. Holey cow, what a lovely comment. It made me smile a lot :D

      What the heck is going on with so-called op shops? They're basically the same price as normal shops now. What is the point? So much for their original purpose, which was to provide clothes for poor people.. :|

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    2. You're welcome! :3
      Exactly! A few years ago, it was easy to find a bagful of clothes for under twenty dollars. Now that gets me like two t-shirts or a dress or a single jacket. I'm a broke college student who steadfastly refuses to dress down, so it's pretty frustrating. :(.

      There is the odd exception, mind; I just got a pair of '70s Armani wide legged trousers in bright(!) red wool. For 10 dollars. D:

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    3. Niiiice! They sound so cool. I don't think I could pull off wide legged trousers in bright red - I so wish I could though.
      Mmmhm, case in point, I just went to my local op shop and bought 4 things and it all came to $35. Which I guess is okay, I did get 2 really nice blazers, but still, I would have gotten all that for $10 a few years ago!

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  8. That dress is so very perfect, and I love all the accessories you paired with--it all fits together just right! And I so look forward to your science posts...so unlike any other blog out there :)

    -Emma from little motley (last hours of international giveaway!)

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  9. the dress is so cute and so are you!
    You know, it's hard to find thrift store here in Hong Kong as Chinese don't really like buying second-hand clothes so I envy you so much as you get a thrift store near your home and can find many cheap but pretty stuff there!

    toinfinitynbeyond13.blogspot.hk

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  10. Cute outfit :) Loved reading through your blog!

    http://lifeoflucyjoy.blogspot.co.uk/

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  11. Super love that dress especially because you put a tie on it!!

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  12. Love your vintage style! Very sweet www.adoramehitabel.blogspot.co.uk

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  13. Oh that dress is too cute - such a good find!

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  14. Woow! I didn't know that you are studying biology or a subject relating to biology! I follow your blog since a very long time now and from time to time I check if there's something new! I'm always surprised positively about your posts when I haven't visit your page for long time! I think your are reaaaally great, studying something intelligent AND care about fashion!! I studying biochemistry and chemistry (nearly 3 years xD) and love fashion too. I'm just not that talented to design own dresses and haven't still enough time to study. I find you really amazing, just wanna say that! You are a good example to show that female scientist also have knowledge about fashion too!! Keep up your work!! :) and your posts about science :P
    Greetings from Germany1

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    1. Wow, awesome!!! I'm so happy that there are other people like me out there who are passionate about learning about the world, but also love fashion! It's hard, because you can either be seen by the fashion community as a massive geek for being into something like science, or be seen by the science community as vacuous, as someone who is really into fashion. SO, it always encourages me to continue what I'm doing when I get comments like this! Thank you so much! :D

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  15. LOVE this whole look! So cute! : )

    xo,
    Tara

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  16. I love love love your blog. I think it's great because you're reaching out to many different generations through fashion and science on a global scale. I'm from the US and live in Atlanta, Ga. And I spend a lot of time talking to a lot of important (old)people about STEM(science, technology, engineering, and math) education, but I don't see what the point is when I should be reaching out to people my age(18 year olds, high school student, college students) to learn and teach about science! So I am trying to get into the habit of writing blog posts about my experiences and life as a young science student's lifestyle and promoting the education and profession of science! Anyways the point of this was YOU INSPIRE ME.

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    1. Thank you!!! I am basically going to repeat the comment I left above, heheh, buuuuuut I'm so so so glad that I can inspire you!! Seriously, this comment has made my day, especially coming from someone who works in science/science communication and seems to think I'm going about communicating science in a decent sort of way! Haha!

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  17. I never got to extract DNA and I think it's so cool! I love how it's not really a difficult process. Thanks for sharing the step by step directions. Very cool.
    Also, this tiny heart print dress is adorable! I definitely don't blame you for buying it because it's so cute on you. The shape is really flattering too. The little white tie paired with it is wonderful!

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