Let's Find Out Who is Diseased

DNA testing is now used worldwide to discover a person's own genetic code. This can be used for many applications, but the main one is for genetic testing.  Genetic testing can tell a person whether or not they have the gene that may be diseased or may cause disease.  This is a complicated issue as some people would not wish to know their genome and how their genes are set up, but others think it will make their lives easier to know if they will develop diseases such as parkinsons or alzheimers. 
In this lab we will use DNA extraction to analyze our DNA for the "diseased gene".  First we will have to extract our DNA, and for this experiment we will use our cheek cells.  To do this we will have to break open the cell membrane using a hot water bath of 95 degrees Celcius.  Then once we have opened the membrane we will use DNAse to kill all outside bacteria DNA.  But to stop the DNAse from killing our own DNA we will insert instagene matrix beads to kill the DNAse.  On Day 2 of the lab we will mass produce our DNA using PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction).  The first step of PCR is the denaturation step, in this step the reaction mixture is heated to 94 degrees Celcius for one minute which seperates the double stranded DNA into single strands of DNA.  Then the annealing step takes place, in this step the primers find their complementary sequences on the two single-stranded template strands of DNA.  This step is done at 60 degrees Celcius for maximum production.  Finally, the extension step occurs, in this step the DNA polymerase will add nucleotides to the primer creating a complementary copy of the DNA template.  This final step occurs at 72 degrees Celcius.
After we ran the gel electrophoresis we analyzed our results comparing our results to the control gel.  We found out that our entire table had the diseased gene.  Being diseased wasn't worrisome becuase we found out that the gene we were testing for was an intron so it did not mean anything.  Interestingly though, the majority of our class was diseased. So this meant the disease gene is actually more present in the common population than the healthy gene.