Team:Hong Kong HKU/biotechcourse

Biotechnological Course

As a spinoff from the school tours, we received request from high school biology teachers that would want us to design interesting experiments to allow the students to have a glimpse at how molecular biology works.

To this, we felt deeply honored and first designed an experiment to allow the students to take a look at how the information of nature is conveyed and propagated across generations. We therefore arranged the classical DNA extraction experiment from strawberries, and the students definitely had much fun with the goopy stuff.

We then designed another experiment that requires higher thinker yet even more interesting and inspiring. It involves the basics of molecular biology, such as PCR, restriction analysis, agarose gel electrophoresis, and simple genetic calculations. Specifically, we wrote up a handbook for a series of experiments, which allow the students to (1) collect their own cheek cells for the ALDH2 gene analysis, (2) perform PCR on the ALDH2 gene, (3) perform restriction, with (4) subsequent agarose analysis, and finally, (5) discuss the genetic aspects of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. We would be excited to know how students get their passion by knowing their "susceptibility to alcohol"!

In the future, as more interesting genes that define who-we-are are being identified, we intend to include such genetic experiments with genes governing the facial characteristics such as ear lobes or tongue-rolling ability, or even the HLA phenotypes, which could even lead the students to the ethical and moral aspects of molecular biology and biotechnology, as well as genomic diagnostics that would constitute the major clinical field of medicine.