• Question: Which general technics do you use?

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      Asked by martinadebenito to Anais, katy, Lauren, Richard, Stuart on 10 Mar 2016.
      • Photo: Lauren Laing

        Lauren Laing answered on 10 Mar 2016:

        I use a lot of DNA extraction techniques, these are used to free the DNA from its cell. I also use the sequencer, this is a technique we use to explore DNA, and to see which genes are switched on or off in an individual! This is important for seeing how toxic a chemical is.

      • Photo: Anais Kahve

        Anais Kahve answered on 10 Mar 2016:

        Right now I am doing a lot of cell culture. This means that I grow lots of cells in controlled temperature and CO2 conditions and test different compounds to see what happens to them. Many scientists use this technique because it means we don’t have to get lots samples of cells and tissues from animals or humans. The downside of this technique is that it doesn’t show exactly what would happen in a real body because the cells are not connected to other organs and systems like they would be in the body.

      • Photo: Richard Friend

        Richard Friend answered on 11 Mar 2016:

        I use a lot of analytical techniques which are mostly just letters! HPLC, GC etc. It’s all chromatography, similar to when you put an ink blot on the middle of some filter paper, wet it with water and watch the colours separate out. Same, but on a bigger scale.☺

      • Photo: Stuart Atkinson

        Stuart Atkinson answered on 14 Mar 2016:

        We have an infra-red and a UV-visible spectrophotometer, which both detect different types of chemical bonds in waste that we are trying to identify. We also have an ICP (induction-coupled plasma) which is able to identify individual atoms by vapourising a sample and zapping it at 4000 degrees!

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