Unit 6 Biotechnology Reflection

In this unit, we learned about biotech and the different possibilities and applications it might offer to humanity. There are four main fields of biotech, namely: agricultural, industrial, medical, and investigation. These fields of biotechnology offer amazing abilities and powers that we humans can wield, such as the power to clone, to heal using recombinant DNA, to optimize crop growth and food output, the possibilities are practically endless. However, there is also the issue of bioethics, which puts for the question: Just because we can, should we?

In this unit, one of my main strengths was being quick to understand how the two labs pGLO and dye electrophoresis would work. Because of this, I was able to push my groupmates in a positive to direction to work quickly, efficiently, and at the same time, closely following the procedure. However, one of my weaknesses in this unit was the recombinant DNA vodcast. I didn't quite understand the process of extracting DNA using restriction enzymes and cutting it, and then pasting it into other organisms.

I really liked the pGLO lab because it was a great demonstration on how recombinant DNA could be used by letting E. Coli pick up the plasmid that would make them resistant to ampicilin and even cooler, it would make them glow in the presence of arabanose sugar. However, I still hope to learn more about recombinant DNA and find out about even more of the possible applications that it could offer to humanity.

As for my New Year's goals, I feel like I have been doing really well. I carefully watch the vodcast and take notes closely, and even replay parts of the video to help better broaden my knowledge. I have also cut down on the procrastination and have been studying for the unit test throughout the unit instead of all on the night before. In general, I am really excited about biotech and hope to see where this technology will take us in the future.

Below I have attached some pictures that highlight some of the labs we did in this unit.