Overview
The research project for the 2008/2009 WSSP focuses on the genomic analysis of the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana, and how the genes in this organism compare to other species.
Students in the project will purify plasmid DNA from an Artemia franciscana cDNA library. They will sequence and analyze these genes using modern molecular biology laboratory techniques. The sequences of these genes have never been determined before and this information will be deposited in databases at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) for scientists throughout the world to use. Students in the program will compare these sequences with genes from other organisms to determine the conservation of specific genes and their evolutionary relationships.
In the course of these studies, students, teachers, and research scientists work together, using the basic principles of molecular biology and genetic engineering to try to solve this research problem. By actually doing science, teachers and students gain an understanding of how science operates.
