Polymerase Chain Reaction

Continued from her previous post, Lucky tells us about her experience with using a fundamental technique in molecular biology – the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)…

During my placement I had the opportunity to observe the isolation of RNA and the process of reverse transcription to get cDNA; with this I learnt how enzymes, for example reverse transcriptase, can be used by scientists to achieve a desired outcome. I was able to take part in PCR where a small sample of DNA is amplified in three main steps: denaturation, annealing and elongation. The samples, including my own, were run through a gel and imaged. My sampleĀ appeared as a very bold band which is good.

pcr gel

By Lucky G