Pop Culture Science
Bio-Rad Biotechnology Explorer IDEA and STEM Kits
Curriculum and Training Specialists
Damon Tighe
damon_tighe@bio-rad.com
Sherri Andrews, Ph.D.
sherri_andrews@bio-rad.com
Leigh Brown
leigh_brown@bio-rad.com
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Bio-Rad Resources
@BioRadEducation
Biotechnology: A Lab Skills
Course
Pinterest.com/teachbiology
bit.ly/b-rdropbox
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Workshop Overview
 What are we doing? Pop Culture + Lab Techniques
 How do we get students engaged? Movie scenarios
 Deeper dive into technique
 Choose your favorite movie scenario!
 Lab tailored to movie pick
 Standards alignment
 Other ideas?
 Results
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Getting Students Engaged
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A Few of your Students’ Favorite Movies?
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Electrophoresis separates molecules by
CHARGE and SIZE
Molecular
sieve
Electricity
Electrophoresis: “carry with water”
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Lapse It! (10 second intervals)
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Interstellar
Link to trailer of Interstellar movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LqzF5WauAw
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Insterstellar
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=zSWdZVtXT7E
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Interstellar
Setting the scene: Crop blight has caused a massive die-off of
most food crops. You are in a crew of astronauts who travel
through a wormhole, searching for a new planetary home for
humanity with a suitable food source.
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Interstellar
Premise: You find some
potentially edible
specimens from an
exoplanet near the
wormhole, but some are
poisonous, and contain a
visible blue dye.
Students must test the
potential food source to
find out if it contains the
poisonous dye.
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Interstellar
Lab Set Up: Each student has several specimens (M&Ms
candy) to test. They use gel electrophoresis to determine if
the blue dye is any of the specimens.
poisonous
blue dye
potential food
sources
Teacher Prep:
– Blue 1 FD&C dye used for a
standard (to represent
poisonious blue dye)
– Medicine cup full of M&Ms or
other candies (Nerds, Skittles)
– students can separate colors
out into other cups.
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Divergent
Link to trailer of Divergent movie: http://divergentthemovie.com/
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Divergent
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=336qJITnDi0
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Divergent
 Setting the scene: You
are a teenager in postapocalyptic Chicago.
Everyone is divided
into 5 factions based
on their aptitude and
personality.
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Divergent
Premise: During your
16th year, you must
decide whether to stay in
your family’s faction, or
join a different faction
and leave your family
behind.
There are several ways
to determine which
faction you belong in,
including an aptitude test.
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Divergent
After your aptitude test,
results are now confirmed
using a new technique to
see what faction you most
closely resemble. Do you
fit in one faction? Or are
you divergent, showing
aptitude for 2 or more
factions?
**Results for Candor may
be inconclusive.
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Hint: You might
want to set out
bowls of different
colors of candies
here for a visual for
your students
Divergent
Lab Set Up: Students will prepare extracts from the “faction samples”
(candy). You might want to have these separated out into colors at the front
of the room, each in its own bowl. These extracts will be run on a gel, along
with 3 student samples. Students will identify their sample as matching one
faction, or multiple ones (i.e. divergent), and decide if additional tests are
needed or if the results are conclusive.
faction
samples
student
sample A
student
sample B
student
sample C
Teacher Prep:
– M&Ms or Skittles (5 different
colors) to represent each
faction
– FD&C dyes for student
samples – some should be a
mix of 2 or more colors.
Others should just be 1 color.
Mix 1:1.
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Despicable Me 2
Link to trailer of Despicable Me 2 movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6RxZK3LTnA
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Despicable Me 2
 Setting the scene: PX-41
is a dangerous mutagen
engineered by villians. It
can turn minons into furry
killing machines, capable
of destroying everything in
their paths. You are a
reformed evil scientist,
looking for an antidote to
cure the mutated minions.
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Despicable Me 2
Premise: Using the materials
available to you in your notso-evil scientist laboratory,
hatch a plan to purify different
antidotes. You will need to:
1. Identify which samples
contain the yellow
antidote.
2. Are any of them pure?
3. Can you find another
source for the antidote?
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Despicable Me 2
Lab Set Up: Each workstation has a different set of
potential antidotes, made from FD&C dyes. One is pure
(yellow) – the others are mixes of various dyes.
pure
antidote
Sample B
sample Sample A
Teacher Prep:
Sample C Sample D
Potential antidote
sources (students pick 2
colors to test)
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Sample E
– FD&C dye – yellow,
plus mixes of 2 or more
other FD&C dyes
(include yellow in a few)
– Optional – M&Ms or
Skittles for students to
test for the presence of
an antidote.
Before we start…a little background
What is
electrophoresis?
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How can you separate molecules?
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Food and marker dyes have an intrinsic SIZE and CHARGE
and thus can be separated using Electrophoresis
Food dye
Molecular
weight
Charge
FD&C Blue 1
792.86
-2
FD&C Yellow 5
534.37
-3
FD&C Yellow 6
452.37
-2
FD&C Red 40
496.43
-2
Carminic Acid
492.38
0
Beetroot red
551.48
+1
Insert close up of
FD&C dyes in kit
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DIY vs Commercial Electrophoresis Chamber
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Time to Pick!
Interstellar Procedure - Interstellar
• Testing potential food source samples for
poisonous blue dye
Divergent
• Testing student samples to determine
which faction(s) they belong to
Despicable Me
• Testing samples to determine which ones
contain the antidote, and if any are pure
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Procedure - Interstellar
Before we begin:
1. Find the Blue 1 tube in your green rack.
This will represent the poisonous blue
dye that we are testing for.
poisonous
blue dye
potential food
sources
2. Locate the potential food sources
(M&Ms).
3. Find the Extraction Buffer tubes.
4. We won’t be using any of the other
tubes in the rack, so you can put them
to the side.
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Extraction
buffer
Procedure - Interstellar
1. (Already done for you).
Place comb across box at
3cm mark. Pour molten
agarose into box. Let
solidify. Remove comb.
Use a plastic ruler or card
to cut across gel about 1
cm from each end, and
scoop out and discard the
rectangle of agarose.
2. Center gel in plastic
chamber so that the wells
are going across the box.
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Procedure - Interstellar
3. Add enough TAE buffer to
completely cover gel.
4. Unfold paper clip electrodes
as shown in diagram. Place
one at each end of the gel.
The bottom of the “U” will
rest in the empty space at
the top and bottom of the
gel.
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Procedure - Interstellar
5. Separate M&Ms by color. Put one candy of each color into each
cup.
6. Add 250 ul of extraction buffer to each cup. Swirl cups so dyes
come off into the buffer.
Extraction
buffer
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250 ul
Procedure - Interstellar
7. Use the green 10 ul fixed volume pipet
to load 10 ul of each of your samples
into the wells. Change tips between
each sample.
Lane 1: Blue 1 (poisonous dye)
Lane 2: Yellow M&M
Lane 3: Red M&M
Lane 4: Brown M&M
Lane 5: Blue M&M
Lane 6: Orange M&M
Lane 7: Green M&M
***note: order is not important – just be
sure to write down what you did!
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Load 10 ul
of each
samplet
Procedure - Interstellar
8. Assemble your battery tower as
shown in the diagram.
9. Use the black alligator clip to clip
your paper clip to the container at the
end closest to your sample wells.
Use the red alligator clip to attach the
paper clip at the other end of the gel.
Catching both the container and the
paper clip with the alligator clip
ensures that the paper clip won’t fall
over.
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Procedure - Interstellar
10. Start your gel by clipping the free
end of the black alligator lead to
the (-) terminal of your battery
tower. Attach the free end of the
red alligator lead to the (+)
terminal of the battery tower.
Look for bubbles. Let your gel run
for about 15-20 minutes.
11. Compare the Blue #1 standard to
your food samples, and
see if any contain the
poisonous blue dye.
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Procedure - Divergent
Before we begin
faction
samples
1. Remove any green M&Ms from
your candy cup – we won’t need
them during the lab. The other
colors will represent each faction.
2. Pick one sample (A, B, C, D, or E)
for each person at your
workstation.
student
sample A
student
sample B
student
sample C
3. Find the Extraction Buffer tubes.
4. We won’t be using any of the
other tubes in the rack, so you can
put them to the side.
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Extraction
buffer
Procedure - Divergent
1. (Already done for you).
Place comb across box at
3cm mark. Pour molten
agarose into box. Let
solidify. Remove comb.
Use a plastic ruler or card
to cut across gel about 1
cm from each end, and
scoop out and discard the
rectangle of agarose.
2. Center gel in plastic
chamber so that the wells
are going across the box.
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Procedure - Divergent
3. Add enough TAE buffer to
completely cover gel.
4. Unfold paper clip electrodes
as shown in diagram. Place
one at each end of the gel.
The bottom of the “U” will
rest in the empty space at
the top and bottom of the
gel.
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Procedure - Divergent
5. You have representative samples from each faction in front of you.
Separate these by color, putting one of each color into each cup.
6. Add 250 ul of extraction buffer to each cup. Swirl cups so dyes
come off into the buffer.
Extraction
buffer
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250 ul
Procedure - Divergent
7. Use the green 10 ul fixed volume pipet
to load 10 ul of each of your samples
into the wells. Change tips between
each sample.
Lane 1: Yellow (Abnegation)
Lane 2: Red (Amity)
Lane 3: Brown (Candor)
Lane 4: Blue (Erudite)
Lane 5: Orange (Dauntless)
Lane 6: Student A sample
Lane 7: Student B sample
Lane 8: Student C sample
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Load 10 ul
of each
samplet
Procedure - Divergent
8. Assemble your battery tower as
shown in the diagram.
9. Use the black alligator clip to clip
your paper clip to the container at the
end closest to your sample wells.
Use the red alligator clip to attach the
paper clip at the other end of the gel.
Catching both the container and the
paper clip with the alligator clip
ensures that the paper clip won’t fall
over.
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Procedure - Divergent
10. Start your gel by clipping the free
end of the black alligator lead to
the (-) terminal of your battery
tower. Attach the free end of the
red alligator lead to the (+)
terminal of the battery tower.
Look for bubbles. Let your gel run
for about 15-20 minutes.
11. Compare the student samples to
the faction samples. Which
faction do you belong to?
Are you divergent?
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Procedure – Despicable Me
Before we begin
1. Find the following tubes in your green
rack:
• Yellow 5 (pure antidote sample)
• Samples A, B, C, D, and E from
potential antidotes.
• Extraction Buffer
2. We won’t be using any of the other
tubes in the rack, so you can put them
to the side.
3. Decide which 2 colors of candies
might be a potential source of the
yellow antidote. Take one of each of
those 2 colors out, and put the rest of
the candies aside.
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pure
antidote
sample
Sample A Sample B
Sample C Sample D
Extraction
buffer
Potential antidote
sources
(pick 2 colors to test)
Sample E
Procedure – Despicable Me
1. (Already done for you).
Place comb across box at
3cm mark. Pour molten
agarose into box. Let
solidify. Remove comb.
Use a plastic ruler or card
to cut across gel about 1
cm from each end, and
scoop out and discard the
rectangle of agarose.
2. Center gel in plastic
chamber so that the wells
are going across the box.
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Procedure – Despicable Me
3. Add enough TAE buffer to
completely cover gel.
4. Unfold paper clip electrodes
as shown in diagram. Place
one at each end of the gel.
The bottom of the “U” will
rest in the empty space at
the top and bottom of the
gel.
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Procedure – Despicable Me
5. You have samples which potentially contain the antidote sitting in
front of you. You also have some purified antidote. If you’d like,
you may test 2 M&M samples to see if they contain the antidote as
well.
6. Add 250 ul of extraction buffer to each cup. Swirl cups so dyes
come off into the buffer.
Extraction
buffer
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250 ul
Procedure – Despicable Me
7. Use the green 10 ul fixed volume pipet
to load 10 ul of each of your samples
into the wells. Change tips between
each sample.
Lane 1: Yellow 5 (Antidote)
Lane 2: A
Lane 3: B
Lane 4: C
Lane 5: D
Lane 6: E
Lane 7: Yellow M&M
Lane 8: Green M&M
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Load 10 ul
of each
samplet
Procedure – Despicable Me
8. Assemble your battery tower as
shown in the diagram.
9. Use the black alligator clip to clip
your paper clip to the container at the
end closest to your sample wells.
Use the red alligator clip to attach the
paper clip at the other end of the gel.
Catching both the container and the
paper clip with the alligator clip
ensures that the paper clip won’t fall
over.
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Procedure – Despicable Me
10. Start your gel by clipping the free
end of the black alligator lead to
the (-) terminal of your battery
tower. Attach the free end of the
red alligator lead to the (+)
terminal of the battery tower.
Look for bubbles. Let your gel run
for about 15-20 minutes.
11. Compare the purified antidote
sample in lane 1 to the potential
antidote samples. Which ones
contain the antidote? Are any
pure?
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What Can You Teach?
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Other Ideas?
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Green M&M
Orange M&M
Blue M&M
Brown M&M
Red M&M
Yellow M&M
Blue # 1
Results - Interstellar
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Student C
Student B
Student E
Orange (Dauntless)
Blue (Erudite)
Brown (Candor)
Red (Amity)
Make new gel
with Student A
(yellow 6), B, E
Yellow (Abnegation)
Results - Divergent
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Green M&M
Yellow M&M
Sample E
Sample D
Sample C
Sample B
Sample A
Antidote (Yellow 5)
Results – Despicable Me
Teacher Prep and Lab Setup – for all 3 scenarios
1.
2.
3.
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Create the following samples to be used in Despicable Me or Divergent.
Mixtures should be equal parts.
•
A: Yellow 6
•
B: Yellow 5 + Yellow 6
•
C: Yellow 5 + Blue 1 + Red 40
•
D: Blue 1 + Yellow 6
•
E: Yellow 5 + Blue 1
You will also need the following FD&C dyes:
•
For Interstellar: Blue 1
•
For Despicable Me: Yellow 5
Each station also should have:
•
6 medicine cups
•
1 cup with M&Ms (mixed colors)
•
Micropipet and tips
•
Dye extraction buffer (2 ml)
•
Gel
•
STEM gel box (box, paper clip, alligator clips, batteries)
•
Sharpie
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IDEA STEM Electrophoresis Kit
IDEA/STEM Electrophoresis Kits
Found in the 2014/2015 Catalog on pg. 48-49
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