Plasmids from Shanghai

Time for a science post!

In my AP Biology class, we are studying DNA. In regards to DNA's ability to encode information for the body, one of my students recently remarked, "DNA is much more efficient than binary code, but nothing compared to human language."

It is a quirky bunch.

Recently, my Chinese co-teacher has been working feverishly to find supplies for an upcoming molecular biology lab. It involves such things as restriction enzymes, R-factor plasmids, gel electrophoresis, and strains of E. coli. It is just as complicated as it sounds. Well, the problem is finding sources for all this material. In America, I would call up a biological supply company, and they would ship me everything I need in one nice box. Here....not so easy.

We had given up on one part of the lab, because it was proving impossible to find any plasmids locally. A plasmid is a piece of DNA that bacteria can transfer between each other. The point of the lab is to give a plasmid that gives them resistance to a certain antibiotic. Then we add the drug, which kills all the bacteria except the ones that picked up the special DNA. Without the DNA, there was no point in doing the lab.

So on a whim, I looked up Bio-rad, a company that many AP teachers use in the US. Come to find out, this company is an international biotech firm, and they have offices in China. So my co-teacher calls up the Shanghai office, and they have the plasmids. He talks to a very nice lady there, who, come to find out, is a good friend of his former classmate - a classmate who is now working in a lab at Sichuan University and will give us the bacteria we need. So the Shanghai Bio-rad worker is so tickled about this random connection, that she offers to send us the plasmids we need for free. Hooray!

I guess this is a good example of why they say...it's a small world!

-alan