Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) & Gel Electrophoresis

Working with DNA is the bread and butter for molecular biologists, and PCR is one of the most common techniques in the lab. Today we will examine Polymerase Chain Reaction by walking through and explaining an interactive PCR experiment step by step in the lab. In this example, we are working with a new bacterial strain, which may be resistant to many different antibiotics. We can extract genomic DNA from the bacteria and run a PCR to see if we can detect any antibiotic resistance genes in its genome. We can then visualise the PCR products through gel electrophoresis. My name is Jack Wang, a microbiologist and science educator, and the 2020 Australian University Teacher of the Year. You can find out more about my work here: https://jackwang.com.au The blog post accompanying this video: jackwang.com.au/blog/signalvnoise #biolabcollective #pcr #science #teaching #laboratory #dna 00:00 Introduction 00:59 PCR ingredients 02:37 Mastermix calculation & preparation 04:02 3 phases of PCR 04:59 Gel electrophoresis 06:39 Loading the gel 07:42 Interpreting results