Introduction
For this project we were given a crime report about a murder that had taken place. By using the evidence left behind we played the role of forensic scientists. During this we learned about fingerprinting, chromosome disorders, pedigrees, ink chromatography, mental diseases, blood types, and DNA fingerprinting. Using this information we narrowed down the culprit of the crime and presented to get a warrant for arrest. There was about a month to work on this and figure out the culprit and make the presentation.
Vocabulary
PHenotype
The way the genes are expressed or shown, usually in its physical form. For this project we observed the phenotype of the fingerprints of the suspects which included, whorls, loops, and arches. Genotype
The makeup of the genes, or how the genes are made up. This can be seen with the fingerprints either being LL, Ll, or ll. Gene
DNA that has been passed down to one from their parents. We studied the genes of each suspect to determine whos genes matched with the DNA left at the crime scene. Chromosome
A structure that carries genetic information in the form of genes. By looking at each person's chromosomes we were able to figure out if they had any chromosome disorders, meaning having too many or too little chromosomes. Recessive Trait
A trait that is only expressed if it is homozygous. An example this trait is the arch fingerprint type which can only been seen when it is homozygous. Dominant trait
A trait that can be expressed when it is heterozygous or homozygous. This can be seen with hair colors were dark dominants over lighter colored hair. Co-Dominance
|
DNA Structure
DNA Replication
Chromosome disorders
A disorder that occurs due to having either too many and or not enough chromosomes.
XXX SYNDROME
XXY SYNDROME
XYY SYNDROME
DOWNS SYNDROME
Gene
Karyotype
Homozygous
|
Evidence
Fingerprinting
PedigreesSomething similar to a family tree were it shows the relationships between the people in terms of parent, child, sibling, partner, and etc. However the typically don't have names, because the main purpose of a pedigree is to see the family history of disease and traits. This can help predict what diseases and traits you might or have inherited from your parents or ancestors.
|
Ink ChromatographyBy placing a piece of paper with a dot of ink in alcohol, the mixture of ink begin to separate. This separation allows use to see what different inks are in it, meaning we were able to match the ink from the note to the pens found on the scene.
|
DNA FingerprintsThis is a way of profiling one’s DNA into something they can be indentified with, similar to a finger print. By finding the DNA fingerprints of the DNA left behind with the suspects we were able to determine who had left their traces on the scene.
|
Blood TypesBlood types are a way to identify a person as well, to find out what kind of blood type a person has you can do a clumping test. This basically shows you the types of anti bodies that are in the blood. Using the blood found on the scene and the blood of the suspects, we were able to pin down who's blood what left behind.
|
Presentation
Reflection
I believe that the overall project went very well. The experiments and test we did on the evidence we got went successfully and we got the correct results. Although the slide its self was not the most creative thing ever, so an area of improvement could be with making a form of presentation that is a bit more creative or unique. Although two things I believe really went well was the fingerprinting and the ink chromatography. The fingerprinting went very well because it went perfectly with out any complications with the process. Alike with the fingerprinting, the ink chromatography was completed without any complications and the whole contributed as well. However I believe that we could have done better with the DNA fingerprinting and the pedigrees. The DNA fingerprinting got a bit confusing and a lot of us didn't quite understand what we were doing, however we figured it out in the end. With the pedigrees at first we were unsure of which disease we were suppose to be going for, in addition all the suspects are closely related which made the incest hard to comprehend. During this project I believe I could have worked on being more of a conscientious learner and having more character. As we were working on the project I feel as though I didn't put more than my two cents into the learning of the subjects and should have done more self study about the topics. As for character, it would have been good to put a bit more personality into our outcome rather than just doing what was told like a robot. However I believe that I improved on my critical thinking and my collaboration. Since there were a lot of connections between the suspects and it got a bit confusing, untangling the mess really helped with my critical thinking skills. In addition, my collaborations skills improved by helping out my team when they asked and doing work. Overall this was a very enjoyable project and it was a lot of fun.