Tune in every Tuesday at 2 pm on Instagram Live @ROMtoronto as ROM Kids Coordinator and Camp Director Kiron Mukherjee combines his passion for children’s education with storytelling to bring to life science, history and art for you and your loved ones in the comfort of your own home. Kiron will share activities, easy at-home crafts, behind the scenes anecdotes and fun facts—all connected to the ROM collections.
This time on the ROMKids Show we learn all about the stuff that makes us us—DNA! Research technician and DNA expert Oliver Haddrath joins us to talk about the building blocks behind all life on Earth and what we can learn about ourselves by studying DNA. Then we will make the the impossibly small to see visible with an experiment that will allow us to view the DNA of a strawberry!
MATERIALS:
- strawberry
- 1 teaspoon of rubbing alcohol (needs to be cold, so put in the freezer)
- 2 teaspoons of dish soap
- 1 quarter teaspoon of salt
- 90ml of water
- ziplock bag
- cup to mix in
- small container, like a baby jar
- strainer, spoon, a bamboo skewer
1. Before starting your DNA adventure, work with an adult to make sure your experiment is done safely.
2. To make your DNA extraction mix, pour your water into your mixing cup. Then add your dish soap and salt and mix until the salt dissolves.
3. Next, put your strawberry into a ziplock and pour in your extraction mix. Remove as much air as possible from the bag, and then carefully and securely seal the ziplock.
4. Smush the strawberry into the solution until it no longer resembles a strawberry at all and instead just looks like strawberry mush.
5. Now it’s time to extract your strawberry DNA! Over a small container, pour your extraction mix through the strainer. Using a spoon, tamp down on the strawberry that doesn’t go through your strainer to maximize the amount of solution that goes through. Using a small container like a baby jar is important as it makes sure your mixture stays concentrated, and will allow your DNA to clump together easier in the next step.
6. Pour your rubbing alcohol into your container. This will separate strawberry DNA from the mixture and then clump it together at the top of your container. Use your skewer or tweezers to pull the DNA together so you can examine the DNA closer up!
As the ROMKids Coordinator & Camp Director, Kiron is the public face of the Royal Ontario Museum’s family and children’s programs. Kiron started volunteering at the ROM at age 14 and has never looked back. Though he majored in history at York University, Kiron also considers his early years as a ROMKids camper to be a highly formative part of his education. Now, he strives to provide engaging and educational kids’ programming so that future generations can look back on their ROM experiences as fondly as he has.
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