Part of Lesson Plan: Recombinant DNA Paper Lab

Activity Overview / Details

Ask students if they know someone who is affected by diabetes. Chances are it will be a large percentage of the class.  Ask students if they know what causes diabetes and how it is treated.
Most will have heard of insulin and know that some diabetics have to inject insulin to help control their sugar, but where does that insulin come from?

Show a video clip from the series DNA: Playing God which gives an overview of how insulin was originally harvested from cows and how scientists were able to genetically engineer bacteria to grow insulin in large quantities.  The video explains how the gene from insulin was identified, cut, and placed inside of a bacteria plasmid.  This is was the first time DNA was successfuly transferred from one organism and inserted into another.  In this lab students will model the process using paper.