waiting to digest

[aengelheart]

Yup, that's right. I have about 12 more minutes until the digestion if finished. No, i'm not talking about my lunch, but rather a piece of plasmid DNA that i fondly call pNH1. (p = plasmid, NH = my initials, 1 = the first one i have made) Yes, i have a little piece of DNA to call my own which is presently sitting in a 37 degree C incubator

Comments

why digest?

[odditory]

What is the origin of the dna? Did you splice something interesting into the plasmid, and are amplifying? Why radioactive, why not fluoresce? I assume you are going to some sort of gel electrophoresis next?

In short, why are you doing this? If it isn't exciting, why are you doing it? This is all very exciting, if you just look at the big picture. I personally don't find the needleman wunsch algorithm very exciting, except it allows us to fast-forward the process of determining the three dimensional structure and function of gene products, bringing us one step closer to running cells in simulation, which isnt too far from running multi-cellular organisms in silico, and shortly after that I will be able to represent an entire human digitally.... at which point I will be uploading myself into the nearest trans-planetary information pipeline, and vacationing on Pluto.

Oh wait, we scientists aren't supposed to say that out loud.

Re: why digest?

[aengelheart]

It IS about the big picture. It is the digest itself which is not too thrilling...b/c i just sit on my ass for an hour. Basically I'm creating a construct for a pre-mRNA splicing substrate that will later be used for gold-labeling studies of macromolecules.