For this project, my group worked on analyzing a murder scene to find the person at fault, provided with mock evidence and the opportunity to use forensics. Given a family tree with a background of each suspect, including disorders and motives, as well as DNA identification through fingerprints, our group was able to trace the evidence back to Nancy Normal as the murderer of Carelton Comet. The presentation below further explains our reasoning.
Content
Pedigree- the recorded ancestry, especially upper-class ancestry, of a person or family in the form of a family tree to assess all medical conditions
Our group created a pedigree diagram of each suspect's family to assess all disorders and medical conditions to find any convincing motive among suspects.
Ink Chromatography- method for analyzing mixtures by separating them into the chemicals from which they are made by separating the colored pigments that make up the color of the pen
We used this method in order to break down the death note given to Carelton Comet and identify the writer.
Karyotype- The characterization of the chromosome complement of a species (such as the shape, type, number, etc. of chromosomes)
This process allowed our group to analyze the suspects to find any possible disorders.
DNA Fingerprinting- gel electrophoresis is used to separate specific strands of DNA in a sample to be compared
The DNA colors on the fingerprints could be matched to those of the colors of the crime scene, allowing our group to match the suspect.
Genetic Mutation- a change within the genome
Co-dominance- When one trait is not dominant over the other, creating a phenotype which has both dominant phenotypes.
Incomplete Dominance- When two traits have incomplete dominance, neither is dominant. This results in a third phenotype expressed in heterozygous individuals.
All dominance factors were taken into consideration when analyzing diseases and blood.
Punnet Squares- A tool that helps to show all possible allelic combinations of gametes in a cross of parents with known genotypes in order to predict the probability of their offspring possessing certain sets of alleles.
Genetic Engineering- using technology to alter an organism's genome in order to benefit the individual and/oror the human race
Our group created a pedigree diagram of each suspect's family to assess all disorders and medical conditions to find any convincing motive among suspects.
Ink Chromatography- method for analyzing mixtures by separating them into the chemicals from which they are made by separating the colored pigments that make up the color of the pen
We used this method in order to break down the death note given to Carelton Comet and identify the writer.
Karyotype- The characterization of the chromosome complement of a species (such as the shape, type, number, etc. of chromosomes)
This process allowed our group to analyze the suspects to find any possible disorders.
DNA Fingerprinting- gel electrophoresis is used to separate specific strands of DNA in a sample to be compared
The DNA colors on the fingerprints could be matched to those of the colors of the crime scene, allowing our group to match the suspect.
Genetic Mutation- a change within the genome
- Point: single nucleotide change
- Substitution: one nucleotide to another
- Nonsense: early stop codon
- Missense: one amino acid is changed
- Frameshift: changes the frame of gene reading
- Insertion: new nucleotides added
- Deletion: nucleotides taken away
Co-dominance- When one trait is not dominant over the other, creating a phenotype which has both dominant phenotypes.
Incomplete Dominance- When two traits have incomplete dominance, neither is dominant. This results in a third phenotype expressed in heterozygous individuals.
All dominance factors were taken into consideration when analyzing diseases and blood.
Punnet Squares- A tool that helps to show all possible allelic combinations of gametes in a cross of parents with known genotypes in order to predict the probability of their offspring possessing certain sets of alleles.
Genetic Engineering- using technology to alter an organism's genome in order to benefit the individual and/oror the human race
Reflection
Overall, this project was one I enjoyed but felt like could have gone much better. One thing we did well was accomplishing all tasks on time. This has been an issue for me in the past, considering I allow myself to procrastinate. This project's specific timeline prevented this from being an issue and alleviated so much stress. Another positive was the work put into finding Nancy Normal to be the culprit was one I found interesting. Forensic science is a field that intrigues me considering how much simple tests can reveal. However, our group did run into some issues, one being distribution of work. My group lacked equal delegation among us, resulting in some having to compensate for others and put much more time into this investigation. Another drawback was the lack of success we found within the experiments due to lack of focus and disregard for the instructions provided. Measurements were incorrectly made, steps were taken out of order or entirely skipped, and consistency was not considered a major priority, resulting in some of the tests being entirely inconclusive and unhelpful. In the future, I hope our entire group steps up to meet the challenge head on.