Our first topic for the week is biology. Throughout the day we completed multiple labs about different topics within biology, including enzymes and lactose, extracting iron, and finally, dissecting an actual, preserved sheep’s brain.
Enzyme Lab
We started off the day with the enzyme lab, in which we learned about enzymes and substrates, and more specifically about dopamine and its chemical structure, the enzyme lactase, and the substrate lactose sugar. Initially we were treated to a presentation about this topic and also about lactase and the issues of people who are lactose intolerant; after that we were able to get hands-on and experiment with different ways lactase is used to separate lactose sugar into glucose and galactose.
Iron Extraction
Our next lab also started off with a bit of background, introducing how the brain includes a large amount of iron, and then proposing the question: If we were to separate this iron from the brain, how could we go about it? While it would be a bit unrealistic to blend a brain in a blender and try to separate the iron, doing the same thing with iron rich, Special K cereal was a realistic option. We crushed up cereal, mixed it with water, and began to mix it and heat it, with the help of a hot plate and a magnetic stirrer, and let the experiment run for 15 minutes. We saw that solid iron was produced and stuck to the magnet, as you can see in the picture below.
Brain Dissection
In this lab, we were able to get up close and personal and and dissect a preserved sheep brain. Thankfully, preserved brains do not have the blood and appearance of other dead matter, and is more resemblant of rubber. We started off by learning about the human brain, the different parts of it, and exploring a 3D model of the brain. Then students were able to dissect the brain in any way they wanted to, resulting in many different parts of the sheep brain being dissected. It was a very interesting experience for all of the students, and many remarked how it ended up being more interesting than they expected.
After dissecting, students were able to view the samples of tissue through a microscope, and see the different cells and interesting differences in the sheep brain.
