Yesterday we did a lab where we learned how to extract DNA from strawberries. First we mashed up the strawberries.

We added an extraction buffer (soapy, salty water) and mashed it up some more.  Then we filtered the juice into a cup.

We used a pipette to add the strawberry juice to a test tube filled with ice cold ethanol.  We inverted the tube once to mix the juice with the ethanol. We could see the DNA separate from the juice. It rose to the top of the test tube and looked like a white slimy blob.

We rubbed a glass rod on a t-shirt to give it a charge and we used the glass rod to “spool” the DNA out of the test tube.