Gel Electrophoresis draft V 0.3

**** Update *****

This illustration is complete.
See it here

**** Update *****

**Bands added to samples**
**samples changed from crime scene material to DNA ladders**

V0.3 of a gel electrophoresis illustration.



Changes since version 2:

  • A small animated instruction has been added to encourage users to begin by dragging samples from the tubes to the wells.
  • The tubes now contain ladders (and one sample) rather than DNA from a crime scene, suspect and the victim.
  • When the gel runs visible bands migrate based on the size of the bands.
  • The ladders are 1Kb ladder, 50 bp ladder, HindIII cut lambda DNA, and HaeIII cut Phi cut DNA and a wide range ladder.
  • The unknown has three bands: 150, 500 and 750 bp.

Next steps:

  • Right now the only way to restart the illustration is to reload the page. A ‘Restart’ button is needed.
  • A labeling system is needed to indicate band size in each of the ladders and in the unknown.

There is a nice amount of functionality in this illustration, but I am still working through the best way to use it. The resources created to make these drafts will probably be used in several gel electrophoresis related illustrations each of which introduces an aspect of the process. Potential topics include: what is gel electrophoresis; the relationship between DNA fragment length and band migration speed; and restriction mapping.

The next draft may contain some of the elements of the first 3 versions but may look quite different as I settle on what aspect of gel electrophoresis to focus on.