PLTW Biomed Chromosome Spread Lab

What is module 1 in the experiment for?

Dropping the cells

What is module 2 of the experimnet for?

Staining the cells

What is module 3 for?

Observing the cells under a microscppe

Step 1:Module 1

Place your slide flat in a plastic dish that will fit in the water bath.

Step 2:Module 1

Gently mix the suspension of cells by slowly pipetting up and down.

Step 3:Module 3

Using the same pipet remove the entire cell suspension and carefully drop the cells 15 cm from the dish.

Step 4: Module 1

Immediatly put the cell in the water bath and make sure it stays hot, incubate for 60 sec and let dry fro 5 min.

Step 1:Module 2

using a transfer pipet put the enture Giemsa stain onto the slide, cover the entire slide.

Step 2:Module 2

Incubate slide for 5 minutes in room temperature.

Step 3:Module 2

rinse the slide briefly by symbering in distilled water, gently tap on the slide of paper towel to remove excess water, if stain remains repeat with new water.

Step 1:Module 3

Using the low-powered objective, locate cells with good metaphase spreads.

Move to the 40X or 100X objective and count the number of chromosomes in the field of view. 

What are HeLa Cells

They are the oldest human cells and derive from Henritta Lacks who died of cervical cancer in 1951.