Year 12 and 13 A Level Biology and BTEC Applied Science students took part in a unique opportunity to carry out research-level experiments.

Thanks to AMGEN and the University of Hertfordshire, they performed bacterial transformation using a red fluorescent protein gene from sea anemones. Over two weeks, they cut the gene, created recombinant plasmids, and inserted the gene into E. coli bacteria. The bacteria that absorbed the gene turned red and glowed under UV light (see ‘labelled result’ in folder).

Students also used gel electrophoresis (see ‘gel electrophoresis result’) and even got to see and use a PCR machine—which costs at least £15,000!

They learned valuable lab skills including micro pipetting, aseptic technique, DNA manipulation, bacterial transformation, gel electrophoresis, and PCR. These are key skills for any future in STEM.

It was challenging, but they did exceptionally well learning and applying so many new techniques.