AISSU兩位“小小科學(xué)家”探索神奇的DNA世界

天文學(xué)家卡爾?薩根曾經(jīng)說過：“每個(gè)人在他們幼年的時(shí)候都是科學(xué)家，因?yàn)槊總€(gè)孩子都和科學(xué)家一樣，對(duì)自然界的奇觀滿懷著好奇和敬畏。”

深大師院國(guó)際高中致力于向不同層次的學(xué)生提供各種機(jī)會(huì)，鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生獨(dú)立思考、不斷探索，注重培養(yǎng)學(xué)生的國(guó)際視野、前沿意識(shí)和人文素養(yǎng)，旨在將學(xué)生培養(yǎng)為全面發(fā)展、英語特長(zhǎng)的國(guó)際人才。

這個(gè)寒假，AS年級(jí)陳本銓（左）、余鴻寬（右）兩位同學(xué)在學(xué)校的大力推薦下，帶著對(duì)生物科學(xué)的好奇和不可遏止的求知欲望，參加中信銀行聯(lián)合生物行業(yè)龍頭企業(yè)華大基因共同打造的超高含金量背景提升項(xiàng)目——未來生物學(xué)家之基因探秘。

在專業(yè)指導(dǎo)老師的帶領(lǐng)下，他們探秘我國(guó)首個(gè)獲批籌建的基因庫，學(xué)習(xí)生命遺傳物質(zhì)DNA的各種知識(shí)，利用頂級(jí)實(shí)驗(yàn)室設(shè)備進(jìn)行“如何用基因測(cè)序鑒定物種”、“DNA指紋圖譜與司法偵查”、“親手操作轉(zhuǎn)基因”、“運(yùn)動(dòng)基因揭秘”四大經(jīng)典基因?qū)嶒?yàn)項(xiàng)目……極大地開拓了科學(xué)視野，鍛煉了科學(xué)思維。

他們盡情在生物學(xué)的海洋里徜徉，大口吮吸著新鮮的生物知識(shí)，利用這6天學(xué)到的知識(shí)以及收集到的文獻(xiàn)資料，并結(jié)合自己的想法，分析科學(xué)話題，暢談基因知識(shí)。

憑借積極的態(tài)度和突出的表現(xiàn)，陳本銓、余鴻寬兩位同學(xué)均拿下“優(yōu)秀學(xué)員”的榮譽(yù)稱號(hào)！

陳本銓、余鴻寬獲“優(yōu)秀學(xué)員”

AISSU老師到場(chǎng)支持雖然項(xiàng)目只有短短6天，但兩位同學(xué)均表示受益良多。

在這里，他們也將分享自己的感受。

AS-4 余鴻寬我很榮幸能代表學(xué)校參加此次活動(dòng)，這次活動(dòng)對(duì)我來說意義非凡。

首先，這是一個(gè)非常有含金量的實(shí)操性活動(dòng)。

華大學(xué)院的實(shí)驗(yàn)室里有很多非常先進(jìn)的儀器設(shè)備，在老師的指導(dǎo)下，我完成了許多相對(duì)復(fù)雜和高要求的實(shí)驗(yàn)。

例如，華大學(xué)院的實(shí)驗(yàn)室里配備有非常精確的移液槍，這也是我第一次親眼見到并親手操縱這種儀器。

在做實(shí)驗(yàn)的時(shí)候我就可以提取到以微升為單位的液體，這樣既增加了實(shí)驗(yàn)的精確性，又不用浪費(fèi)太多材料。

這么多實(shí)驗(yàn)中，令我印象最深刻的實(shí)驗(yàn)是DNA條形碼實(shí)驗(yàn)。

這個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)的原理就是在魚肉細(xì)胞的線粒體中，有一個(gè)DNA序列叫做CO1，每種魚的CO1序列都是不同的，通過檢測(cè)這個(gè)序列并拿到數(shù)據(jù)庫去比對(duì)，我們就能很清楚地知道這個(gè)魚的品種了。

我們先切了一小塊魚肉，之后加入裂解液裂解細(xì)胞；加入裂解液后利用離心的方法，魚肉細(xì)胞里的油會(huì)浮在最上層；利用移液槍將油抽出后，加入無水乙醇去溶解除DNA以外的雜質(zhì)；

之后向試管里加入硅去吸附DNA，并把無水乙醇濾走；往硅固體里加入水，DNA便會(huì)融在水里，把硅過濾掉就得到了只含有DNA片段的溶液，經(jīng)過

擴(kuò)增后就可以拿去數(shù)據(jù)庫比對(duì)了。

其次，華大學(xué)院的老師們都有淵博的學(xué)識(shí)。

在帶領(lǐng)我們做實(shí)驗(yàn)的同時(shí)，又不斷地給我們復(fù)習(xí)和鞏固已經(jīng)學(xué)過的知識(shí)，此外還普及了一些非常前沿的知識(shí)，這讓我們開拓了視野。

我記得最清楚的就是華大的老師們向我們介紹第二代DNA測(cè)序儀的工作原理，讓我們了解到科技的發(fā)達(dá)讓DNA測(cè)序變得快捷和準(zhǔn)確。

對(duì)于我來說，經(jīng)過這次活動(dòng)后，我對(duì)生物信息學(xué)萌生了興趣，因?yàn)檫@門學(xué)科是計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)和生物學(xué)的交叉，或許不久的將來我將會(huì)申請(qǐng)這個(gè)major。

我推薦對(duì)生物感興趣和選了生物課的同學(xué)有機(jī)會(huì)的話參加這個(gè)活動(dòng)，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)活動(dòng)做的所有實(shí)驗(yàn)都是和A-Level生物對(duì)標(biāo)的，在鞏固知識(shí)的同時(shí)又能接觸很多前沿的生物方面的東西，這無疑是非常有價(jià)值的。

最后，我想表達(dá)一下我的感激之情。

感謝學(xué)校老師的認(rèn)可和支持，推薦我去這樣一個(gè)高水平的活動(dòng)，讓我有機(jī)會(huì)和其他優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生一起競(jìng)爭(zhēng)、學(xué)習(xí)；感謝我的父母，感謝他們能理解并允許我在開學(xué)后參加活動(dòng)；

感謝中信銀行的李老師，是她每天陪著我們一起去華大學(xué)院，并且在午餐上對(duì)我們多加照顧；感謝華大基因的各位老師們，是你們教會(huì)了我許多前沿的知識(shí)和

實(shí)驗(yàn)的規(guī)范，這將會(huì)對(duì)我今后的學(xué)習(xí)產(chǎn)生有利的影響。

AS-1 陳本銓

It is widely held among biology teachers and the scientific community that fieldwork is valuable, but little is heard about students' perception of fieldwork or about the reasons for their liking or disliking fieldwork.

However, right after the spring festival, a special team comprising of eight high-school students who aspire to make our contributions in the future field of biology met at the BGI headquarters under the guidance of a responsible teacher from the CITIC Bank.

On the first day, eight future biologists went to the National Genome Library where we started a journey of exploration in bioscience and gene technology.

 At this databank ,cutting-edge scientific equipment and rich examples of animals and plants really blow our minds.

Then for the rest of the journey, we stayed at the laboratory, learned about lab safety instructions and  conducted a series of biological experiments ,including DNA barcoding and fish DNA extraction, Forensic detection and DNA fingerprinting, analyzing our athletic genes and PCR technique and so on.

Among theses marvellous experiments , the one I fancy the most is the human ACTN3 gene and PCR simply because it tells me which type of muscle fibres I have, slow twitch(Type 1) muscle fibers or fast twitch(Type 2) muscle fibers.

First of all, we collected our DNA via saliva and added a host of different agents(i.e.lysis buffers, binding buffers and proteinases) into it to extract our DNA.

Then we have them undergone PCR reactions in thermal cylcers and finally used gel electrophoresis and a UV imaging system to see which type we belong to.

Unsurprisingly, I find myself to be RX type, a balance reached between type 1 and 2 muscle fibres.

On the final day, we gave our presentations in the form of two members in a group, and my group was assigned the topic of gene editing.

In the preparations for this topic, I looked into the goals, methods and applications of editing genes.

My partner Luna and I talked about the latest and most advanced tool called CRISPR, or more correctly CRISPR-CAS9 which is, undoubtedly, changing the entire field of biology.

It was originally described as an immune system in bacteria and archea against the invasion of virus, which was probably the oldest war waged on the earth.

Basically, this immune response is all about the protein-RNA duo.

When some of bacteria get infected by a virus, they save a chunk of its genome in a long string-like DNA called crispr locus and they use each chunk of DNA as a template to synthesize a similar molecule called RNA.

 Here, this protein acts as a guide to find the matching DNA and Cas9 is simply a nuclease cutting wherever its boss, guide RNA, tells it to.

So the next time ,this virus shows up ,the guide RNA find the matching chunk of DNA and calls over Cas9 to chop it up and destroy it.

To summarise, this unique experience at BGI lab with all these patient and knowledgeable mentors successfully overthrew how I perceive the subject biology and again taught us the vital importance of cooperation and teamwork.

Finally, just like what BGI says and does all the time, their aspiration as well as ours now is to use genomics to benefit the human race in the future.