Inside the DNA Learning Lab

Inside this classroom laboratory, visitors and classes of students isolate and sequence their own DNA. They learn the same techniques that researchers use in the molecular laboratory at the American Museum of Natural History: isolating, manipulating, analyzing and storing DNA data.

Some of the machines used in this laboratory include:

Centrifuge - a high-speed spinning machine that separates DNA from other substances
PCR thermal cycler - a heating and cooling device needed to make many copies of a DNA sequence
DNA sequencer - a laser scanner reads the individual DNA base units, or A's, T's, G's and C's, tagged with different colors.

Genomic Learning Laboratory

The Genomic Learning Laboratory is an online resource designed especially for students and visitors who have sequenced their DNA at the Museum's Learning Lab. Inside the Genomic Learning Laboratory, participants can view their own genetic information, use a cladogram to explore the links between genes and specific traits in mammals, or even compare their own DNA with that of another species.

Please note that the Genomic Learning Laboratory is intended only for the use of students and visitors who have sequenced their DNA inside the Genomic Revolution's Learning Lab. It is not intended to be accessed as part of the AMNH's public website.

Decoding the Human Genome

Hailed as the greatest scientific achievement since man set foot on the Moon, deciphering the sequence of all 3.2 billion units of the human genome was an astonishing accomplishment. Starting in the 1980s, both government and private genomic research teams invented new laboratory tools and techniques specifically to analyze vast amounts of information. Finally in 2000, researchers announced they had pieced together our DNA code-a first draft of the human genome.

The basic skills needed to "read" the human genome are rooted in simple DNA analysis. The machines used for these tasks will undoubtedly change as computers get faster and smaller, but the five general laboratory steps remain the same: isolating, manipulating and sequencing the DNA followed by analyzing and storing the data.

Scientists today decode the genome by continuously running DNA segments through hundreds of sequencing machines and computers. Machines are often more visible in these laboratories than people.