UPCOMING: More Hands-on PCR training!
DIYBio.to is planning more PCR workshops at a library near you! No experience necessary. This is meant to be a fun and informative exploration of PCR, which is the cornerstore tech of molecular biology. REGISTRATION will be REQUIRED on Meetup or Eventbrite, as materials must be prepared in advance for each student. We will post the workshops as they come up here: No classes booked for February. We are planning for March and April now.
Course Description: Basic PCR protocol for Standard PCR and some Real-time qPCR. Learn to micropipette and set up PCR reactions. Course cost: materials fee.
Expectations and goals: Learn what PCR is and how to perform it.
DNA amplification using short DNA oligonucleotides, an enzyme to copy the DNA strands, and amplify them by attaching the nucleotides that correspond to the opposite strand. Given a set of primers that is well defined for the specific target, the method is fairly straightforward on paper, but requires attention to detail in practice. Using a Taq mix, the primers and mix are added together. Making Taq mixes from scratch is also possible, and requires utmost care in the preparation – keeping all DNA samples away from the preparation site. The next step is adding the template or test sample, and setting up the PCR machine with parameters appropriate for the primers. We also ran an agarose gel to visualize the DNA amplification.

Past Classes:
January 26, 2025: PCR Workshop at hacklab.to site!
Superfun group of people last month learning to do PCR! First we practiced pipetting, as the absolutely essential technical skill for PCR – this was a first for some, and lent itself to some colourful art!




We then went on to do our PCR which went pretty well!

Horse and Cow meat species primers were used in this experiment. Dilutions of 1/10 were performed, and the CTs by realtime showed a decrease. Some primer dimer was seen in a few lanes, but overall clear bands were seen at the highest concentrations.
Dec. 7, 2024: PCR Everything initiative, at the Toronto Reference Library!
After a summer of teaching PCR courses at the hacklab.to (see Previous classes below) and a local highschool, hosting the lab at our open houses (and recovering from another bout of covid), we had our first library outreach. We took our real-time PCR machine off to Toronto’s biggest library, the Reference library to teach our course there. Logistically, bringing all our equipment to the space was a challenge, but we managed! With two interns helping with the teaching, setting up and packing up of all the equipment, the course ran smoothly, and on time.


Prior to the course, we prepared handouts for the class members, generated templates for the testing of multiplex species DNA, but found predictably that certain templates are preferentially amplified from the DNA. As a result, we will be generating new templates or modifying the existing one, which we are subcloning into a high production plasmid. These templates and primer sequences will be available in the techniques section of our experiment.com site.
Prior to the course, we prepared handouts for the class members, generated templates for the testing of multiplex species DNA, but found predictably that certain templates are preferentially amplified from the DNA. As a result, we will be generating new templates or modifying the existing one, which we are subcloning into a high production plasmid. These templates and primer sequences will be available in the techniques section of our experiment.com site.

Cheers!
– Madlab
Previous Eventbrite classes:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/911671673517?aff=oddtdtcreator