Zoo InternQuest is a seven-week career exploration program for San Diego County high school juniors and seniors. Students have the unique opportunity to meet professionals working for the San Diego Zoo, Safari Park, and Institute for Conservation Research, learn about their jobs, and then blog about their experience online. Follow their adventures here on the Zoo’s website! For our Wednesday adventure, interns visited the Institute for Conservation Research to discuss genetics. Interns met with three different professionals: Dr. Marisa Korody, a Senior Research Associate, Tram Nguyen, Research Assistant, and Dr. Oliver Ryder the Director of the Genetics Division. A pioneer in his field, Dr. Ryder has watched genetics grow and evolve to the field it is today. [caption id="attachment_116086" align="aligncenter" width="326"] Interns first met with Ms. Nguyen (left) and Dr. Korody (right) in the laboratory that houses the molecular genetics branch of the division. Specifically, molecular genetics looks at the chromosomes and genes of an organism. Ms. Nguyen told interns that the laboratory is kept busy by requests from other zoos for paternity, sex determination, and genetic diversity tests from field samples.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116083" align="aligncenter" width="450"] As seen in the picture above, there are many different samples that Ms. Nguyen and Dr. Korody will work with on a daily basis. The laboratory where Ms. Nguyen and Dr. Korody work has stations for each process of DNA amplification and sanitation to make sure the DNA does not become cross contaminated. This is especially important for primate DNA, their DNA can easily be contaminated by ours because the primers used are for primates will work for humans.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116090" align="aligncenter" width="450"] In this picture, Ms. Nguyen is showing interns the DNA of a condor that has been recently amplified. Ms. Nguyen explained that it was quite a large amount compared to many of the other samples that the laboratory has recently acquired. This was due to the use of phenol-chloroform technique, which yields a much higher quantity of DNA along with a higher purity.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116089" align="aligncenter" width="450"] In genetics, gel electrophoresis is used to check the quality of DNA and if it has been amplified properly. This is done with the help of ethidium bromide, which coats the DNA and allows it to be visualized under ultraviolet light. Dr. Korody stated that many processes, like gel electrophoresis, have waiting periods so the machine or process runs its course. During this time Ms. Nguyen and Dr. Korody will work on many projects so they waste as little time as possible.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116091" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Another task Ms. Nguyen and Dr. Korody may do utilizes a Genetic Analyzer along with the computer to show the results. This machine looks at Adenine (A), Thymine (T), Cytosine (C), and Guanine (G) and allows the visualization of the DNA’s pattern naked to the eye. This information can then be put in a sequencer or compared with bioinformatics to look for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP).[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116084" align="aligncenter" width="338"] Dr. Korody and Ms. Nguyen then took us to learn more about cytogenetics, which looks at the whole cell. Dr. Korody and Ms. Nguyen have the intention of creating cell lines for all the samples they receive so they can help preserve biodiversity. Additionally, it is the hope of San Diego Zoo Global to potentially use these cells in the future to fight extinction. In order to create cell lines they must receive tissue samples either from necropsies or biopsies. In this picture there are two tissue samples, the left is from a white-breasted cormorant trachea and the right is from a Jamaican iguana eye.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116088" align="aligncenter" width="279"] In this picture, Sam, a fellow intern, is looking into a microscope to view the mitosis stage of the cells in a flask. These cells, the blue on the screen, belong to Amani the southern white rhino. Once a cell line has been created the cells will be taken out of the flask and put in a media so they can be transported to the Frozen Zoo.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116087" align="aligncenter" width="450"] The last activity with Dr. Korody and Ms. Nguyen was an interactive puzzle. It taught interns about chromosomes, and asked us to pair chromosomes to create a karyotype, and lastly, figure out the sex of the mystery animal. Dr. Korody explained that before the use of modern technology, researchers would have to sit and cut out pictures of chromosomes to create karyotypes for the animals. Luckily, technology has come very far, but for some species, computers cannot create a karyotype due to of the lack of pairs and the uniqueness of the chromosomes.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_116085" align="aligncenter" width="450"] Before we departed from the Institute for Conservation Research, Dr. Oliver Ryder took a picture with us inside of the Frozen Zoo. Dr. Ryder reiterated that it is very important that species have their cell lines banked in the Frozen Zoo to take preventative measures in the case of extinction. The practice of genetics is a very important one and Dr. Ryder has stuck by it for over 40 years. “When you look at something closely, it changes who you are,” said Dr. Ryder.[/caption] Alicia, Photo Team Week Five, Winter Session 2016