A Metabolic Murder Mystery: A Case-Based Experiment for the Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory

Autor:	Andrew D. Kauffmann, Daniel R. Lysiak, Frank J. Dinan, Shane G. Poplawski, Jane K. Arcadi, Robert J. Stewart, Jessica L. Childs-Disney
Rok vydání:	2010
Předmět:	Science instruction Biochemistry Conviction General Chemistry Metabolic disease Laboratory experiment Psychology health care economics and organizations humanities Life imprisonment Education
Zdroj:	Journal of Chemical Education. 87:1110-1112
ISSN:	1938-1328 0021-9584
DOI:	10.1021/ed100243x
Popis:	In 1990, a woman was wrongly convicted of poisoning her infant son and was sentenced to life in prison. Her conviction was based on laboratory work that wrongly identified ethylene glycol as present in her son’s blood and in the formula he drank prior to his death. The actual cause of the infant’s death, a metabolic disease, was eventually disclosed as a result of analytical work done by scientists who believed the mother was wrongly convicted. On the basis of the scientists’ work, the conviction was overturned. This real-life case serves as the launching point for a biochemistry laboratory experiment, which uses polymerase chain reaction. Students design their own primers, amplify two biological samples, and analyze the results by gel electrophoresis to determine if their patient has a genetic mutation. This genetic mutation causes the metabolic disease, which if present can be used to “solve” the case.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz:	https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_________::76bf6e70d3f099747c7f4c4ca6849715 https://doi.org/10.1021/ed100243x Zobrazit plný text záznamu