Gel Electrophoresis: Visualize and separate nucleic acids Virtual Lab

Your peanut butter keeps getting stolen and it is time to catch the thief. In this simulation, you will learn how you can use DNA fingerprinting to identify individuals. You will use gel electrophoresis to separate and visualize DNA fragments.

Loading the gel

Join Dr. One in the molecular biology lab. The DNA samples from the crime scene and two suspects have already been collected, extracted, and amplified for you. You will start by learning about sample preparation and loading the samples into an agarose gel with a pipette.

Look inside the gel

Once you have loaded all the samples into the gel, you can start the gel electrophoresis process. While this runs, you will dive into the gel tank and discover how DNA fragments are separated by size with this technique through an immersive animation.

Analyzing the gel

Now that you understand how gel electrophoresis works, you will return to the molecular biology lab. The DNA fragments have now been separated and visualized so you can compare the band patterns of the two suspect samples with that of the crime scene sample. Will you be able to catch the thief?