What CSI can teach students about DNA sequencing

WhenCSI: Crime Scene Investigationfirst premiered in 2000 on CBS, it was an immediate smash hit. In the years since it has been named themost watched show in the worldfive times with a worldwide audience of73.8 million viewers.

Fans love the show’s mix of drama, mystery, and dark humor, which prompted CBS to create three different spinoffs, all of which have been hugely successful. And in March of this year they broke the world record for the “Largest Ever TV Drama Simulcast” when 171 countries watched a worldwide broadcast of the show.
In manyCSI事件的调查人员正在寻找DNAevidence left at the crime scene that they could match with a potential suspect. Of course, because it’s a TV show, many creative liberties are taken that aren’t exactly true to real life criminal investigations or DNA science.
As a result, prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys alike have seen a growing phenomenon they’ve named the “CSI effect.” In particular, jurors now expect forensic evidence to be presented in trials, even though it is relatively scarce in most crime scenes. Second, jurors place unwarranted levels in both forensic evidence and the experts that testify about it in criminal trials. And thirdly, forensic scientist Thomas Mauriello argues that as much as40 percent of the sciencedepicted in CSI is nonexistent.
The truth is DNA analysis was not accurate enough to identify a suspect until the 1980s, when Tommie Lee Andrews wasconvicted in 1987due to DNA evidence at the crime scene. Today the science has advanced to the point that there is a one in more than a quadrillion chance of a random match of two people’s DNA.
这就是实验室ster’sCSI Labcomes in, helping to teach students DNA sequencing in an engaging and entertaining way that stays true to the science.

The lab begins just like the hit show, with the investigation of a murder scene. After collecting blood samples, the students go to a forensics lab to perform DNA analysis of their evidence, in hopes that the suspect’s DNA matches the collected perpetrator’s DNA.
But the lab isn’t all fun and games. It was created in collaboration with Dr. Mette Voldby Larsen, a professor at the Institute of System Biology at Denmark’s Technical University. Students explore the scientific principles behind Polymerase Chain Reactions and Gel Electrophoresis when sorting through their DNA samples in the virtual laboratory simulation. Upon completing the lab, students have a thorough understanding about DNA profiling and Small Tandem Repeats. Additionally, there is a quiz and a Labster Learning Wiki to deepen one’s understanding of the subject.
By combining the entertainment value of a show likeCSI质量学习经验的一个虚拟的boratory, Labster is able to engage students in an innovative way. With nearly half of STEM university studentsdropping their majorafter their first year of studies, virtual labs like Labster’sCSI labcan go a long way in keeping more students interested and excited about the life sciences.