Fingers crossed

This week I began working within my extraction protocol (finally). The protocol I am using is rather lengthy and this can be an issue for me as I only have certain time blocks for lab work. When scheduling my classes for this semester I tried very hard to work a non-class day into my schedule. This would have been amazing for research purposes - I would have been able to conduct this protocol all at once. Instead I have to compartmentalize the protocol. In order to be able to leave the lab lab for this semester's coursework, I have to find break points in the operation where the sample is (hopefully) stable enough to be stored until I return.

I have not fully completed the extraction as yet. I have precipitated the DNA out of solution and things look very promising at this point. There are still a few more steps for washing the sample and then storing it in a TE buffer.

Once this process is complete, I will likely run the sample through a spectrophotometer to obtain analytical data concerning concentration of DNA (thanks to Paul C. for his work on optimizing it's usage). Next will be the final tests of gel electrophoresis, and PCR.

This is a 2mL eppendorf tube containing my DNA sample. The darker yellow substance in the bottom of the tube is the DNA. My fingers are crossed in hopes that this sample will be nice and clean for purposes of electrophoresis and PCR amplification.