ABOUT THE EVENT
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2025 10am EST
Event Location: Brooklyn, New York
2-Part Workshop
Session 1: Saturday, November 15, 10:00AM-2:00PM
Session 2: Saturday, November 22, 10:00AM-2:00PM
In this workshop, you’ll extract and analyze your own mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to explore your genetic ancestry. Over the course of this experiment, you’ll uncover how your DNA connects you to maternal haplogroups and distant human populations.
You’ll isolate mtDNA from your own cheek cells, amplify a region of the mtDNA using polymers chain reaction (PCR), visualize your DNA with gel electrophoresis, and sequence it using Sanger sequencing. Finally, you’ll use bioinformatics tools to align your data, determine your maternal haplogroup, and construct a phylogenetic tree of relatedness with your classmates and other global populations.
What You’ll Learn and Do:
- Extract DNA from your cheek cells
- Perform PCR to amplify your mtDNA
- Run agarose gel electrophoresis to confirm your results
- Sequence your DNA using Sanger sequencing
- Use bioinformatics tools like BLAST to analyze your mtDNA
- Discover your maternal haplogroup and compare it with others
No prior lab or coding experience is necessary, just curiosity!