Students got a taste of a crime scene investigation during an
interactive outreach program as part of Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s
biological sciences and computational biology programs. The
Biotechnology Explorer Program engages secondary school students
through hands-on laboratory experiences while teaching them the
science behind the techniques they learn. During last year’s
program, Carnegie Mellon taught students about their immune
system and simulated a disease outbreak among the participants.
Students had to determine if they were affected, combining their
data back to pinpoint the source of the infection. This year,
when students entered the classroom, they saw a "crime scene,”
complete with an outline of the victim’s body on the floor. From
there, the students became forensic experts, collecting DNA
samples from both the crime scene and the five suspects. They
then broke the DNA into specific fragments using restriction
enzymes and used a technique called DNA gel electrophoresis to
determine the size of t