The basic principles of cell and molecular biology are that cells are the basic functional unit of life and that all cells arise from pre-existing cells are vital for biology. When I first learned about these principles, I was able to read complex literature about the cell cycle. In Biology 250, Intro to Genetics and Cell Biology, I was asked to read several challenging articles that pertained to class information. I remember the first one being so difficult to get through and understand. I have linked the article reflection here. I remember getting lost in the vocabulary and especially the methods. I did not have enough knowledge yet to understand how mitosis and meiosis worked. I was able to understand it better when I broke it up into smaller sections, and applied my knowledge of cell division to it. Knowing what I know now, I can read articles like this much easier and with a solid foundation of cell biology.
Later in the semester, I was able to research on my own with a lab partner. We decided to investigate the presence of yeast in honey samples. It was difficult to do, and we actually had to switch samples to properly perform the experiments. The other samples, from High Bridge Trail, worked much better. I used my knowledge of morphology, polymerase chain reactions and DNA sequencing to identify a strain of yeast in the sample. Since every cell has DNA, once we had acquired our sample it was necessary to amplify it before we could sequence it. I was so proud of my work and I even got to present this at the Research Showcase. Here is a link to my poster.