Biotechnology is a discipline that mixes biology, chemistry, physics, engineering and information technology to make use of living organisms for manufacturing and industrial purposes. In its definition of the term, the Biotechnology Institute presents the cloning of plants as a typical example of how scientists have physically manipulated living organisms for centuries. But in reality, biotechnology touches numerous other topics of research and application.
One of the basic tasks required of biotechnologists is to be able to extract DNA from various elements. Using a home DNA kit, or making your own DNA extraction kit, you can compare the DNA of various foods, different people's hair or even random samples from your kitchen. You can also take it one step farther and compare different materials' DNA before and after it has come in contact with substances such as alcohol, acids or fire. This will allow you to determine if the original material's DNA changes when exposed to a variety of elements.
After your students understand how to identify DNA makeup, you can move on to a project that allows them to identify when supplements have been added to their food. Using similar DNA extraction materials, asked students if they can identify minerals, vitamins and nutritional elements such as fiber, glucose and fats, or not. Compare processed foods, using the DNA extraction method, to try to determine which one might be the healthiest. You can also try experimenting with extraction and identification methods.
With today's growing number of allergies and food intolerance, it can be interesting to take the time to understand how enzymes work and how they affect the ability to digest various foods. Understanding enzyme interaction, genetic links to enzyme production and theories related to allergies and food intolerance are all good biotechnology projects that use biological and chemical principles as well. Use diary products and calibration strips to understand how lactose reacts and to design tests that can determine if a product has any lactose. Vary the temperature of the products to see if the levels of lactose stay the same or test for glucose levels of different products over time.
Finally, at a high school level, biotechnology projects that demand creation of new products allow students to use previous knowledge to come up with practical applications of biotechnology principles. For example, studying the transformation of plants into biofuel requires knowledge about plant DNA, extraction of plant elements that go into biofuel, and how enzymes can transform the plant into an energy source. Ask students to create their own biotechnology experiment or to invent a product that would help solve a basic problem.
