The mission:
On February 8, 2018, Carleton Comet was murdered outside of San Marin High School while he was at a picnic. Our job was to use multiple methods of forensics analysis to establish the murderer and their motive.We had some background information on the set of suspects that were present at the picnic. Combined with the forensic evidence found at the crime scene, we had all the data that we needed.
ConceptsKaryotype: A karyotype is an appearance of chromosomes that are numbered and paired by size and used to show genetic diseases. Using karyotypes we figured out what chromosomal disorder each person had at the crime scenes. Nancy Normal had Triple X Syndrome, which matched the chromosomal disorder at one of the crime scenes
Pedigree: A pedigree chart displays a family tree, and shows the members of the family who are affected by a Genetic trait. They record ancestry of a person or family and shows diseases and how they were passed down. We used this to trace the family histories of the suspects, showing the diseases that each person had. Nancy Normal had Huntington's Disease.
Genetic disease: A genetic disorder is a genetic problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome, especially a condition that is present from birth (congenital). Most genetic disorders are quite rare and affect one person in every several thousands or millions. We used this because Marfan's Syndrome and Huntington's Disease were passed down throughout the families of the suspects, and Nancy Normal had Huntington's Disease.
Mutation: A mutation occurs when a DNA gene is damaged or changed in such a way as to alter the genetic message carried by that gene. We analyzed the mutations of the suspects to find out who killed Comet. There are six main types of mutations, insertion, deletion, substitution, frameshift, and pointI
nk chromatography: separation of a mixture by passing it in solution or suspension through a medium in which the components move at different rates. We used it because it was involved in one of the experiments we did to find out who wrote the note found at the crime scene.
Punnett Squares:The punnett square is a square diagram that is used to predict an outcome of a particular cross or breeding experiment. The diagram is used by biologists to determine the probability of an offspring having a particular genotype. There are two different types of Punnett Squares. Monohybrid crosses are 2x2 grids while dihybrid crosses are 4x4 grids. We did not use these in the project.
Reflection:
This project was one that our class was looking forward to for most of the year. The project was intended to be one that was mostly student analyzed, with the teacher only setting us up with the necessary knowledge. In that regard, we believe that it worked. However, as a group, we had our own set of strengths and weaknesses. One of our peaks were everyone in my group got along with each other no problem, there was very little if not no fighting. Another peak was brainstorming, we all worked together for an idea and put it on paper. One pitt for my group was definitely attendance, throughout the whole project our whole group was together for one day which hurt us. another pitt was time management, we did not do the best job at this, which also affected us later in the project.
below is a link to our presentation that we made for this project.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kK5RdnDktl9xjgm21IuSggwoR3GZ34IH_bYzNR7ZfpM/edit#slide=id.p