B1/B2t: Experimental und numerical models for the thermal selection of DNA
Thermal non-equilibrium systems likely played an important role as a selection pressure for early life. We will recreate such a system in the laboratory and use temperature gradients to study the selective accumulation of DNA. The experiment will include a brief introduction to laboratory practice, construction of heat flow chambers with built-in microfluidics, accumulation of DNA in the constructed heat flow chambers, and subsequent analysis of the concentration distribution within the heat flow chamber. There will be an introduction to Comsol as a numerical modeling tool so that the interns can replicate the experiment in a finite element simulation and freely explore the parameter space.
