For this project, we had to solve a murder mystery using forensic science. We were given a crime report that described what happened and evidence from the crime scene. With this, we were able to use karyotypes, DNA fingerprinting gel, pedigrees, blood type matching, fingerprint matching, fiber analysis, and ink Chromatography. After we ran these tests, we had to create a convincing presentation on who we believe committed the murder and why. We presented this to a grand jury to convince them to grant us a search and arrest warrant.
Carleton was murdered the night of October 26, 2016. A picnic was held in honor of him on Chalk Hill, for Carleton was recently released from prison and changed his name. He invited people who he considered to be old friends or acquaintances. The guests were Nancy Normal, Theresa Terra, Fred Flimmer, Sam Sophomore, and Glen Glee. Each of their lives had somehow been affected by Carleton Comet, though they didn't know it.
My group and I convicted Nancy Normal of first degree murder with Sam Sophomore as an accomplice.
Presentation
Concepts
Genotype: genetic makeup of an organism
Phenotype: physical characteristics of an organism, how a genotype is expressed
Polygenic trait: trait controlled by two or more genes
Dominant: an allele that overpowers a recessive allele
Co-dominant: both alleles of a gene contribute to the phenotype of the organism
Incomplete dominant: one allele is not completely dominant over another
Alleles: one of a number of different forms of a gene
Gene: sequence of DNA that codes for a protein and determines a trait
Recessive: an allele that is overpowered by a dominant allele; both alleles must be recessive to show up in a phenotype
Segregation: separation of alleles during gamete formation
Probability: likelihood that a particular event will occur
Homozygous: term used to refer to an organism that has 2 identical alleles for a particular trait
Genome: all genetic material an organism has Blood types:
Blood typing was used in this project to identify the blood found at the crime scene.
Karyotype: a line up of all of your chromosomes; match by size and banding pattern; can be used to find chromosomal disorders; this was used to help identify if the suspects had any chromosomal disorders, and if any of the suspect's karyotypes matched the crime scene karyotypes
Electrophoresis: a technique commonly used in the lab to separate charged molecules (Ex. DNA); this process was used to compare the DNA taken from the suspect's fingerprints to the crime scene DNA
Chromatography: method of separating out materials from a mixture; this was used to identify what pen was used to write the note found at the crime scene
Restriction enzymes: cut a DNA molecule in a specific place PCR: a method of replicating DNA; can copy a segment over and over a billion times
Reflection
I thought this was a fun and interesting project. I enjoyed getting to run the different labs and learning about forensics. One peak to this project was that my group and I all stayed on task and contributed. Usually in a group, one or two people end up doing all the work, but I feel that for this project everyone cared and worked hard. One thing I did well on was being less controlling. Usually I don't incorporate a lot of other people's ideas into the project, or I go through and change most of their work. For this project, I listened to my group mate's ideas with an open mind and did not change their work. I will continue to do this for future projects. One issue my group and I had was with organization. It took us awhile to figure out how to organize our slide show and we didn't plan out who was going to present what slide. If we had organized what order we were going to present in, our presentation could have been smoother. One thing I am going to work on is staying positive. I tend to say negative remarks about the project, which is not helpful. I will start thinking positively and say only positive things that will make my group successful.