Competent cells, and Preparation for University of Calgary Campus Fair on June 6th
Competent cells
Competent TOP10 cells are regularly required in our labs because they are used to transform most of our plasmids. In order to make TOP10 cells competent, we need to go through several cycles of heat and cold shocking them, and exposing them to CaCl
2. This pokes holes in their membrane, which allows plasmids to move through. These competent cells were then verified via transformation of pBluescript, which are very small and easy for cells to uptake.
Figure 1. Verification of competent cells via transformation of pBluescript
Preparation of the campus fair
Prepared for the campus fair by making bacteria with art and drawing posters.