You add a hypotonic solution (a liquid with low salt concentration). Through osmosis, water rushes into the cells. They swell up like balloons. The cell membranes burst, and the chromosomes spill out onto the slide, spreading apart like a dropped handful of pencils.
– The activity explains: “You have correctly identified the aneuploidy. Compare your karyotype to the normal male/female reference.” virtual lab university of arizona karyotyping activity
You lean back in your chair. The diagnosis is . The extra genetic material on Chromosome 21 explains Maya’s developmental delays and physical characteristics. It’s a diagnosis that answers questions for her family, allowing them to seek the specific therapies and support she needs. You add a hypotonic solution (a liquid with
You sit back and look at the computer screen. The microscope camera has taken a snapshot of a single cell. It’s a chaotic mess of 46 different chromosomes scattered across the screen. The cell membranes burst, and the chromosomes spill
You transfer the cells to a slide, but there’s a problem. Cells are crowded; the chromosomes are bunched up inside the nucleus like a tangled ball of yarn. You need to spread them out.
It was a quiet Tuesday morning at the University Medical Center. Inside the Cytogenetics Lab, the air hummed with the sound of refrigeration units and the soft click of microscope stages being adjusted. You are a lab technician, but today you feel more like a detective. Your specialty is genetics, and your tool is the karyotype.
The core of the activity involves three distinct patient histories, each presenting a different clinical scenario: Karyotyping Activity - The Biology Project