This website and CDROM and was created through a collaborative project facilitated by the Scottish Institute for Biotechnology Education which included Deaf scientists, educators, hearing scientists and sign language interpreters. For more information on the Signing Biotechnology project please email sibe@ed.ac.uk.
Signing Biotechnology
Biotechnology is biology which provides some kind of use to us. This resource contains BSL/English descriptions of some aspects of biotechnology, focused around three simple experiments involving DNA and DNA technology.
Choose an experiment
1. DNA Extraction In this experiment participants extracted DNA from their own cheek cells and collect it in a vial, which can be made into a necklace. 2. DNA Fingerprinting In this experiment participants use a technique called DNA Fingerprinting to match DNA found at a crime scene to DNA taken from five suspects. 3. Bacterial Transformation In this experiment participants induce bacteria to take up a plasmid called pGLO. The plasmid contains a gene for green fluorescent protein. So the bacteria which have the gene switched on glow green!
Each experiment also has its own background biology, equipment and vocabulary.
About this project
The CDROM contains signed descriptors of three experiments DNA Extraction, DNA Fingerprinting and Bacterial Transformation.
This project was supported by University of Edinburgh, SASLI, BioRad, Midlothian Council and East Lothian Council, and was funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society
It is hoped that this resource will be used by sign language interpreters, teachers of the Deaf and communication support workers to assist them in the communication of biotechnology to the Deaf in situations such as science festivals, public science lectures and in the classroom.
Our methodology in this resource has been to try and avoid dependence on borrowed English vocabulary, rather to exploit the visuality of British Sign Language (BSL).
All the material needed to perform these experiments in the classroom and full written notes for teachers and technicians can be ordered from the Life Science Education section of BioRad. Please visit www.bio-rad.co.uk