Saturday DNA! NYC - Organic, Selectively Bred, or GMO?

Our grocery stores are filled with products to fill the needs and wants of all consumers, which is awesome! But do you really know what it means for a food to be "organic?" How are your "cage-free" chicken eggs different from "free-range?" Why do many foods contain "bioengineered ingredients?" Join us as we dive into the nuances between these different terms and explore the molecular biology behind Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). We’ll also test snack foods for the presence of GMOs by extracting their DNA.

In this session, participants will:

• Learn what common grocery store terms like "organic," "all natural," "GMO," etc. really mean from a labeling standpoint;
• Discuss the Green Revolution and how it led to the development of GMOs;
• Conduct agarose gel electrophoresis to determine if foods are genetically modified; and
• Extract DNA from snack foods to determine if they contain GMOs or not. Participants are encouraged to bring their own crunchy snack food for analysis, and results will be shared the week after the session.

Ages 14 - adult, no chaperone required.