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How to Use GFP. GFP is an acronym for Green Fluorescent Protein. Scientists won the Nobel
Prize in Chemistry for finding this glowing protein in a jellyfish species. Learn the
basics about GFP’s use in observing cells and genes. You will need GFP science project
kit Dark room and uv penlight. Step 1. Learn what GFP is. This irredescent protein comes
from the crystal jellyfish and is used as a marking tool by molecular biologists to
illuminate and track cells and genes. Before GFP’s discovery, dyes were used to mark
cells, but wound up killing those cells. GFP does not kill cells. Step 2. Use a GFP student
science project kit available through educational science companies. Kits come with a plasmid
that is a mixture of bacteria and GFP, so caution in handling is important. Step 3.
Learn how to observe GFP with student science project kits, each made for GFP experiments
of varying degrees of difficulty. You don’t need an expensive microscope to see GFP, just
a dark room and a UV penlight. Step 4. Learn how GFP is used. Harvard scientists use GFP
to map the neural circuits of the brain in lab mice. GFP can track cancer cells in detail
as they develop. It can also be used to detect biological agents planted by terrorists. Did
you know Artist Eduardo Kac stirred controversy with his “GFP Bunny” installation, a GFP-implanted
rabbit that glowed green under a blue light.