IGEM:IMPERIAL/2007/Projects/Experimental Design/Improve Methodology/Results1

Aims
The experiement was carried out on the  11-09-2007 This was an initial test to see whether having a layer of oil on top of the samples has an affect on the fluorometer reading or not. Paraffin and mineral oil were tested in this experiment with different concentrations of GFP.

Results
The bar chart on the left shows how the amount of fluorescence changed for different concentrations of GFP, as well as different volumes of paraffin oil being put in. The positive control in this test was the GFP without any oil in it. For the concentration 1 of GFP, there is very little difference in the fluorescence recorded for the different volumes of paraffin oil. But as the concentration of GFP is increased, the difference in fluorescence increases between the samples. It can be seen from the chart that 10&micro;l is the optimum volume of paraffin oil for fluorescence reading, as it gives a reading nearest to the control.

The second bar chart shows how the amount of fluorescence changed for different concentrations of GFP and different volumes of mineral oil. Similarly to the results for paraffin oil, the fluorescence seems to differ more and more between samples with increasing concentrations of GFP. 20&micro;l seems to be most optimal volume of mineral oil for fluorescence reading.

Discussion
Comparing the results for the two kinds of oils used, it can be seen that paraffin oil is better oil to use as the samples with paraffin oil have fluorescence closer to the controls, for all concentrations of GFP, compared to those with mineral oil. The volume of paraffin oil used will be between 10 and 30 &micro;l, depending on results from the evaporation test.