Scientists are stunned by a teenager Fred Turner from Brighouse, West Yorkshire, who built a working DNA testing machine in his bedroom see if this brother, Gus, has a mutated gene to cause ginger hair. Yeah!! He wanted to know why is brother is Ginger, and he isn’t.
He calls this machine as Polymerase chain reaction machine where he spent £250 to make the device. Ordinarily, a DNA testing machine would cost £3,000. He said that the machine makes copies of his DNA and use it to test how it reacts under different temperatures. By heating and cooling the DNA sample, he was able to see if his DNA is different from his brother’s. He then discovered that his brother Gus has a mutated Gene which explained why his brother was ginger. His source of inspiration to make such a machine was that he read about a man in United States who made his own, he read how he had made his machine and thought that he could improve the design.
He started on this project in May 2012 and he also worked in a part-time job selling sofas while studying for A-levels in biology, maths, physics and chemistry.
Fred was very fascinated by his brother’s ginger coloured hair, and it was that which encouraged him to build this DNA testing machine by using components from household items, even using an old video player. After years of work, the end product impressed certain scientists enough to name him “UK’s young Engineer of the Year’. He participated in Young Engineer of the year awards in London and after impressing the judges, he won. Now he gets calls from researchers who want to use his machine.
Fred is now offered a place to study biochemistry in Oxford Univeristy from September.
Source: DailyMail
Once he graduates from Oxford he should apprentice himself to a cabinet maker or woodworker so he can improve his DNA’s enclosure.