550 students perform DNA isolation, set Guinness World Record

A group of 550 students from Lucknow who participated in the India International Science Festival (IISF), have registered a new Guinness World Record for being the 'maximum number of people to conduct a DNA isolation experiment'.

The students of GD Goenka School here participated in the mass experiment. All students were given one banana each and they extracted the DNA of each of the bananas. Most of them extracted the DNA within one hour and one minute during the IISF. They all completed the task successfully in 90 minutes.

The earlier record was set in 2017 in America when 302 students performed a similar experiment.

Speaking to ANI, a teacher from the school lauded the students saying, "We were really tensed for the competition but now our students have done it, and it is really a proud thing for us. We want to thank IIFS and the Government of India for giving us this platform. We were informed about this completion 10 days earlier. It was a team work for the students. We organised practice sessions for them and they did it. We would like to make more world records like this."

Meanwhile, Pranav Aggarwal, a student of Class 11 who participated in the experiment, said although it was a very tough experience for them being first timers, their teachers were very supportive.

Vasvi Aggarwal, another student of Class 9, added, "We practiced a lot and (gradually) it became easy for us. We are really happy to break America's record.