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Three huge things needed
it is my hope that one to several of us will be able to look into the genetics of captive indigos, but there are three things (aside from cooperation and communication) that need to be realized to keep this conversation grounded.
the first is patience. even though the investigators on all the crime shows obtain DNA analyses within 10 minutes, the reality is that analyses are far more time consuming. the front end of the research will require weeks to months of getting protocols and methods up and running before any results or comparisons can be estimated.
the second is $ CASH. an obvious factor. it takes more than pocket change to do any meaningful DNA analysis (we're talking thousands of dollars).
this leads me to the third contingency, in order to get a time and monetary commitment from a lab, there needs to be something in it for the principle investigator or lab director. that means publication possibilities, and that means there needs to be a scientific question or hypothesis "worth" pursuing. this is harder done than said. there needs to be a valid biological question.
one possible route to help lower a couple of these hurdles is to get the USFW interested in providing some start-up funding, with the promise of being able to tell them something about natural population genetic structure.
it's certainly not impossible, it is worth doing, but my guess is that we'll need to find at least a couple of labs that would be willing to put in the time, resources, and money. that said, i am in the process of getting a molecular biology lab course to at least start trying to isolate a few microsatellite markers from some shed indigo skins. the money the school will be spending to teach students can be used to start isolating some useful DNA markers. but like i said, that course won't be taught until april, any possible results won't be secured until june, and that's just a start.
stay tuned,
matt
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