Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is used in a variety of applications in forensics, medicine, and research. PCR relies on the ability to thermally break apart a DNA strand, and replicate selected portions of the DNA (if present) through addition of “primer” coding for the selected DNA segment. Following amplification through 30–40 precisely controlled thermal cycles, samples are analyzed for the DNA segments by electrophoresis. We use a bioanalyzer “lab‐on‐a‐chip” instrument in the analysis, which represents an example of a micro‐total analysis system (u‐TAS).We are developing experiments to help chemistry students in the second semester quantitative analysis course become more familiar with PCR and with micro‐total analysis analyzers. We use a commercially available kit to provide needed PCR primers and reagents, and standard reference corn and soya powder samples containing the gene modifications. Components of “Round‐up Ready” and Bt‐producing crops, the 35S promoter of the cauliflower mosaic virus and the terminator of the nopaline synthase gene of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, are amplified. Students are assigned to bring in food samples of their own choosing for analysis. We are investigating the feasibility of performing analyses for other gene modifications in foods as experiments in undergraduate analytical and biochemistry courses.