Search results for: aseptic technique
Red light/Green Light In Aseptic Technique: When Is The Flame OK?
…are indeed! Good aseptic technique is often accompanied by some healthy paranoia (DON’T TOUCH MY BUGS WITH YOUR BUGGY HANDS!) but there are times when you need to quench your…
Read MoreWhat is Sterile? Find Your Way around a Sterile Tissue Culture Hood
…being free from biological contaminants. Aseptic technique will ensure that only the things you want to grow in your culture will. If you are mindful of sources of contamination and…
Read MoreBasic Bacterial Culturing Practices
…To combat this problem, sterility and aseptic technique are some of your most critical allies. Sterilize Your Bacterial Culture Tools Before Use! You can easily sterilize utensils, liquids and agar…
Read MoreTips for Successful Bone Marrow Isolation
…a difficult technique. Flash forward to a few weeks later and I was confidently undertaking bone marrow isolation. Learning a new technique is always daunting, but with practice and a…
Read MoreThe Nitty Gritty’s of Cell Culture Techniques
…tell you this is the only way. Therefore, there is some wiggle room in keeping your cell lines and techniques aseptic. Leave the Cap Lids Face Up or Down? Depending…
Read MoreThe Do’s and Dont’s of Choosing a Cell Line
…while you authenticate them. It’s a good idea to give your aseptic technique the occasional tune-up as well. A good aseptic technique will ensure you don’t contaminate your other cultures…
Read MoreHow to Measure FRET
…called donor dequenching, this technique measures increased donor emission when the acceptor is photobleached. Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy FRET (FLIM FRET) – This technique detects fluorescence lifetime changes of donor….
Read MoreSAGE Part 2: LongSAGE, RL-SAGE and SuperSAGE
SAGE, or serial analysis of gene expression, is a technique that enables you to digitally analyze the entire gene expression profile of a cell(s). Before this technique, scientists were limited…
Read MoreUsing Gage R&R Studies to Measure Precision in the Lab
…of a result (from laboratory technique and environment to instruments), the field of “measurement systems analysis” can become a critical means of trusting one’s data. The purpose of this article…
Read MoreStudying the Epigenome by Next Generation Sequencing
…When reading a sequence treated with bisulfite, every cytosine we find is from a methylated spot. Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing Whole Genome Bisulfite Sequencing (WGBS) is a great technique that…
Read More3 Carcinoma Cells, 2 Stromal Cells and a Partridge in a Pear Tree: An Introduction to Cell Co-Culture
The first thing you learn about culturing cells is proper aseptic technique and avoiding contamination. After that you’ll learn all the ins and outs of culturing your project’s specific cell…
Read MoreBiological Safety Cabinets and Culture Hoods: Know The Difference
…Air is HEPA-filtered as it is drawn into the cabinet and is also filtered upon exhaust. Because filtered air is circulated throughout the cabinet, aseptic procedures can be performed preventing…
Read MoreWhat’s THAT Doing in My Culture?
…aseptic techniques (washing your hands, wearing gowns and gloves, and using disposable pipettes, for example), you can help save off these common lab bugs. How do you prevent cell culture…
Read MoreGot Phage? Here’s how to get rid of it.
…vigorous mixing used for liquid cultures promotes phage reinfection, so it is better to use plates (freshly made under aseptic conditions) to isolate uninfected bacteria from your culture. Repeatedly streak…
Read MoreHow to Clean a Tissue Culture Incubator
…clean If you’re good about cleaning the incubator regularly, then the risk of contamination is significantly lowered. But good aseptic technique is also required to bring it down as much…
Read MoreTop Ten Tips for Making Stock Solutions
…and sometimes time can be as valuable as money! Keep your solutions clean – this is especially important in areas such as cell culture. Use aseptic technique and autoclave where…
Read MoreAntibiotics and antimycotics in cell culture: how do they work and do I really need them?
…Get the Mr. Sheen out! However, in the absence of antimicrobial agents, nothing beats good ol’ fashioned aseptic technique. Ensure you work cleanly, effectively and safely within the tissue culture…
Read MoreHow To Passage Cells in Culture
…tissue culture hood and set them up logically so you aren’t passing over the ‘clean’ area with dirty equipment. 4. Ensure you use aseptic technique throughout to minimize potential contamination…
Read MoreBanish the Background with Toxin–antitoxin Cloning Systems
…after cloning in theory contains the insert in the vector, ofcourse this is assuming you have good aseptic technique. The CloneJET PCR Cloning Kit and the Zero Blunt® Cloning Kit…
Read MoreHow To Fix Adherent Cells For Microscopy And Imaging
…(see this article about coverslip sizes) Top Tip: Use Sterile Technique It should go without saying, but I have to say it anyway, as it is so important. Whenever you are doing cell…
Read MoreInfecting Eukaryotic Cells With Bacteria (On Purpose!)
…bacteria/mediator in the appropriate volume of media for each condition, following bacteriological sterile technique. Set up your paraphernalia in the dedicated infection tissue culture cabinet. The same standards of sterility…
Read MoreWhat’s in Your Cell Culture Medium?
…when you order! 6. Antibiotics Many labs include antibiotics in their cell cultures to prevent unwanted bacterial or fungal growth, even when practicing aseptic technique. The most popular choice of…
Read MoreGetting in Deep: How to Deep Clean a Tissue Culture Hood
…keep in mind that while aseptic technique and daily wipe downs diminish the majority of contaminant growth, they are not the final line of defense. This article describes the extra…
Read MoreWhat the HEK? A Beginner’s Guide to HEK293 Cells
…any successful cell culture is consistency and an excellent aseptic technique to avoid infection. However, even if you are an absolute cell culture wizard, you can’t always avoid a mycoplasma infection. Mycoplasma can…
Read MoreA Beginner’s Guide to Culturing Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells
…answer is no. Unless you are deriving mESCs from embryos, there is no need for antibiotics, which should never be used as a substitute for good aseptic technique. Do I…
Read MoreAnaerobic Tents: General Tips for Use in Molecular Biology
…If the anaerobic tent is used as a sterile environment, make sure that it stays that way—prepare your materials appropriately and practice aseptic technique as necessary. 2. Do not leave…
Read MoreReverse Transcription: The Most Common Pitfalls!
…mammalian RNA). Solution: Bear These 3 Points in Mind Aseptic technique should be used when isolating and pipetting RNA solutions—clean the bench with an RNase inactivating solution (bleach or hydrogen…
Read MoreMultiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA)
Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA) is a molecular technique developed by MRC-Holland back in 2002. In a nutshell, MLPA is a sensitive technique that allows quantification of nucleic acid sequences,…
Read MoreSouthern (blot) exposure remains a useful technique
…earth still does that?” “Maybe for a very, very specific use,” conjectured one of the scientists. When I asked the scientist who taught me the technique a very long time…
Read MoreLive-Cell Imaging: Choosing the Right Technique
…which technique is right for you, we have put together a brief guide to the three most common methods for live-cell imaging and have discussed their issues and advantages to…
Read MoreAcid Fast: A Histology Tool To Detect Bacteria and TB
What Does Acid-Fast Stain? Acid-fast stain (AF) is an important special staining technique used in the histology lab. This is a differential stain used to identify acid-fast bacterial organisms, such…
Read MoreDetecting Post-Translational Modifications
…shift in mobility. This is a useful technique when you have no idea what kind of modification to expect, as many modifications may cause a shift (such as ubiquitin ladders…
Read MoreThe Next Big Thing: Alternative Polyadenylation
…a great technique for many different purposes, but it has a major downfall when studying polyadenylation sites: insufficient coverage of the regions of interest. Consequently, it is not able to…
Read MoreColor Transmission Electron Microscopy
…San Diego, has recently developed an exciting new technique, whereby TEM samples themselves can express color. The importance of this new technique is that it is the sample itself speaking….
Read MoreThe Sandwich Technique: How to Dish Out Critique
…gently correcting your mistakes. There’s a “sandwich technique” used in education; a protocol of sorts for providing constructive feedback. It recommends starting any assessment with praise, having critical remarks in…
Read MoreA Short History of Cryo-Electron Microscopy
…image the objects listed above amongst many others. The same reasoning applies to the atomic world. For over a century, X-ray crystallography has been the dominant technique used to capture…
Read MoreiPOND, Part 1: Fishing for Proteins with DNA as Bait
…proteins are present at DNA during or after replication, iPOND is an elegant technique to help you find out. In this article, I will explain how iPOND works and how…
Read MoreGetting Started with Raman Spectroscopy: What You Need to Know
Are you an assiduous biologist who prefers label-free imaging methods for biological samples analysis? Raman spectroscopy offers you a wonderland of imaging technique with unlimited benefits. To start with, Raman…
Read MoreOligo Purification Methods: How, Why and for What?
…your goal is, and how robust is your technique. If you are still not sure which one to choose, seek help from scientific papers that have used the technique you…
Read MoreActivity-Based Protein Profiling: A Powerful Technique for the Modern Biologist
…also use an azide or an alkyne for a “clickable” ABP. And without the reporter group, you’ll simply have an enzyme inhibitor. ABPP Detection Techniques ABPP is a powerful technique…
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