If you want a more efficient, cheaper way to transform bacteria, if using a small DIY cannon to create a shockwave that forces bacteria to take up DNA from its surroundings sounds like your type of fun (if not, why not?!), you are definitely going to like this article. In a study published in 2011, Dipshikha [...]

Labs across the world spend a great deal of money on commercially manufactured Taq polymerase for PCR every year. But you don’t have to: Many labs choose to save money by making their own Taq (and Pfu for that matter) for routine applications. This post is not intended to provide a step-by-step protocol for making [...]

ECL can be an expensive reagent in a lab, and what with it being involved in the final stage of a western blot, it’s something you don’t want to have to worry about too much. During my PhD, I was struggling with my western blots for ages – it seemed I was doing everything right, [...]

I recently introduced you to the concept of polarising microscopy. Naturally, if evaluating refractile material is an everyday part of your research, it is definitely worth investing in a professional polariser modification for your microscope. But if you only use a polariser occasionally, this might not be the best use of your lab’s money. In [...]

I once knew a postdoc who was absurdly accurate at guessing the optical density of microbial cultures. I was jealous – imagine how much time I would save if I could spec my cultures just by looking at them! Since I lacked the innate optical talents required to compete with my friend, I developed a [...]

I recently read an article on WIRED about an optics experiment cooked up by the scientists at NIST to allow office workers to test for potentially dangerous infrared (IR) leakage by inexpensive laser pointers. Like many who read it, I wasted no time attempting to replicate their experiment on my desk. (I’m not sure why [...]

Microcentrifuges are pretty much the epitome of efficiency, but I have a couple of suggestions that may make using this instrument even easier. Divide by Three Not only is the number of tubes a microcentrifuge can hold divisible by two, but almost always by three as well. How does this help you? If you have [...]

While almost all of you are probably familiar with the power of eBay to bring you everything from concert tickets to electronics to your very own Batmobile, you may not have realized that the world’s largest garage sale also has quite a collection of laboratory equipment. I’ve been turning to this source for equipment for [...]

We recently had a feature from Jode on everyday equipment that you can use in the lab, but what about the other way around? Do you ever take a look at what you’re doing in the lab and think, “Wow, this would really come in handy at home?” Here are a few of the things [...]

I recently visited a lab that had a salad spinner on their lab bench and at first I wondered if they were putting together a salad lunch there but when I took a peek I got a nice surprise. It turns out that the salad spinner was actually a bench top, “minifuge” version of a [...]