Controls are obviously extremely important when setting up experiments. Without them, meaningful interpretation of the experimental results can be impossible. I say obviously, but in my previous job as a technical services scientist, you’d be surprised at how often I found myself talking to customers about the importance of controls. One customer commented, during our [...]

The reverse transcription (RT) step of RT PCR for converting RNA to cDNA is critical for accuracy in quantification and for finding low copy messages. So you want to make sure that this step is performed with the highest efficiency but without having to optimize every single step. To help you further in optimizing the [...]

If you want to isolate plasmid DNA, you crack your cells open and carry out a miniprep, trying very hard not to get any contaminating genomic DNA in your sample. If you want genomic DNA, you crack your cells open in a different way and try to isolate as much of the stuff as possible. [...]

For our “fresh new” version of the website, I’ll kick off with a series of articles on describing the contents of my professional “toolbox”. So, let’s open ‘er up and see what we get. In this installment, I’ll skim the top tray and produce my list of basic gizmos that, just like beer and pizza, [...]

If you buy competent E.coli regularly, you’ll know that they are pretty expensive. So the cost of screwing up a cloning or transformation experiment is pretty high in terms of money, as well as your time and sanity! But you don’t need this extra worry because despite what their high commercial cost would suggest, making [...]

DEPC. IF you work with RNA, you’ll know this stuff. It’s vital for ridding solutions of RNases that would otherwise destroy your work. But just how well do you know it?

There’s more than one way to do a plasmid miniprep. Here are 5 to add to your molecular biology arsenal.

What is cDNA? …and how do you choose the right tissue to make a cDNA for isolating your gene of interest? Here’s what, and how.

This is the story of how one of the most famous and quirky naming conventions in biology came into being.

A stunning animation of DNA replication