by Nick on October 30, 2009

This Halloween we want to treat you with some molecular biology goodies in the shape 10 juicy tricks. We’ve been bringing you advice since August 2007, but some of our readers may just be discovering our hallowed grounds. Join (read on...)

by Eric Perkins on October 23, 2009

Addgene, the non-profit plasmid repository, turned 5-years-old this year. That's five years longer than some of the scientists Addgene first approached to deposit plasmids thought we would last (I can say "we" because I'm a (read on...)

by John on October 14, 2009

One of the great features of PCR is its excellent sensitivity as we know. And many articles describe real-time qPCR as an added leap forward in that sensitivity - to the point where it has become a standard feature of a new assay (read on...)

by Suzanne on September 30, 2009

The problem of amplification of DNA templates containing high GC content continues to annoy researchers despite the many strategies developed to overcome this issue. Betaine is the most common additive used to enhance (read on...)

by John on September 14, 2009

It's the molecular biologist's version of 'I have good news. . and bad news'. The good news is that I amplified the DNA band of interest. The bad news is that I amplified these other bands as well! Oh, and this smear. What to (read on...)

by Shoba on September 4, 2009

Hydrolysis probes, commonly also referred to as TaqmanTM is a very popular chemistry for real-time PCR. In this article I will compare hydrolysis probes with PlexorTM. But first, a quick overview of hydrolysis probes. Hydrolysis (read on...)

by Andrew on September 2, 2009

In part I, I answered the question, "How do proteins in thermophiles survive under high temperatures?" In this part, I'll look look at how nucleic acids survive -thrive, even- in conditions that are too hot for most of us, but (read on...)

by Suzanne on August 25, 2009

Each winter, the flu season peaks in January as new strains of virus emerge and spread among school age children, elderly and immunocompromised members of the population. Diagnosis of flu, and other infectious diseases, puts (read on...)

by Shoba on August 24, 2009

In my last article I introduced you to the Plexor System. And from that we already know that while in reactions that user SYBR Green for detection, fluorescence increases with accumulation of PCR product, with Plexor the (read on...)

by Shoba on August 20, 2009

In real-time PCR, there are two primary ways to detect amplicons using fluorescent monitoring. One is intercalator-based dyes such as SYBR Green, and the other is probe-based techniques (hydrolysis or hybridization probes). All (read on...)