Archive for the ‘Technologies and Techniques’ Category
Better Than Betaine: PCR Additives That Actually Work
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...)
qPCR: Plexor vs Hydrolysis Probes
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...)
The Amazing Race: Pathogen Detection and Quantification
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...)
qPCR: Plexor and SYBR compared
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...)
Get the qPCR Fluorescence Low Down with Plexorâ„?
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...)
It’s Like Getting RNA from A Blood Sample
by Suzanne on August 4, 2009
So you have some blood stored in the -20C or -80C and you want to isolate RNA from the samples. If you wanted DNA, you would have many products to choose from. But for RNA, your choices are more limited.
Obtaining RNA from (read on...)
A new use for acupuncture in qPCR
by Suzanne on April 28, 2009
What do you get when you cross eastern medicine with molecular biology?
How about a novel way to isolate mRNA from living cells using acupuncture?
That's just one of many projects going on in Dr. Karl Hasenstein's lab at the (read on...)
An Intro to Cell-free Protein synthesis
by Shoba on March 2, 2009
Cell-free protein synthesis (aka In vitro translation) refers to protein production in vitro using lysates generated that provide the cellular machinery necessary for synthesis. The lysates can be of bacterial or eukaryotic (read on...)
Sharpen Up Your Protein Gels
by Bala on September 22, 2008
Last week, Nick talked about about SDS-PAGE. Today I am going to tell you about tweak that will improve your SDS-PAGE protein gels.
It involves using Bis-Tris gel buffers. Although Bis-Tris adds a considerable cost to the (read on...)
Zebrafish: Making Development Transparent
by Dan on February 19, 2008
With the recent development of transparent Zebrafish, allowing scientists to directly view its internal organs, and observe processes like tumor metastasis and blood production after bone-marrow transplant, it seems appropriate (read on...)
