I recently graduated from University of Maryland, College Park with a B.S. in Microbiology. I currently work as a Research Tech at Children’s National Medical Center. I have a passion for science communication and love sharing my love of science with anyone who will listen. When I am not in the lab, I can be found out dancing Tango!

Articles by Elizabeth Williams

chromium release assay

Chromium Release Assay: The Old School Way of Testing Cytotoxic T Cells

There are several methods you can use to see if your T cells are cytotoxic, but a chromium release assay using radioactive 51chromium (51Cr) is one of the oldest. It gives good results, and is great for labs that can’t afford or don’t have flow cytometry readily available. Here, I will outline a simple method…

shotgun sequencing

An Introduction to Shotgun Sequencing: Fire in the Hole

In the midst of all the cool new sequencing techniques and technologies out there today, you may have overlooked the tried and true method of Shotgun Sequencing. What is Shotgun Sequencing Anyway? Shotgun sequencing gets its name from the concept that a large sequence is essentially broken up in to many, many smaller pieces, similar…

Multifocal Structured Illumination Microscopy

Multifocal Structured Illumination Microscopy: The Fast Food of Super-Resolution Techniques

While most of us have heard of super resolution microscopy, many of you may not have heard of MSIM, or Multifocal Structured Illumination Microscopy. This under-the-radar imaging technique is relatively quick, cheap (by comparison) and will allow you to get a lot of data, fast. So What is MSIM Anyway? MSIM, as I mentioned earlier,…