Ida Lister

DermBiont, Inc
Ida Lister
Ida has a PhD in Biochemistry, Cell Biology, Molecular Biology from the University of Cambridge. Ida is currently Principal Scientist at DermBiont, Inc.

Articles by Ida Lister

World of Microbes Part 4: Food and Biofuels.

World of Microbes Part 4: Food and Biofuels.

In this World of Microbes series, so far we’ve covered the importance of microbes in medicine including their use in vaccines, antibiotics, probiotics and protein production of antibodies for immunotherapy. Now we’ll diverge away from medicine and explore two other important fields where microbes are invaluable – food production and biofuel. Food Production When you…

World of Microbes Part 3: Antibody Production with Microbes

World of Microbes Part 3: Antibody Production with Microbes

When you think of microbes what comes to mind? Moldy bread, Penicillin and antibiotics? Vaccines? Fermented food, like yogurt and kombucha? And the latest Probiotics health craze? How about antibody production for immune therapy? Maybe not so much, but you should know that the use of microbes is wide and ever growing. Now researchers are finding…

The World of Microbes (II): The Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease

The World of Microbes (II): The Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease

If you google “What’s hot in medicine,” you will see the word “gut microbiome” popping up in every corner of the webpage. Microbes keep your body functioning in balance – from digesting complex carbohydrates to fighting off foreign pathogens and educating your immune system. They have even been linked to maintaining brain function as well….

Hot, Frozen, Sublimed and Blown: Biological Sample Storage Methods Summarized – Part One

I’ve recently been doing some lyophilization of biological extracts. While I was preparing for the experiment, I became interested in the number of different methods there are for drying, concentrating and storing samples: freezing, freeze-drying, rotary evaporation, centrifugal evaporation and blow down drying. Here is a brief description of each technique for biological sample storage…

Hot, Frozen, Sublimed And Blown: Sample Storage Methods Summarized – Part Two

In part one, I discussed the ‘how to’ of simply freezing samples and the basics of vacuum evaporation, often referred to as speed vacing. Now, we’ll have a look at two more complex sample storage techniques (at least in terms of equipment) for drying samples (lyophilizaton and rotary evaporation) and the simpler method of blow…