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Search below to delve into the Bitesize Bio archive. Here, you’ll find over two decades of the best articles, live events, podcasts, and resources, created by real experts and passionate mentors, to help you improve as a bioscientist. Whether you’re looking to learn something new or dig deep into a topic, you’ll find trustworthy, human-crafted content that’s ready to inspire and guide you.
The theory behind the idea of having shared microscopes is a good one, but, in reality, this can sometimes mean you have to put up with the dirty habits of your fellow scientists and researchers. And some of your lab mates turn out to be really mucky! Here’s my Top 10 of things which really…
The conventional sequence for getting a new job in science (or anywhere else) goes like this: 1) Apply for a job 2) Get an interview 3) Ace the interview 4) Pray that your references hold up. So if you had a bad relationship with your last boss, you’re in trouble. Because no matter how well…
Recently BsB author Yevgeniy Grigoryev shared a total RNA isolation protocol. The one I use is even simpler—no expensive Trizol, which is a mix of phenol and some salts, all that is required is some Tris, SDS and phenol/chloroform mix. I have never used this protocol on non-yeast cells but I am almost sure that…
It is the black death of cell culture. Scientists don’t dare utter its name and many a graduate student has fallen victim to its indiscriminate menace. These stealthy anarchists infiltrate quietly but deliberately until their numbers swell and then they attack in strength, overwhelming their victims before they can put up a fight! What is…
Have you ever emerged from the lab, bleary-eyed, blinking dazedly at the sun after spending hours hunched over a lab bench counting endless bacterial colonies or viral plaques? A necessary evil… I consider colony/plaque counting one of the necessary evils of working with microorganisms. Necessary because many experiments have an endpoint that requires determining the…
“Do we use a monolayer or 3-D cell culture for our experiments?” A simple, yet puzzling question asked by my group leader while I was working on a drug development project at the University of Abertay Dundee. How do you answer such a question? Just read on to find out! Monolayer vs spheroid One of…
The field of epigenetics is exploding and given the strong links between epigenetic state and disease, the need to study markers like DNA methylation in humans is very relevant. This article outlines some of the main factors you should be taking into account in your study of DNA methylation in human tissues. Here goes: Biological…
Did you know fixation can mask antigen sites in your sample? Discover how you can unmask them and get your signal back on track!
Whole genome sequencing (WGS) is becoming increasingly common. Doctors now routinely order it for patients with puzzling diseases. The NHS (National Health Service in the UK) has declared that it will sequence 100,000 genomes over the next few years. Increase WGS…increase ethical questions The direct-to-consumer company 23andme has been experimenting with whole exome sequencing (WES), and another company, DNA…
I met a final year PhD student once, who told me a sad story. His supervisor had a plausible idea that exercise reduces the chances of developing bowel cancer. To test the hypothesis, the student made a transgenic mouse with an increased incidence of bowel cancer and got the mice to run (or not run)…
To answer some of the more interesting research questions, you often need to get a good look at what’s going on inside the cell. Whether you’re running a Western blot or measuring enzyme activity, many assays require access to the materials (e.g. proteins, DNA, subcellular fragments) contained within the cell walls. There are several ways…
So now you’re convinced that R is the language for you, you’ve downloaded R-Studio (from https://www.rstudio.com/) and opened it, and. . .what the hell do you do now? Great question! I always find it easiest to learn by doing something, rather than just by seeing a list of possibilities, so here I’ll walk you through…
As part of my job ensuring plasmid quality at Addgene, I analyze 50-100 sequencing reactions a week. So I have developed some good habits that I wanted to pass on to you to make sure you are getting the most out of the data you get back from your sequencing runs. The most important of…
You’ve been told that maintaining a sterile environment in a tissue culture hood is vital to preventing contamination of cell cultures. But what exactly is meant by sterile? The definition of sterile is ‘completely clean, sanitized, and free of all forms of life’. Obviously you still want your cells and/or any other organisms you are…
Have you ever isolated a great little population of cells after days or months of trying, got truly excited about doing some immunofluorescence with them only to find out (at the very end) that all your cells washed away?! If this has happened to you, then look no further; we will introduce you to some…
Most ‘wet lab’ biologists do not have much computer programming experience, which can make downstream analysis of next generation sequencing results a bit daunting. After the sequencing platform spits out your data, what do you do with it? That’s where Galaxy comes in. What is Galaxy? Galaxy is a bioinformatics workflow management system, created by collaboration…
Working with large datasets can be very frustrating and time consuming. If only there were more tools out there to simplify things without needing to invest a PhD’s worth of time to learn how to use them! I am here to tell you that there is a solution, and a free one at that. If…
I was shocked recently at a seminar called “Writing with style” by the Manchester University writer-in-residence, Chris Simms. He opened by saying that he has never done a presentation using Powerpoint in his life. What? Surely biologists and PowerPoint presentations (PPT) go together like biologists and white lab coats. They teach you to make PPTs…
Unlike DNA, which can last for eons, RNA is a fragile and degradation-prone cousin. After working with RNA for a while, one becomes quite paranoid about handling RNA because even a single sneeze or drop of saliva can potentially affect your results. The reason is that there are enzymes called RNases that specifically target and…
In 1895, Alfred Nobel wrote in his Last Will and Testament that he wished the bulk of his sizable estate to “constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.” Nobel made his…
A while back, I read an article on Bitesize Bio entitled “When Your Partner is NOT a Scientist” that piqued my interest…for the wrong reasons. And I discovered that I hold polar opposite views on balancing a marriage and an occupation as a scientist. So I was compelled to write this article, not to be…
In the previous article on EC numbers, I explained how the Enzyme Commission names enzymes, and why it is so important. In this article I’d like to take you on a brief journey through the history of the Enzyme Commission. Like many histories in science (e.g. this!), it is fascinating and gives a useful perspective…
As a biologist you will no doubt have seen Enzyme Commission (EC) numbers. An EC number is group of four numbers separated by periods in papers discussing enzymes…something like this: EC 1.1.2.1. But do you know what these numbers mean? Or where they came from? Or why we use them? If not, I will aim…
So having read our article on how a cytometer works, surely the next question is ‘what’s the right flow cytometer for me?!’ Basic Components of Flow Cytometers We know that at their most basic level, cytometers are made up of 3 main components: So, what are the considerations when selecting a flow cytometer? What…
Have you ever wondered how the media can write (often cringingly inaccurately) about a recently published scientific paper? Attending the Standing up for Science media workshop organised by the Sense about Science charity shed a lot of light on this issue for me There are times when the media are hungry for any news, mostly…
Every research lab is full of equipment specially designed for specific technical and experimental requirements, unfortunately this means said equipment is often expensive. Thankfully there are simple and cheap everyday items which can help you with your experiments and generally make life a lot easier. 1) Perforated metal ladle – to fish out samples from…
Up until last year I had been working in scientific research for just over six years. The insecurity of a career in academia had always niggled at me. About eight months into a very stressful postdoc position that didn’t seem to be going anywhere, I felt my heart wasn’t in it anymore and a change…
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) really has taken the world by storm! In NGS, millions of short ‘read’s are sequenced in a short space of time, leaving you with vast amounts of data to analyze! For all NGS platforms, the input sample (i.e. your cell free DNA) must be cleaved into short sections or fragments prior to…
Reagents are expensive and are a significant cost to your lab. You know what to do to keep others from stealing your reagents. But contamination, improper storage and “lost” batches will all eat into your stock of reagents, bump up your consumables costs and waste your precious time. Unless you take steps to prevent them, that…
If you found our previous section on super resolution interesting, you may be curious for a more detailed explanation behind some of the techniques. Introduction to this counterintuitive method Of the super-resolution microscopy techniques, structured illumination microscopy (SIM) is arguably the most counterintuitive to grasp. Of course, that’s what makes it so much fun! To understand how…
With ever increasing demands on researchers to publish, sometimes it feels like the whole world and their dog are vying for authorship on your latest manuscript. Appropriate and fair representation of those that contributed to sample collection, lab experiments and preparation of the manuscript is essential but can often be complex. So in this article…
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke In the fast-moving field of next generation sequencing, standard practices are evolving rapidly. Today, more and more labs are using Solid Phase Reversible Immobilization (SPRI) beads instead of gel purification in the preparation of libraries for sequencing. A crucial step, not for the…
As biological catalysts, enzymes transform target substrates into products. Enzyme kinetics is the rate of that transformation. By understanding how an enzyme’s behavior is affected, you can figure out how it functions in physiology or fails to function in disease. Now it gets complicated… What Affects an Enzyme’s Kinetics? In the first place, most enzymes…
Following on from our previous article, here are some suggestions for an old microscope (should you happen not to destroy it!). 1. Museum piece Start your own mini scientific instruments museum. Before you know it, you be raking through the old skips and dumpsters at your institute looking for exhibits. 2. Teach kids Teach your…
You’ve added the final touches to your scientific manuscript / presentation / thesis. You’ve even run the spellchecker and grammar checker and everything seems perfect. There are no little green or red squiggles under the text. Now it’s ready to submit or present – or is it? What could be wrong? If you read my…
Few scientists in the training stage are lucky enough to have the perfect advisor (aka PhD supervisor PI, boss). The reality is that most scientific advisors receive little to no training on how to be good mentors. You may want to take a look at a companion post to this one called “Getting the Most…
Apart from lung cells, surprisingly few cells are ever exposed to 20% oxygen, which is one of the reasons it’s hard to get in vitro cell cultures to behave. Read more about whether 20% oxygen is always the best level for cell culture and why it became the standard amount to use.
Do you see what I see? Maybe not, if the microscope is wrecked in one of these ten ways when you… 1. Carry the microscope incorrectly. A death-grip on anything but the arm and the base almost guarantees that it will slip away, crashing onto the floor to break in pieces. You don’t want a microscope which…
The monthly meeting with your supervisor is approaching and you are getting nervous. What can you do to get the most out of it? For starters, let’s hope that you are actually having regular, one-to-one meeting with your lab head. If not, you have bigger problems than just preparing (look out for my upcoming article…
Did you ever encounter resistance from a mammalian cell line when trying to extract the contents? Probably not, because destroying cell membranes is easy. Cell walls, however, are a different story. They are rigid, protective layers that can be so strong that the organism gives up movement in favor of protection! Cell walls exist in…
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