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Adrienne Huntress

I am a results-oriented biochemist with over a decade of experience performing research and process development spanning microbiology, protein chemistry, and formulation development. My background includes extensive work in high-throughput assays, analytical chemistry, microbiology, project coordination, and lab management. My broad interests include developing and optimizing chemical and biological products to address real-world scientific challenges. I have a passion for collaborating and coordinating projects across a variety of disciplines to make a positive impact. My technical expertise includes high throughput assays, method development, biochemistry, and formulation development. I’m known for my work ethic and persistence to reach desired results. I leverage strong communication skills and regularly write technical reports, SOPs, and deliver presentations to stakeholders. In my current role as a Process Engineer at bioMerieux I am leading the technology transfer of a new in vitro diagnostic product. I find that working closely with others and driving team efforts have been the most fulfilling part of my professional endeavors.

Institution : bioMérieux
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Articles by Adrienne Huntress

Five wooden blocks with different expressions from happy to sad to represent applying feedback for scientists

Tips on Receiving and Applying Constructive Feedback for Scientists

By Adrienne Huntress | May 3, 2022

Are you looking to improve your lab work, publication record, and grant success rate? Then read our guide to feedback—what it is, where it should come from, and how to give it to others.

Girl with too much to do needs to learn the art of delegation for scientists

The Importance of Delegation for Scientists

By Adrienne Huntress | March 14, 2022

The art of delegation can help save time and give you a happy, more productive lab life. Discover how with our easy guide to delegation for scientists.

Coffee being poured through a filter to demonstrate filtration

How Filtration Works: A Short Guide for Biologists

By Adrienne Huntress | January 18, 2022

If you’ve worked in a lab, odds are you’ve had an encounter with filtration of one sort or another. Do you understand exactly how filters work, though? Or have you wondered why certain filters are used for certain lab applications?

Image of a golden retriever with closed eyes wearing a pair of headphones to represent the top 10 best science podcasts for researchers

Top 10 Best Science Podcasts For Researchers

By Adrienne Huntress | December 17, 2021

Facing hours of cell culture, or some other repetitive and mundane lab task? Why not cheer things up with a podcast or two! Discover our top 10 favorite science podcasts for researchers, from Sawbones to The Life Scientific.

Figure stopping blocks falling to represent protease inhibitors stopping proteases from working

Protease Inhibitors 101: How They Work and How to Use Them

By Adrienne Huntress | November 30, 2021

Protease inhibitors are a requirement in many lab experiments. In this article, we’ll take you through how protease inhibitors work, why we need them, and how to use them correctly and safely.

Image of an air pressure gage to represent using Gage R&R studies to measure precision in the lab.

Using Gage R&R Studies to Measure Precision in the Lab

By Adrienne Huntress | November 18, 2021

Don’t just take in on faith that your measurements are accurate. Discover how to verify your measurements using gage R&R studies.

Image of dart in dartboard to represent accuracy and precision

How to Measure and Improve Lab Accuracy and Precision

By Adrienne Huntress | October 11, 2021

Accuracy and precision are critical for achieving reliable and reproducible results. Read on to discover what these terms mean and how to improve your accuracy and precision.

image of fluorescent lights to represent choosing a fluorescent protein

The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Fluorescent Protein

By Adrienne Huntress | September 9, 2021

Discover the critical considerations when choosing a fluorescent protein, the key features of those most commonly used, and why newer might be better.

A cartoon depiction of five smiling cells standing next to height charts to represent assessing bacterial culture growth using OD600 measurements

Is Your Bacterial Culture Still Growing? A Primer on OD­600 Measurements

By Adrienne Huntress | July 28, 2021

How do you know when your bacterial culture is “done” growing? Read on to learn how to monitor bacterial growth using OD600 measurements, and how to figure out when you should harvest your culture.

Image of an airport terminal sign signalling the way to departure gates to represent advice on how to quit graduate school

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Part II: How to Gracefully Exit a Graduate School Program

By Adrienne Huntress | July 26, 2021

Deciding to quit graduate school is a tough decision. But people have gone before you (and survived): get their advice on how to exit gracefully here.

Time Blocking for Productivity in a Busy Lab

Time Blocking for Productivity in a Busy Lab

By Adrienne Huntress | August 26, 2020

How can you tackle work when it seems daunting or even impossible to know what will happen and when? Take things one bite at a time and try time blocking!

View of a workspace to highlight non-lab skills when working from home.

Online Learning Resources for Scientists Working From Home

By Adrienne Huntress | May 7, 2020

From bad weather to rail strikes or global pandemics, there are several reasons you may find yourself working from home. After writing up any outstanding grant proposals or papers, reviewing the literature, and perusing the endless field of coronavirus news updates, what’s a scientist to do? Brush up on your non-lab skills, of course! We…

An image of lab furniture to depict how not to wreck your autoclave.

How Scientific Researchers Can Write Effective Emails

By Adrienne Huntress | July 25, 2019

Have you ever found yourself wondering why your emails don’t get quite the response you expect? Or no response at all? It is very easy to overlook the importance of constructing clear and concise emails that deliver the right message. In this article, we’ll cover key aspects of emails for your purposes as a scientist.…

An image of test tubes to depicts how to clean a water bath.

Struggles of a Life Scientist

By Adrienne Huntress | July 9, 2019

Working late nights or weekends in the lab—we’ve all been there. Why isn’t your cell culture considerate enough to get to exponential phase during normal business hours, anyway? Maybe you just need utter peace and quiet while you pipette hundreds of wells worth of stinky beta-mercaptoethanol. Or perhaps you’re using your wealth of microbiology knowledge…

What to Expect When Working with a Scientific Recruiter

What to Expect When Working with a Scientific Recruiter

By Adrienne Huntress | May 29, 2019

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if someone helped you step-by-step through your job search? A good recruiter does exactly that! Recruiters provide value to job-seekers by reviewing resumes, finding jobs that may be a good fit, and providing interview tips. But how does that process work? In this article we’ll cover…

How (and Why) to Label Nucleic Acids

How (and Why) to Label Nucleic Acids

By Adrienne Huntress | March 27, 2019

Have you ever wished you could snag individual strands of DNA or RNA with a lasso? Or look at them one by one, figuring out exactly where they are or what they are doing? Fortunately, there are techniques that exist to label nucleic acids for their visualization and purification! Nucleic acids can be labeled at…

An image of colors to depict care for your pH meter.

An Introduction to Alexa Dyes

By Adrienne Huntress | March 6, 2019

Long before “Alexa” was a household name, Alexa dyes were an established series of fluorescent dyes. The inventor Richard Paul Haugland named the dyes after his son Alex. Originally a trademark of Molecular Probes, the Alexa family is now a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Alexa dyes are frequently used as labels in fluorescence microscopy,…

primers

Picking the Right DNA Isolation Kit for Your Application

By Adrienne Huntress | February 7, 2019

If you plan to work with purified DNA in the lab, it’s likely that you will use a commercial DNA extraction kit to isolate and purify your DNA of interest. With so many types of kits available, it can be a major challenge to choose the best one to use when working with an unfamiliar…

2017.10.14 Workshop: Grow your own Fungi

How to Eliminate 99% of the Water from Your Culture, or Solid State Fermentation

By Adrienne Huntress | January 24, 2019

When you think about culturing bacteria or fungi in large quantities, you likely envision flasks shaking or maybe bioreactors filled to the brim with liquid media. But did you know that many bacteria and fungi can grow on solid carriers without being submerged in liquid? Enter solid state fermentation (SSF). In this article, I’ll introduce…

Fairy DNA

Four Free and Easy-To-Use Online Primer Design Tools

By Adrienne Huntress | January 22, 2019

Designing and running PCR reactions in the lab has become so commonplace that the number of primer design tools available can be a bit overwhelming for a beginner (or even an experienced molecular biologist!). Below are four of my favorite online programs available to make primer design quick, easy, and effective. A quick note before…

Meet Nature's Oldest Doomsday Preppers: Endospores

Meet Nature’s Oldest Doomsday Preppers: Endospores

By Adrienne Huntress | February 8, 2018

My favorite reason for being a biologist is that I am endlessly amazed by how life adapts to various pressures on planet Earth. This especially holds true for endospores, one of nature’s most resilient means of surviving for thousands of years in non-ideal environmental conditions. In this article, we’ll explore some of the extreme environments…

The Amazing World of Biofilms

The Amazing World of Biofilms

By Adrienne Huntress | December 8, 2017

What do water pipe slime, dental plaque, and persistent contact lens case contamination have in common? All are the result of biofilms! Biofilms are aggregates of microbes that adhere to surfaces using secreted matrices. Although relatively under explored, this fascinating phenomenon plays a critical role in some of the biggest challenges currently facing medicine, ranging…

Get Your Dream Job! How to Best Organize Your (Many) Applications

By Adrienne Huntress | August 31, 2017

If you’ve ever been on the job market, you know how many job applications you can end up filling out and submitting. Sometimes the entire process takes months or even years to culminate in the right job offer! It can be overwhelming to keep track of what you applied for and when. This is especially…

defend science funding

Defend Science Funding! A Brief Guide

By Adrienne Huntress | July 26, 2017

With the scientific community potentially facing deep cuts to grant-awarding agencies, like the NIH, advocacy for funding research efforts has been re-ignited. Not only does science funding provide financial support for academic and government scientists, it fuels product development and collaboration opportunities for scientists in industry and scientists abroad. Engaging in the advocacy process and…

5 Surprisingly Accurate Science Movies

By Adrienne Huntress | June 28, 2017

There’s nothing better than relaxing at the end of a long week with a good movie. As scientists, we are drawn to analyze (and sometimes overanalyze) the accuracy of science movies and especially their portrayal of scientists. Being the movie aficionado that I am, I looked for movies that are not typically touted for their…

jobs

Why You Should Apply to Science Jobs Early and Often

By Adrienne Huntress | April 24, 2017

There are many reasons to apply for jobs. You might be in the latter stages of grad school, busy getting those last experiments done so you can focus on writing your thesis. You might already have a job, but want to move to a different location or step into a new field. Or maybe you’re…

Clean up structure

ChemDraw: a Versatile Molecule Sketching Tool for (Bio)Chemists

By Adrienne Huntress | February 28, 2017

Have you ever wondered how to make professional, easy-to-understand figures of molecules for presentations or publications? While several programs exist for this purpose, ChemDraw is like the Swiss Army knife of chemical sketching programs that most chemists and journals use to prepare figures. Beyond the ability to create chemically accurate and legible figures, ChemDraw can…

Are Proteins Adsorbing to Your Labware?

Are Proteins Adsorbing to Your Labware?

By Adrienne Huntress | December 21, 2016

One of my favorite things about being a biochemist is to imagine everything at the molecular level—sometimes, in very corny ways. I envision the proteins I pipet and mix as dynamic characters in a molecular soap opera that intermingle with each other in complex ways. The biomolecular characters in my soap opera interact and react,…

hplc column

How to Clean and Unclog Your HPLC Column

By Adrienne Huntress | October 31, 2016

In my last article, I discussed how to best keep your lab’s HPLC running smoothly. However, even the best-maintained HPLCs and columns need periodic cleaning. Today, I’ll describe how to identify and troubleshoot a clogged HPLC column. Columns Are Finite First of all, it’s important to realize that columns do have a finite lifetime. The…

HPLC

Under Pressure: Tips for Keeping Your HPLC Up and Running Properly

By Adrienne Huntress | October 17, 2016

If you’re anything like me, your biggest lab fear is working with expensive equipment prone to damage. HPLC is a wonderful tool, capable of separating, identifying, and quantifying a vast array of compounds, but it requires an attentive scientist to properly handle and maintain each component. In this article I’ll describe a few basic handling…

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