Heinz Reiske
For the last 17 years, I have held various R&D and management positions at biotech and molecular diagnostics companies. I received my BSc in Biotechnology from Rutgers University and my Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Cornell University. I have always enjoyed teaching others about science and I hope that I can convey some of what I've learned in my career through writing.
Articles by Heinz Reiske:
Out With the Old: New PubMed Search Tips
PubMed has had a makeover. Find out where your favorite features have moved to and what’s changed in this shiny new version.
Optimizing qPCR Using the Taguchi Method
When optimizing qPCR, you might try trial and error to improve your assay’s performance. Tweak this, tweak that, and the assay works better, right? Sometimes you might get lucky but adjusting single assay components interdependent with others is hardly systematic. You can spend a lot of time and resources hoping that this time, you will…
A Beginner’s Guide to How Blunt-End Cloning Works
Blunt and sticky might sound dull and dirty but knowing how these different cloning methods work is important when choosing which method to use. Here we give you a guide to how blunt-end cloning works. Blunt-end cloning is the cloning of DNA fragments containing no unpaired bases at the 5’ and 3’ prime ends (i.e.…
Getting Sensitive: Diagnostic Sensitivity and Specificity Simplified
What Do We Mean by Diagnostic Sensitivity? In clinical diagnostics, questions about the sensitivity of an assay will inevitably surface. But what does “sensitivity” mean exactly? The lowest quantity of the given analyte that an assay can detect is often called sensitivity – and to be clear, this quantity is the analytical sensitivity or Limit…
The How and Why of Limit of Detection
When developing an assay, whether it is for basic research or for use in diagnostics, you will often be asked about your assay’s sensitivity. This is perhaps one of the most important performance characteristics you can determine for an assay, and in regulated work, such as in vitro diagnostic (IVD) development and clinical diagnostics, it…
