From Cells to Scope: Chamber Slide Immunochemistry

Immunolabeling is the tried-and-true immunochemistry method of getting the stain you want onto the molecular target you want. Whether that target is contained within a large region of tissue (immunohistochemistry) or inside a single cell (immunocytochemistry), the ability to accurately label large numbers of samples will simplify your workflow and help you to achieve excellent…

semiquantitative scoring

Analyze Immunostained Slides with Semiquantitative Scoring

A  routine task in the lab is to investigate the presence of your favorite protein in a range of histological samples. No doubt, staining your tissue sections using good old immunohistochemistry (IHC) would be your first choice. You just got to love a technique that has celebrated its 70th birthday, and is still used in…

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Challenges of Autofluorescence in Neuroscience

If you have ever imaged biological samples, you have likely encountered autofluorescence. That pesky background coloration you see under the microscope, which can make it difficult to distinguish your actual signal from the noise.1 When you are trying to look for something as delicate as RNA, you don’t want to be hunting for your signal…

Vitamin H and Egg White: Streptavidin-Biotin for Immunohistochemistry

Vitamin H and Egg White: Streptavidin-Biotin for Immunohistochemistry

If you want to make molecules stick together you need to know about streptavidin/biotin. This article follows on from Mike’s article looking at ‘sandwich’ and ‘amplification’ methods of immunohistochemistry (IHC) and covers how streptavidin-biotin works in IHC, including protocols. Streptavidin-Biotin What is it? Avidin is a natural biotin-binding protein found in egg whites. Streptavidin is similar…