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Unsure which next-generation sequencing (NGS) method to choose for your cancer and precision medicine research? Learn about the latest tools and tailored next-generation sequencing solutions for cancer research in this short guide.
Are you even a real researcher if you have never cried over a PCR result? The biggest challenge in setting up a quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) is ensuring that the readings you obtain are accurate. Check out how to do that with these hard-won qRT-PCR setup tips.
Nucleic acid extraction kits are routinely used in today’s molecular biology labs. Read on to learn more about what is inside these black boxes of wonder and how you can get the best results for your preps.
Discover what RNA quality control is, why it’s so important for your experiments, and how to undertake it with these 3 key considerations.
Pouring and running an agarose gel should be a simple and routine procedure, but there are a surprising number of ways to destroy your agarose gel.
Discover ways to perform total RNA extraction from TRIzol to kit-based and even old-school methods.
Do you know your transfections from your transductions? We explain the differences between three of the most commonly used ways of introducing foreign DNA.
The Phobia of RNases My first experience of troubleshooting in vitro transcription came when I was synthesizing RNA In-Situ Probes for the first time. A lab mate ominously warned me that I had just returned to lab after a bout of flu and that meant I’m a walking talking factory of RNases. I went ahead…
RNAscope is a new method of quantitative RNA in situ-hybridization that has taken laboratories by storm. Learn advantages over traditional techniques and how RNAscope works in this introduction article.
Isolating RNA from either Drosophila larvae or adult heads can seem a bit daunting, primarily due to the presence of the cuticle. The cuticle is a protective exoskeleton comprised of insoluble collagens, cuticlins, glycoproteins, and lipids. While it may take some force to remove the cuticle, you can do this easily and without compromising your…
If you study human disease, you will likely handle a pre-analytical sample or two (or hundreds). For example, you could handle whole blood, serum or plasma, tissue biopsies, urine, fecal samples, cerebrospinal fluid, or synovial fluid—to name a few. You will probably use these samples to look for specific metabolites, proteins, or nucleic acids that provide…
In austerity times, nothing is in excess. Apart from saving reagents, which can be refilled with extra financial injections, there is a commodity that cannot be easily resupplied – tissue samples! If, like me, you have experienced the fear of not having enough sample for performing a qPCR, western blot, and conventional PCR from the…
RNA purification may be a common procedure in molecular biology but it is by far the one that people fear most. Why? Dreaded RNase. It’s everywhere… all over your bench and pipettes, and floating in the air, waiting for the chance to creep into your prep, shred your RNA into nucleotides, and ruin a day’s…
Some tissues are tricky to work with. This truth was lost on me in the early years of grad school because I worked with liver samples. If you’re extracting RNA from liver samples, you’re likely not losing sleep over your massive RNA yields. But for the folks doing RNA extractions with less willing donors, such…
So you have some blood stored in the -20C or -80C and you want to isolate RNA from the samples. If you wanted DNA, you would have many products to choose from. But for RNA, your choices are more limited. Obtaining RNA From Frozen Blood is Difficult Why is that? The reason is that most RNA from…
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