Take a closer look at Bio-Rad's initiative to bring scientists into K–12 schools in North America by following three Ambassadors as they go into classrooms. Find out more about what this program offers students, teachers, and researchers.

The Fraser Laboratory in the Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biology at UC Davis studies protein translation mechanisms by purifying diverse ribosomal proteins and reconstructing the translation complex in vitro. The lab utilized Bio-Rad’s NGC system to overcome specific purification difficulties with their protein while beta-testing the equipment. The NGC system enabled the group to increase their throughput by 25% and also saved substantial training time.

Bioradiations.com, the online technical resource for Bio-Rad customers, has been offering a variety of research tips and protocols, customer stories and testimonials, and in-depth technical reports throughout the year. Here are the highlights of what we presented in the year 2012.

Although the Western blot is a core lab procedure, surprisingly little has changed in traditional bench work practice since its inception in 1979. The V3 Western Workflow delivers a streamlined solution to the conventional western blotting workflow as explored here by one protein researcher specializing in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The McCarroll laboratory studies the biological effects of human genome polymorphism, seeking to define how genome variation influences gene expression and risk of disease.

Bio-Rad has long demonstrated innovation in imaging, with the introduction of the stain-free gel electrophoresis workflow, which was rapidly followed by the launch of the Gel Doc™ EZ imager. Now, this progression continues with the release of the ChemiDoc™ MP imaging system.

The ProteOn XPR36 protein interaction analysis system was introduced in 2006 to provide a novel array technology to researchers conducting label-free analysis of proteins. The ProteOn system is a high-throughput surface plasmon resonance-based screening tool for a wide range of applications from small-molecule drug discovery to antibody kinetic ranking, epitope binning, and epitope mapping.

When it comes to gel imaging and blotting, conventional imaging devices have tended to offer either high-performance, complex functionality or low-cost, low-performance simplicity. That is, until now.

The electrophoretic workflow has undergone few changes since it was solidified as a fundamental tool in life science research in the 1970s. Today, just like then, researchers need to prepare samples, load gels, then perform separation and further downstream analysis, including western blotting.

The Gel Doc™ EZ imaging system makes an impact from coast to coast — at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University in Boston, and in the Geoff Rosenfeld Laboratory at the University of California, San Diego.