Posts

Find out how a new Droplet Digital PCR-based technique called Drop Phase lets you quickly and easily phase genomes to better understand diseases like cystic fibrosis.

Striking a balance between encouraging innovation and allowing access to knowledge is not simple. Allowing patents for modifications of naturally occurring organisms and cells pose a particular challenge to the scientific community. Adding to the complexity is the variations in regulations between countries. This article discusses these issues with specific examples in biotechnology and biomedical fields.

Do we ever think seriously about PCR plates, seals, and tubes as contributing to the quality of our gene expression results? Chances are that these PCR plastics are viewed just as labware by most people. In this article we bring out how simple factors, such as PCR plate rigidity, color of the wells, and adhesiveness of plate seals, can affect your gene expression results and show why it is important to use quality PCR plastics.

Multicolumn purifications are tedious and the manual operations during this process introduce variabilities, affecting the success of purification and reproducibility of results. This whiteboard animation explains how an automated multi-dimensional chromatography method can make this an easier process with very high success rates.

Andy Riddell, Flow Cytometry Core Facility Manager at the Wellcome Trust- MRC Stem Cell Institutes, is expanding his core facility by allowing his researchers to conduct sorting on their own. In doing so, he is now free to explore and answer the challenging flow cytometry questions that require more of his expert time. Find out how the S3e Cell Sorter has allowed Andy that freedom and how easy sorting can be for researchers.

To run a core flow cytometry lab is no easy task. There is always a balance between running simple sorts and developing new assays for answering complicated questions that demand pushing the limits of existing assays and the limitations of the sorters. See how Andy Riddell, a flow core manager, pushes the limits of his existing assays and how Bio-Rad’s S3e™ cell sorter is allowing him to accomplish that.

Interference from IgG heavy (~ 50 kD) or light (~25 kD) chains is very common when trying to visualize bands of immunoprecipitated proteins. If your band of interest has a molecular weight close to these, it becomes really hard to distinguish between the IgG and the band of interest. How could this be avoided? Bio-Rad’s new TidyBlot™ Western Blot Detection Reagent accomplishes this by binding exclusively to the native nondenatured antibodies rather than any IgG in the sample. Explore the performance characteristics of this new reagent.

Tumor metastasis is a complex process. It requires the ability of the cancer cells to invade their surroundings and travel to distant sites and survive. Dr. Traci Lyons studies the mechanism of COX-2 functioning in the metastasis of breast cancer cells. Find out how Dr. Lyons used Bio-Rad’s PrimePCR™ Assays to confirm COX-2 knockdown at the mRNA level.

Multiplex immunoassay development requires a lot of validation and standardization steps. Several factors can influence the performance of these assays. Some factors that need to be considered are mentioned here.

Not all antibodies are created equal. Some have to work hard to qualify to become Bio-Rad’s PrecisionAb™ Antibody. Here is a diagrammatic representation of how the qualification criteria are determined.