Top Stories of 2016

Part III of our cell health series describes the three main autophagy mechanisms and reviews the various methods for assessing macroautophagy and autophagic flux in cells.

CRISPR has revolutionized gene editing but is not the only way to edit a gene. We compare the pros and cons of four main gene editing techniques – meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases, TALENs, and CRISPR-Cas9 – discuss the advance of these methods to the clinic for therapeutic applications, and introduce newer technologies that eliminate some of the pitfalls of current techniques.

In this second part of the series on assessing the health of your cells, we review the different types and stages of apoptosis, and the various methods of assessing apoptosis of cells.

It is imperative to analyze both the transcriptional and translational profiles for a complete understanding of the functioning of genes. Here we describe a simple protocol that enables parallel analysis of both RNA and protein from single cell culture lysates. See how this workflow could save time and money and yield more reliable data than the traditional protocols used.

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.

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.

Removing genomic DNA contamination from cDNA preparations is a challenge. All currently available methods are time consuming, could lead to sample loss, and are not efficient. Bio-Rad’s iScript™gDNA Clear cDNA Synthesis Kit tackles these issues and makes this step effortless. This article presents the performance data of the kit and describes how simple and efficient it is to use the kit for gDNA removal.

How are educational curricula developed? Who sets the standards? How do companies that develop science education kits keep up with this and design their kits around the curricula? Find out in this article.