Articles by Holly Ahern

NUMEROUS APPLICATIONS: Bio-Tek Instruments' FL600 automated fluorescence microplate reader tells the researcher how many living cells are in a bacterial culture. In the natural world, microorganisms wear many hats. They are agents of disease, producers of proteins, remediators of rubbage, and brewers of beer. The field of microbiology is just as diverse. A microbiologist may search for ways to inhibit bacterial growth or for methods to make bacteria grow faster. Scientists may coax bacteria to

SELECTIVITY: Supelco's SUPELCOSIL ABZ+Plus columns works like other reverse-phase columns yet provide selectivity for polar and charged compounds. For academic researchers and scientists who produce proteins on a large scale, separating substances by chromatography has never been easier. New and improved chromatographic support media, along with fully automated, computer-controlled instruments that are becoming increasingly user-friendly, have made it much simpler for even the most analytical

Complex Biosystems Spectroscopic detection of fluorescent molecules, either those found naturally or those colored with fluorescent dyes, has created new research possibilities for scientists who study proteins and DNA. With photonic instruments like spectrophotometers and spectrofluorimeters, life scientists can measure the low-intensity light emitted from fluorescent molecules. "Because the character of the light emitted from a molecule changes in respect to the environment the molecule is i

PCR On The Fast Track The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) revolutionized researchers' ability to manipulate DNA and RNA. With PCR-an amplification procedure that mimics DNA replication-molecular biologists no longer have to painstakingly purify large quantities of DNA for genetic experiments. The growing number of plastics and laboratory disposables, combined with the advent of reagent kits designed expressly for PCR, are making it easier for scientists to apply the technology in new areas. PC

Modeling A Virtual Reality Researchers who work with biomolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids often design and perform experiments on "invisible" substances. Unlike organismal or cell biologists, who can view specimens through microscopes, scientists who investigate properties of macromolecules can't see the material they study. But how do molecular biologists who investigate DNA, for example, routinely make inferences based on a three-dimensional structure that has never really been see

Cells In A New Light By combining the sensitivity of fluorescent dyes with optical systems that can detect colorful but low-intensity fluorescent light, researchers in many life sciences are able to peer inside cells and view fine detail as never before. With a fluorescent microscope, an investigator is now better able to study individual cells and image subcellular entities, such as organelles, proteins, microtubules, and chromosomes. Owing to advances in fluorescent microscopy techniques, res

Cell-Culture Market Biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies are putting the pressure on manufacturers of cell-culture equipment and supplies to create products that will enable researchers to culture cells more efficiently and in large amounts. The increased need for these products is an outgrowth of the growing demand for genetically engineered products with proven or potential therapeutic value. The laboratory products industry is responding with new types of cell-culture vessels that

Centrifuge Revolution (The Scientist, Vol:10, #6, p. 18-19, March 18, 1996) Increased interest by the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries in powerful instruments capable of separating the smallest of molecules has put a new spin on an old laboratory standard-the centrifuge. Small centrifuges (microfuges) and larger tabletop instruments critical for cell separations and DNA applications can be found on benches in practically every molecular biology laboratory. The larger ultracentrifu

For Life Scientists Date: March 4, 1996 (The Scientist, Vol:10, #5, pg.17 & 19, March 4, 1996) (Copyright ©, The Scientist, Inc.) Sidebar:List of Vendors When two or more different biomolecules are present in a solution and a researcher wishes to study only one, the technique considered most often to achieve the separation is chromatography. Biochromatography in its various guises has been driven in part by the biopharmaceutical industry's demand for better and faster protein- purification

With the introduction of the polymerase chain reaction by Nobelist Kary Mullis and other scientists with the former Cetus Corp. in 1985, researchers can amplify their minute samples into a virtually unlimited supply of material to study.

Although the laws of physics dictate how much an object can be magnified and still clearly seen, scientists continue to expand their view of the microscopic world beyond the cellular level. New light microscopy methods and technology have made it possible for scientists to view previously undetectable tiny structures inside of cells, and to examine such objects in real time as cells carry out their activities. "New microscopy techniques, particularly those involving fluorescence microscopy and

Science And Art Author: Holly Ahern Cells of all types -- from organisms as simple as bacteria to those as complex as humans -- can be removed from representative tissues and grown in a culture vessel, where they reproduce and perform the same biological functions as cells in their natural state. When human skin cells such as fibroblasts are grown in culture, for example, they attach to the culture vessel and form a layer, just as if they were forming a layer of skin. Cultured fibroblasts secre

For Genes Author: Holly Ahern For a geneticist, pinpointing a mutation in a human gene that might be responsible for an inherited disease can be likened to the proverbial search for a needle in a haystack. While mo-lecular biologists sift through the 3 billion base pairs in the human genome in search of disease-causing genes, other scientists choose to approach the problem from the perspective of the mouse, a model system for mammal research. Because mice and humans are members of the same gr

Biological Research Author: Holly Ahern It's the type of problem that crops up in cell biology, molecular biology, and neuroscience laboratories constantly. Hidden amid a compendium of compounds in a crude cell extract is a protein that researchers have sought since its gene was cloned months before. Perhaps the protein is an enzyme for which the catalytic mechanism has not yet been determined. Or maybe the compound is a recombinant protein that shows promise as a pharmaceutical agent. In eith

Ways Author: Holly Ahern In many areas of neurobiology and cell biology, researchers who a decade ago were confined to studying stained tissues are today using their microscopes in new ways to directly observe dynamic events as they occur in living cells. Although the optical systems of microscopes have not changed dramatically over the last quarter of a century, new methods of acquiring images and processing microscopic infor-mation have indelibly changed the way that scientists view the mic