Articles by Jeanne Mcadara

Many researchers avoid grappling with new techniques when a familiar procedure yields reliable results. This reluctance prevails even when new kits or reagents could save considerable time and effort. Early last year, Stanford University labmates Dean Hung and Trevor Bezdek devised a remedy to this long-standing tradition with the launch of Biowire.com, a forum for scientists to give their opinions on products, kits, reagents, and equipment. "What [the founders] realized is that whenever they h

Reagents for Nuclear Hormone Receptor Research Courtesy of Karo Bio ABEffect of an agonist (red spheres) or agonist/antagonist (green spheres) on the C terminal helix of the ligand binding domain of the estrogen receptor The survival of a living system depends on its ability to communicate with and respond to its surroundings. Even the simplest unicellular organism has surface molecules for assessing the external environment. Evolution of complex life forms required intricate methods for respo

HatCheck Graph Expensive custom peptide synthesis, hard-to-find reagents, messy filter-binding assays, and liters of radioactive waste: These are what researchers can expect when assaying novel proteins for histone acetyl-transferase (HAT) activity. And yet a growing understanding of the role of chromatin remodeling in transcriptional regulation has made it necessary for more and more scientists to perform these tedious assays. To help alleviate some of these woes, Pierce Chemical Compan

Reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) combines cDNA synthesis with amplification of target sequences as a tool for detecting mRNA expression. The sensitivity of this technique makes it especially useful for detection of low-abundance transcripts. However, RT-PCR reactions can be tedious to set up and perform. Typically, cDNAs are produced in one reaction and transferred to a second tube for PCR amplification. This procedure is time consuming and introduces multiple opportunities for cross-contamina

Confocal Microscopy Systems Drosophila wing imaginal disc showing expression of apterous (red), wingless (blue, and Delta (green). (Bio-Rad confocal system) In the early 17th century, Anton van Leeuwenhoek peered through a simple construction of lenses and screws and observed "animalcules" dancing through a drop of water. Ever since this discovery, humankind has been fascinated with the microscopic world. The ability to distinguish objects invisible to the naked eye has revolutionized our daily

To most scientists, the idea of performing sensitive molecular biological assays in the depths of a Brazilian jungle belongs in a medical thriller. Unlike fictional "black-box" machines that instantaneously analyze a drop of blood for drugs, diseases, and genes, real-life instruments are bulky, expensive, and delicate, requiring a reliable supply of uninterrupted power. MJ Research's Mobile Molecular Lab Adventurous epidemiologists, environmentalists, and other field researchers are benefiting