Automated liquid handling continues to play a central role in laboratory automation. These robots rapidly, tirelessly, and accurately perform a range of tedious liquid-handling tasks, such as assay setup, plate filling, plate washing, and hit picking. They carry out these functions on liquid vessels that range from standard test tubes to 1536-well plates, and they benefit researchers in such diverse fields as drug discovery, genomics, proteomics, and clinical research.1 Automated liquid handlin

Immunohistochemistry is a meticulous, plodding, and painstaking art. But now researchers can screen up to 200 tissue samples simultaneously, squeezing six months worth of work into two days, with Carlsbad, Calif.-based Invitrogen Corp.'s recently introduced ResGen™ VastArray™ tissue arrays. These arrays consist of up to 200 tissue cores arrayed on standard microscope slides. Applied in duplicate in a paraffin matrix, the current sets of 600-µm diameter by 4-mm thick cores are de

Click to view the PDF file: Suppliers of LIMS Courtesy of Thermo LabSystemsLaboratory information management systems (LIMS) can enhance lab efficiency while reducing data transcription errors. Commercial laboratories are ultimately in the information management business. A laboratory's ability to track samples, tests, and results, archive data, and then produce timely and accurate reports can make or break that lab's success. Reducing internal bottlenecks streamlines work and lowers costs whil

Microarray Analysis Software Packages     Courtesy of SpotfireSpotfire's Array Explorer Gene expression profiling using DNA microarrays generates reams of data. But as is so often the case, it's not the quantity but the quality that matters: Gene expression data is useless unless biologically meaningful information can be extracted and presented in some readily understandable fashion. The production of this meaningful information, involving many facets of image processing, statistic

Suppliers of Dialysis Tubing Suppliers of Dialysis Devices (Not included in print edition) Dialysis effects the simple, gentle, and gradual separation of biological and other molecules from unwanted molecules in solution by selective diffusion through a semipermeable membrane. In practice, a sample of protein or nucleic acid that contains an unwanted small molecular weight compound, such as a buffer salt, is placed on one side of a semipermeable membrane. The dialysate, a solution of low ionic

When properly understood, knowledge of the interaction and communication of cells with each other and their environment can be applied to the diagnosis and treatment of disease. For example, a recent study1 has shown that expression of CD11b on the surface of neutrophils increases during infection. This observation is the basis for a rapid screening test for dangerous early-onset neonatal infections that can provide confirmation of an infection in a few hours, as opposed to one or two days. Beca

Protein Assay Manufacturers and Products From the decades-old biuret reaction to the use of complicated fluorescent molecules, the search for an easy, reliable, and stable method for the quantitation of total protein in solution has gone on for more than 80 years. Although several famous, innovative, and useful techniques were developed over that time, the search continues. Bob Vigna, marketing manager for industry leader Pierce Chemical Co. of Rockford, Ill., confirms this observation. "The u

Manufactureres of Flow Cytometry Products for Apoptosis Detection To examine the causes of life, we must first have recourse to death," uttered Victor Frankenstein upon beginning his search for the source from "whence the principle of life proceeds" and ultimately creating his nameless monster. Frankenstein's real creator, 19-year-old Mary Shelley, probably had no idea when Frankenstein was first published in 1816 that her main character's motivation would eventually have real-life implication

After application of Pinpoint Solution, the selected area is transferred to a spin column for RNA purification. The beauty of science is to make things simple," says Larry Jia, president of Orange, Calif.-based Zymo Research. Applying this philosophy to the purification of RNA, Jia and his team of researchers have developed the Pinpoint Slide RNA Isolation System. The system offers a simple method for isolating total RNA directly from selected areas of tissue sections on microscope slides. The r

PCR Template Preparation Kits Epicentre Technologies' MasterAmp Buccal Swab DNA Extraction Kit Among the thousands of kits and products available to the life scientist, many provide a means of purifying genomic and plasmid DNA.1 Though most of these prepare highly purified DNA for specific applications such as Southern blotting, fluorescent automated sequencing, and RFLP analysis, some are designed to prepare DNA simply for use as PCR templates. Generally characterized as fast, easy, and eff

S&S's Fast Slide with hybridization chamber Technological advances are contributing mightily to gene expression profiling. Schleicher & Schuell Inc., in collaboration with Grace Biolabs, adds to this promising field of research with the development of FAST Slides, glass microarray slides that incorporate Fluorescent Array Surface Technology. FAST Slides are coated with a durable, proprietary nitrocellulose- based polymer designed to immobilize nucleic acids and proteins. Compatible with

Nucleic Acid Labeling Kits Nucleic Acid Labeling Kits (continued) Nucleic Acid Labeling Kits (continued) Genisphere's 3DNA™ Expression Array Detection Kit reagents The ability to label nucleic acids with a variety of tagged molecules has led to astonishing advances in molecular biology. Labeled DNA, RNA, and oligonucleotide probes have made possible techniques like the historic Southern blot, the northern blot, and related dot/slot-blotting procedures, in addition to in situ hybridizat

Leaf samples provided by Neal Stewart, University of North Carolina at GreensboroWild-type (right) and GFP-expressing (left) canola leaves viewed with the Illumatool LT-9500. Excising bands from a gel on a UV light box can leave improperly shielded scientists looking a little crispy around the ears. Most UV users don't realize that many of the dyes and stains commonly used to visualize nucleic acids and proteins have a bimodal excitation spectrum. While the absorption peak most frequently explo

Preparation of high-quality RNA was once an art mastered by only the most fastidious pairs of RNase-free hands. Trevigen Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., has put a new spin on mRNA purification with its INSTANT mRNA Capture Disc system. Designed around hole-punch-size membrane discs treated with a proprietary coating that binds polyadenylated RNA, the INSTANT mRNA system purifies high-quality mRNA from cells and tissues in less than one hour. The system's procedure is simple and quick. Lysate f

Gel Documentation and Analysis Systems Gel Documentation and Analysis Systems (continued) Alpha Innotech's FluorChem His name was Herman. The kindly, silver-haired Estonian immigrant ran the department photography shop. Anybody needing to capture an image of a Coomassie or silver-stained protein gel let Herman work his magic with light box, camera, and developing solutions. He started by asking the researcher to carefully position the gel on his light box. Next, he installed the proper filter a