Read All of Our Editor's Choice Blog Posts
As I’m sitting in the San Francisco International Airport listening to the Lion King soundtrack and writing this post, it is my pleasure to announce that we once again reached new heights on the Addgene blog: we surpassed 60,000 views for the month of September! Historically we do better in September than in the summer months, but this is also our best month ever! Hats off to all of our wonderful writers and all those who have helped edit over the past couple of months. Read on to discover what new post contributed the most to this record breaking month and to find other posts that deserve a second look.
5 Great Apps for Lab Life
This very useful post was contributed by guest blogger Sean Stacey from Eastern Tennessee State University and provides a brief rundown of Sean’s top five smartphone apps you can use in the lab. Whether you’re tired of calculating dilutions or you can’t quite remember the hazards of that chemical in your obscure growth medium, these apps can help make your lab life a bit easier. Since the post doesn’t provide an exhaustive list of all the apps out there, we encourage you to mention any apps you’ve found useful in the comments section to make this post even more useful to your colleagues.
Technique: Probe Phage Genomes for Host Binding Proteins & Running for Rare Disease, Running for FOP, Running for AJ
I have two picks for the editor’s choice posts this month. The first, "Technique: Probe Phage Genomes for Host Binding Proteins," was contributed by guest blogger Jessica Sacher from the University of Alberta and describes a technique you can use to find phage proteins that bind to your bacterium of interest. For those of you who are not microbiologists, phages are viruses that infect bacteria and that can do so with exquisite specificity (check out our interview with Michael Koeris to learn how his company uses phage to test for Listeria in food products). I picked this post for a few reasons: 1) I think phage are super cool and have considered getting a tattoo of my favorite molecular biology tool, P1 phage. 2) The post describes an ingenious but simple technique to screen for proteins that could be useful for a wide variety of reasons. 3) I would love to see more posts like this on the Addgene blog. Read the post for the full details and many thanks to Jessica for all of her hard work and attention to detail when writing the post.
The second post, “Running For Rare Disease, Running for FOP, Running for AJ,” was contributed by Kurt Swanson, husband of Addgene Director of Biology, Lianna Swanson, and researcher at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals. This post highlights a rare disease, Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (a.k.a. FOP), that, while affecting a small number of people, deserves our attention and has huge potential for the development of therapeutics. It also represents a first for Addgene - while we often participate in 5Ks throughout the Cambridge area, this is the first time we’re raising money for a cause while running. I love running and this event gives me the opportunity to dress up as Mr. Incredible, an added bonus.
You can find the rest of our September posts in chronological order here:
- Four Things I Learned at the 10 Years of iPSCs Symposium
- Tips for Writing a Good Cover Letter
- Multiple Plasmids at a Low Price: Kits from Addgene
- Savvy Advocates Needed to Navigate a Scientific Enterprise in Flux
- CRISPR Kinome Libraries Available: Pooled and Individual Plasmid Formats
- Better Dyeing Through Chemistry & Small Molecule Fluorophores
- Addgene's Cancer Collection Pages Connect the Research Community
- Grad School Advice Part 1: Picking a Lab and a Project
Tyler J. Ford
Topics: Addgene News
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