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By Natalie Mortenson and Laura O'Regan

Ordering jeans online from your favorite store is easy. Ordering genes on plasmids online is a little trickier -- but at Addgene, we try to make the process as smooth and simple as possible.

We are the Customer Support Specialists here at Addgene. If you’ve called our customer service line or sent an email to help@addgene.org, you’ve likely talked to one of us! Today we’re discussing some of our most frequently asked questions related to the ordering process:

When you think of Addgene, chances are software development is not one of the things that comes to mind. The truth is, there is a lot of software development happening at Addgene under the hood. A significant portion of our development may not be visible to users like yourselves but you have definitely reaped the benefits. We support everyone that works with Addgene in some way. For users, we just released a major redesign of how search works on our site. For Addgenies, development includes everything from tracking plasmids from the moment a deposit kit is sent to a depositor, to streamlining the order fulfillment process to reduce viral order fulfilment from an average of 40 minutes to 10 minutes. While users can’t tangibly see these improvements, you are benefited with reassurance your plasmids will not get lost in a freezer and your viral orders are being fulfilled more quickly. As Addgene grows and evolves, we will be here to increase all of our teams’ efficiency and productivity. Get to know our software development team and the development process at Addgene.

Farewell 2019, and hello 2020! As we're gearing up to start a new decade, we’re also looking back at the last year of scientific discovery. We’ve documented many new tools on the Addgene blog and have created and updated guides on various topics in biology over the past year: CRISPR, optogenetics, chemogenetics, plasmids, fluorescent proteins, careers, and more. These resources can now be found in one place: the Educational Resources page.

Plasmid pumpkins, team costumes, and spooky science stories. Yes, please!

At Addgene, we love finding ways to incorporate science themes into our fun activities and Halloween is no exception. For the past 10+ years, Addgenies have formed teams, chosen a theme for the costume, and did their best to claim the costume contest trophy. We’ve had teams dressed up as plasmids, Blugene, and the Addgene ping pong table.

We first “went viral” in 2016 when we introduced the viral service, and now we’re “going viral” again!