New to the lab? Or looking for ways to supplement your teaching? You’re in luck! Addgene’s Intro to the Lab Bench series was born from the shift to remote learning due to COVID-19. We had many protocols for plasmid cloning and working with viral vectors, but what we lacked were ...
What is polymerase chain reaction? If you have ever worked in a molecular biology laboratory you have likely done a polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR is an in vitro method in which a small amount of DNA can be copied many many times in a short time period. PCR was invented in ...
You’ve gotten the plasmid encoding your protein of interest from Addgene, transfected it into your target cells, now what? How can you tell if the protein you are so keen to study is expressing in your cells? Immunoblotting or simply the western blot, or western, is one of the ...
There are 64 different codons that encode 20 amino acids and three stop codons, meaning that the same amino acid can be encoded by more than one codon. Although the genetic code is universal, many different organisms actually prefer certain codons over others for certain amino ...
You’ve prepped your DNA and you’re ready to get started on the next step of your experiment. But in many cases, you won’t see any signs of DNA in your final tube after purification. How do you know if you actually have DNA in your tube without seeing it? There are many ways to ...
If you use a kit for DNA purification or if you use a DIY purification protocol, you might have noticed that there are many options to elute your DNA prep. You might see protocols that recommend eluting in water, Tris-EDTA (TE), just Tris buffer, or some other variations. Does ...
As with DNA isolation, scientists commonly rely on RNA isolation kits to make their life easier. Recently, we published a blog on DNA purification without a kit that outlined several reasons why doing something without a kit has advantages: less plastic waste, less expense, and ...
Before you reach for that silica spin column, stop to consider some ways to purify DNA without a kit. DNA purification kits have advantages: they are convenient and provide uniform, consistent results. But they are also less accessible due to their expense and requirement for ...
