Author: Anna Bennett

Rooted in Resilience: The Future of Pest-Resistant Crops

Posted on by Anna Bennett
Sunlight illuminating crops growing in a field

Farmers everywhere strive to protect their crops and ensure a stable food supply while minimizing environmental harm. A promising approach to achieving this leverages a plant’s built-in defense mechanisms, reducing the need for chemical interventions. Many geneticists and agronomists lean on technologies that can automate and streamline nucleic acid extraction and pathogen detection to identify naturally pest resistant crops and, ultimately, keep up with the changing agricultural landscape.  

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Transform Your Research Lab with our Comprehensive Automation Resources

Posted on by Anna Bennett
Futuristic Artificial Intelligence Robotic Arm Operates and Moves a Metal Object, Picks It Up and Puts it Down. Scene is Taken in a High Tech Research Laboratory with Modern Equipment.

In an era where science moves at a rapid pace, integrating automation into your lab is not just beneficial but essential. When you automate your lab, you free up an invaluable resource: time. From scaling up operations and handling increased demand to improving consistency and reducing manual errors, automation can be the key to achieving higher throughput, saving costs, and—most importantly—enabling researchers to focus on the science rather than the process. However, embarking on a lab automation project requires careful planning, clear goals and an understanding of the intricacies involved in automating complex biological workflows.

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Transforming Forensic Science with DNA from Dust

Posted on by Anna Bennett
A ray of sun coming through the wooden shutters, illuminates dust on the inside of a dark room. Close up, selective focus. Vintage background. This image is licensed from Adobe Stock.

In the evolving field of forensic science, a study by Fantinato et al. has opened new avenues in using DNA extraction and analysis to recover important information from crime scenes. Their work, “The Invisible Witness: Air and Dust as DNA Evidence of Human Occupancy in Indoor Premises,” focuses on extracting DNA from air and dust. This novel approach could revolutionize how crime scenes are investigated, especially in scenarios where traditional evidence—like fingerprints or bodily fluids—is scarce, degraded or has been removed from surfaces.

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Promega qPCR Grant Series #3: Immunotherapy Researcher, Dr. Sabrina Alves dos Reis 

Posted on by Anna Bennett
Professional headshot image of Dr. Sabrina Alves dos Reis, subject of the blog post
Sabrina Alves dos Reis

In our third and final installment of the Promega qPCR Grant Recipient blog series, we highlight Dr. Sabrina Alves dos Reis, a trained immunotherapy researcher. Her work has focused on developing tools for more accessible cancer therapies using CAR-T cells. Here, we explore Dr. Alves dos Reis’ academic and scientific journeys, highlight influential mentorship and foreshadow her plans for the Promega qPCR grant funds. 

Dr. Alves dos Reis’ career began with a strong affinity for biology. As an undergraduate student, she pursued a degree in biological science, where she developed a foundational understanding for designing and developing research projects. As her passion for science heightened, she decided to continue her journey in science, culminating in a PhD at the Fundação Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her research projects focused on the unexplored territory of adipose tissue as a site for Mycobacterium leprae—or leprosy bacillus—infection. She mentioned that this work piqued her curiosity for improving immunotherapies and laid the foundation for her future in cancer research.  

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Promega qPCR Grant Series #2: Molecular Biologist, Laura Leighton

Posted on by Anna Bennett

Our second installment of the Promega qPCR Grant Recipient blog series highlights Dr. Laura Leighton, a trained molecular biologist and postdoctoral researcher at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology. Leighton’s scientific journey features a passion for molecular biology and problem-solving. Her path has been illuminated by mentorship, relationships with fellow scientists and a commitment to creativity in overcoming challenges. Here, we explore her scientific journey, reflect on research lessons and foreshadow her plans for the Promega qPCR grant funds.

Dr. Laura Leighton grew up in a rural area in Far North Queensland, Australia, where she spent her early life exploring critters on the family farm. Her upbringing was infused with a deep connection to the environment, from raising tadpoles in wading pools to observing wildlife and witnessing food grow firsthand. Observing the biology around her ultimately piqued her interest in science from a young age. She then began her academic journey in 2011 at the University of Queensland, Australia. She studied biology while participating in a program for future researchers, which led her to undergraduate research work in several research labs.  She dabbled in many research avenues in order to narrow in on her scientific interests all while adding different research tools to her repertoire.

After serving as a research assistant in Dr. Timothy Bredy’s lab, she decided to continue work in this lab and pursue a PhD in molecular biology. During her PhD, Leighton worked on several projects from cephalopod mRNA interference to neurological wiring in mice. The common thread in these projects is Leighton’s passion for the puzzles of molecular biology:

“I also love molecular engineering and the modularity of molecular parts. There’s something really special about stringing together sequence in a DNA editor, then seeing it come to life in a cell,” she says.

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Promega qPCR Grant Series #1: Marine Plant Ecologist, Dr. Agustín Moreira-Saporiti

Posted on by Anna Bennett
Dr. Agustín Moreira-Saporiti is a postdoctoral researcher at the Marine Biological Laboratory and is studying flowering processes in marine seagrass

Marine seagrasses are submerged flowering plants that form essential underwater meadows, fostering diverse ecosystems and providing a habitat for marine life. Our first Promega qPCR Grant winner and marine ecologist, Dr. Agustín Moreira-Saporiti, plans to continue adding to a fascinating body of work aimed at understanding flowering in marine seagrasses.

Dr. Moreira-Saporiti began his journey into marine plant ecology at the University of Vigo, Spain, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in marine sciences. He then went on to complete a master’s degree at the University of Bremen (Germany) where his thesis focused the ecology of seagrasses in Zanzibar, Tanzania. His passion for marine botany led him down a deeper exploration of marine plants, unraveling the intricate web of ecosystem processes within seagrasses.

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The Microbial Secrets that Lie within Yellowstone National Park Hot Springs

Posted on by Anna Bennett
picture of grand prismatic hot spring; steam rising up from orange and yellow hot springs pools
Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park; Photo Credit: Anna Bennett

Yellowstone National Park —located partially in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming—puts modern volcanic activity on full display. Near boiling, ominous pools of water in the form of geysers, mud pots, fumaroles (vents that release steam) and hot springs are all present and active in the park and visitors flock to the park to view a handful of thermal features every year during the peak summer visitor season. Coincidentally, this is when a large portion of scientific research also takes place at the park. Combining both the boardwalk paths that are open to all who visit the park and the expansive backcountry, Yellowstone is host to over 10,000 thermal features. These thermal features are fed by superheated water that travels through a complex groundwater system—think the pipes under your kitchen sink—where subsurface water collects gases and chemical compounds en route to the surface. As a result, near-boiling water that bubbles through to the surface is often rife with chemicals like sulfur, iron or magnesium. Early scientists thought of hot springs as uninhabitable, but as it turns out, these conditions are just the right environment for thermophilic (or “heat-loving”) bacteria to thrive.

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