Isolating DNA from plant tissues is difficult for many reasons. Unlike animal cells, plant cells have rigid cell walls, often made of tough fibrous material, and contain proteins and enzymes and other compounds such as polysaccharides and polyphenols that play a role in different cellular processes. These compounds can interfere with DNA isolation as well as downstream applications such as PCR. For these reasons, DNA isolation methods that are used successfully for other sample types may not work well to isolate DNA from plant material. Continue reading “DNA Purification from Plants: Not All Methods are Equal”
Promega Art Showcases Explore Creativity, Science and the Unknown
Albert Einstein once wrote: “to raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.” The marriage of science and creativity, it seems, is indispensable for exploration and the discovery of new ideas.
As a life sciences company, Promega supports the work of scientists who are tasked with unraveling mysteries and who ask questions in an effort to get answers that improve the lives of others. Because creative thinking plays a key role in the scientific discovery process, Promega supports artistic exploration in many forms. As an organization, we appreciate that creativity reinforces the type of imagination that inspires scientific progress and innovation.
Since 1996, Promega Corporation has sponsored quarterly art showcases at the Promega BioPharmaceutical Technology Center on East Cheryl Parkway in Fitchburg, WI. This artistic initiative came about in an effort to explore the depths of creativity and science, and to demystify biotechnology and the work of Promega for our community. Promega Art Showcases, which occur four times per year and are open to the public, have featured the work of local, national and international artists, as well as the art of Promega employees. Continue reading “Promega Art Showcases Explore Creativity, Science and the Unknown”
Spring Break Staycation
- Camping out! The weather isn’t quite there yet in Wisconsin, but getting out the sleeping bags and having flashlights in the family room is super fun. No electronics, so you get to spend some time together without movies, cell phones or video games.
- Movie Marathon! We’ve picked a certain type of movie (robots, monsters, etc.), and made popcorn with sweet treats. Pajamas all day on the couch.
- Scavenger Hunt! Who doesn’t love one? Take the time to create a really fun one that will take a while to get through. This will keep your family entertained for a couple hours if you do it right.
- Spend the day like a tourist in your own town! There are so many places that get overlooked in our own communities because we are too busy living our lives to explore. I’ve never been to a local museum here! Do some things that people travel to your city to do and see.
- Family Board Game Tournament! You will be surprised how much fun you can have playing board games. Mix it up so you have a variety. Prizes and snacks too!
What are your staycation ideas?
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Has Cancer Met its Match?
Dr. Drew M. Pardoll, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, in his 2012 review, “The blockade of immune checkpoints in cancer immunotherapy” published in Nature Reviews Cancer (1) writes:
“The myriad of genetic and epigenetic alterations that are characteristic of all cancers provide a diverse set of antigens that the immune system can use to distinguish tumour cells from their normal counterparts.”
Tumors have antigens, so we should be able to address/attack these antigens with our immune system, right?
Various immune mediators as therapeutic agents against cancer have entered and mostly flopped in clinical trials over the past 30 or more years. As a graduate student in the 1980s I remember IL-2 and interferon raising many hopes. More recently, drugs against chronic myeloid leukemia and CLL have shown early promise. However, so far cancer cells have mostly won against these therapies. Yet recent news points to some exciting new therapeutic agents, that over the past 15 years or so, and in and out of clinical trials, are getting a leg up in the cancer battle. These drugs are immune checkpoint inhibitors.
Continue reading “Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: Has Cancer Met its Match?”Get Ready to Celebrate Pi!
What will you be doing on 3/14/15 at precisely 9:26:53? Twice the clocks will align with the first few digits of my favorite irrational and transcendental number (3.141592653…) or π. Over 1 trillion digits to the right of the decimal point have been calculated, and they still go on, never making a pattern, never repeating.
Take any circle, that blueberry pie that your grandmother baked would be a good choice. Measure the circumference and divide by the diameter and you will have Pi, the mathematical constant that represents the ratio of circumference to diameter in a circle. You probably encountered Pi in your early mathematics education when learning the formula for the area of a circle (2πr2).
In celebration of Pi, here are a few Pi diversions to brighten your day. Continue reading “Get Ready to Celebrate Pi!”
Uncovering Protein Autoinhibition Using NanoBRET™ Technology
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA article, Wang et al. used the principle of the Promega NanoBRET™ assay to understand how ERK1/2 phosphorylation of Rabin8, a guanine nucleotide exchange factor, influenced its configuration and subsequent activation of Rab8, a protein that regulates exocytosis.
Rab8 is a member of the Rab family of small GTPases and an important regulator of membrane trafficking from the trans Golgi network and recycling endosomes to the plasma membrane. Wang et al. were interested in learning how the guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) Rabin8, a known activator of Rab8, was itself activated to better understand how Rab8 and exocytosis were regulated in the cell. First, they confirmed if the consensus extracellular-signal-regulated kinases ERK1/2 phosphorylation motif uncovered in Rabin8 resulted in phosphorylation of Rabin8. Both in vitro analysis and cell-based assays confirmed that ERK1/2 phosphorylated Rabin8. Next, the GEF activity of Rabin8 was assessed to determine if ERK1/2 phosphorylation activated the GEF. Researchers confirmed activation of Rabin8 GEF in vitro.
Continue reading “Uncovering Protein Autoinhibition Using NanoBRET™ Technology”Neuroscience Explains Harry Potter’s Appeal
Curling up with a good book is one of life’s greatest pleasures, whether you’re reading on a tropical beach while on vacation or nestled into your favorite chair at home. As your eyes skim over the words, your mind conjures up images of the events unfolding on the page. Books can take us to fantastic places, real and imaginary, that we will never visit in our lifetime. And while there is some pleasure to be gained from nonfictional books, my favorite books all seem to fall in the realm of fiction. I am not alone. The science fiction and fantasy genre of literature continues to be one of the most popular. Why do so many readers find these types of books so enticing and engaging?
It all comes down to science, specifically neuroscience.
Continue reading “Neuroscience Explains Harry Potter’s Appeal”
Culturing the Unculturable Bacteria
It is estimated that all the bacterial species so far described represent only a tiny fraction of the total. The rest remain unknown to science because they are “unculturable” in standard (or known) laboratory media. Given that many antibiotics were first isolated from environmental bacteria, it seems likely that these as yet unknown organisms could also be a rich source of potential new drug candidates. The desperate need for new strategies to combat multi-drug resistant infections gives impetus to studies investigating how we can culture some of these “unculturable” bacteria and uncover their potential as a source of much-needed new treatments.
Continue reading “Culturing the Unculturable Bacteria”Announcing the 10th Annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium: Engineering Limb Regeneration
On April 22, 2015, the BTC Institute and Promega Corporation will host the 10th Annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium — Engineering Limb Regeneration: Recapitulating Normal Development and Regeneration? Our colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have put together an outstanding list of presenters who will address advances – and challenges – associated with this field of research.
Continue reading “Announcing the 10th Annual Wisconsin Stem Cell Symposium: Engineering Limb Regeneration”
Mitochondrial DNA Typing in Forensics
Mitochondria, often thought of as powerhouses of the cell, are fascinating eukaryotic organelles with a double-layered membrane and their own genome. Mitochondrial DNA (Mt DNA) is typically about 16570 bases, circular, highly compact, haploid and contains 37 genes, all of which are essential for normal mitochondrial function. Thirteen of these genes provide instructions for making enzymes involved in oxidative phosphorylation, a process that uses oxygen and simple sugars to create adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the cell’s main energy currency. The remaining genes code for transfer RNA (tRNA) and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) which are necessary for translating messenger RNA transcribed from nuclear DNA, into protein molecules.
One of the most important characteristics of mitochondrial genome that is relevant to field of forensics is the copy number. Continue reading “Mitochondrial DNA Typing in Forensics”
