Brewing Immunity: The Vaccine Beer Experiment

Posted on by Sara Millevolte

What if a vaccine didn’t come in a vial or a syringe, but in a pint glass?

It’s the kind of question that sounds hypothetical–something meant to provoke discussion rather than describe a real experiment. And yet, it’s one that a virologist claims to have taken seriously enough to test in his own kitchen.

Since publicly sharing his experiment and preliminary results, the idea of “vaccine beer” has drawn fascination, skepticism and no small amount of discomfort from across the scientific community.

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From Forever Chemicals to Ancient Proteins: Five Science Stories from 2025

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

As science advances, its most meaningful moments often come not in a single breakthrough, but in the accumulation of insights that reshape how we understand our world. As we close the door on 2025 it is worth pausing to reflect on some of the discoveries of the past year that stood out—not just for their technical achievement, but for what they reveal about our planet, our past and ourselves. From dismantling so-called “forever chemicals” to reading molecular histories written millions of years ago, these five stories offer a snapshot of the breadth, creativity and impact of modern scientific inquiry.

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From Young Researcher Award Finalist to International Collaborator: Two Visits to Promega

Posted on by Jordan Villanueva

In 2022, Luiza Abdo traveled from her home in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to the United States to visit the Promega campus in Madison, WI. A PhD student at the time, Luiza was one of ten finalists for the inaugural Young Researchers Award sponsored by Promega Brazil.

Luiza (center) visited Promega Madison in 2025 with Martin Bonamino (far left).

In 2025, Luiza was invited to Promega Madison once again, but this time she came as a customer and collaborator. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the Brazil National Cancer Institute, she was excited to return to Madison to discuss technologies that may help advance her project.

“Once I saw the Kornberg Center, I remembered everything from my last visit,” Luiza says. “It was one of the best travels I’ve ever had, and I made great friends.”

Luiza studies immunotherapy in the lab of Martin Bonamino, Head of Cell and Gene Therapy, at the National Cancer Institute. When she visited Promega in 2022, Luiza presented her project aimed at producing CAR-T cell therapies in under 24 hours. She and the other nine award finalists toured Promega facilities, networked with industry researchers, and went on adventures around the Madison area. They went to a baseball game, played sand volleyball against Promega employees and manipulated giant molecules in virtual reality.

“This was a different kind of visit. I’m here with my PI, and we learned several ways Promega technology can make our lives and research easier,” Luiza says in 2025. “The conversations are more specific to our field of work.”

Luiza (front row, left) visited Promega Madison in 2022 with 9 other Young Researchers Award finalists.

Today, she’s working on translating her CAR-T production methods into clinical applications. This visit introduced her to new technologies like cell fitness and metabolism assays that may help with this new phase. Promega researchers such as Julia Gilden joined to talk through challenges and solutions in cell therapy research.

“We’re making a new kind of product, which is very innovative, but we also have to prove a lot of different things to translate it to the clinic. We have many challenges, but we’ve found several ways Promega can help us solve our problems.”

Three years after her initial visit, Luiza says that visiting Promega has impacted not only her research, but also how she looks at her research field and potential career paths.

“My first visit was very good for me because I come from academic research, and we don’t have many interactions with industry. After touring Promega, I started to look at industry with new eyes. Even if I’m not working in an industry position, I see how there are people who can help with your needs, and work with you to solve problems.”

“I’m very happy to be here again,” she laughs. “I’m thankful to have this opportunity twice.”

Your Science in Review: Our Top Blogs of 2025

Posted on by Johanna Lee

As we look back on 2025, it’s clear that this year brought incredible innovation, practical solutions, and inspiring stories from labs around the world. From cutting-edge cellular imaging to behind-the-scenes looks at manufacturing, our readers showed us what matters most: tools that work, science that inspires, and stories that connect us to the bigger picture.

Here are the five most popular blogs from 2025:

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Ancient RNA From a Woolly Mammoth?

Posted on by Shannon Sindermann

Most of us first meet woolly mammoths as Manny from Ice Age (a gentle giant with main character energy) or as towering skeletons in museum halls. In the lab, though, mammoths can show up in many ways: such as fragile molecules preserved in permafrost for tens of thousands of years.

Woolly Mammoth

Ancient DNA has already helped scientists piece together mammoth genomes. Now scientists have done something wilder: they’ve pulled ancient RNA out of a ~39,000-year-old woolly mammoth and used it to see which genes were being expressed in its muscle tissue. In a new study, researchers showed that not only can woolly mammoth DNA survive tens of thousands of years in permafrost, but RNA, the fragile, quick-to-degrade “live feed” of the cell, can too.

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CRISPR/Cas9 Endogenous Tagging in Drug Discovery

Posted on by Teresa Simon

Limitations of Traditional Protein Study Methods 

Studying proteins in their native biological context has long been a major challenge in molecular biology. Traditional methods, although widely used, often distort the actual cellular environment and limit functional interpretation. Techniques like antibody-based detection or plasmid-driven overexpression can introduce artifacts and do not allow real-time analysis in living cells. 

In this context, the need for tools that enable the observation of proteins as they naturally occur, under physiological conditions, and within live cells is becoming increasingly evident in molecular biology. 

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Life on Mars? Proteomic Secrets of Bacterial Survival in Martian Brines

Posted on by Sara Millevolte

Could bacteria survive on Mars? While images of the red planet might spark thoughts of barren landscapes and lifeless deserts, Mars holds a fascinating possibility: under suitable conditions, pockets of salty, perchlorate-rich brines could temporarily form on or near its surface. These brines are formed by salts that naturally absorb water from their surroundings. By lowering the temperature at which water freezes, these salts can stabilize liquid water, raising intriguing questions about the potential for microbial life. But what exactly would it take for bacteria to survive there? New research from Kloss et al. published in Scientific Reports sheds light on this cosmic question.

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Solving the AAV Titer Challenge: A New Approach to Gene Therapy Workflows 

Posted on by Darcia Schweitzer

For the success of adeno-associated virus (AAV)-based gene therapies, accurate viral titration is non-negotiable. But as interest in AAVs as delivery vectors soars, so does the challenge of getting consistent, reproducible genome titers—a critical hurdle in biologics workflows where speed and standardization are paramount.

Impact of DNase Digestion on Accuracy

A recent peer-reviewed study pinpoints a surprising source of this variability: the DNase digestion, a common step used to remove contaminating DNA. “[DNase digestion]… led to a significant decrease in genome titers for several AAV serotypes,” the authors write,highlighting concerns around workflow reproducibility and data reliability.The research, published in Molecular Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development, demonstrates how different engineered AAV serotypes respond inconsistently to standard DNase treatment, significantly impacting final titer results. These findings are particularly relevant for scientists developing and optimizing cell and gene therapy platforms, where regulatory expectations for analytical precision continue to rise.

This study addresses the challenge of accurately measuring viral titers in engineered AAVs, which have enhanced transduction efficiency but exhibit lower yields when measured using traditional genome titering methods. Specifically, the authors explored the impact of DNase digestion on the stability of engineered AAV capsids that contain peptide insertions. Through a series of rigorous experiments including electron microscopy, quantitative PCR (qPCR) and digital droplet PCR (ddPCR), they found that the heat-inactivation step commonly used following DNase treatment to eliminate free-floating DNA can compromise the integrity of engineered AAV capsids.

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Accelerating Drug Discovery at Grove Biopharma with MyGlo® and ProNect®

Posted on by Promega

At Grove Biopharma, the R&D team is advancing a rational design approach to drug discovery. Their Bionic Biologics™ Platform assembles custom-engineered peptides to target intracellular protein-protein interactions into stable, potent, cell permeable therapeutics. By combining the precision of biologics with the efficiency of synthesizing small molecules, Grove accelerates lead generation and optimization.

Grove’s technology enables targeting key proteins involved in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases for which effective therapeutics have historically been difficult to develop. Their candidate molecules focus on important targets such as the Androgen Receptor splice variant, SHOC2 within the RAS/RAF pathway, the MYC-regulator WDR5, a Tau isoform relevant to Alzheimer’s Disease, and the Keap1-Nrf2 interaction associated with neurodegeneration. These programs have made significant progress and now represent some of the most advanced agents in their pipeline.

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World Wildlife Conservation Day: Reflecting on the Role of Science in Protecting Threatened or Endangered Species and Ecosystems  

Posted on by Kelly Grooms
A sign reading “Wildlife Conservation Area — Please keep to marked footpaths” stands in the foreground of a grassy field, with rows of young crops and a line of trees under a partly cloudy sky.

December 4 marks World Wildlife Conservation Day, a day set aside to highlight global efforts to protect endangered species and preserve the biodiversity and ecosystems that sustain our planet. It is an opportunity to call attention to the serious threats posed by wildlife crimes, such as poaching and illegal trafficking, and a time to stand together against ongoing dangers to wildlife and their habitat.  

Every organism, from myxozoans to blue whales, has a place in the delicate balance of ecosystems. When these systems become unstable, the impact can be far reaching—affecting anything from crop loss and soil fertility to water and air quality. This World Wildlife Conservation Day we want to reflect on the role science can play in understanding and protecting the wildlife and ecosystems that support us all.  

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