tips

How to Isolate RNA like a Pro

Posted on by Terri Sundquist
Ribbon diagram of RNA’s biggest threat: a ribonuclease
Ribbon diagram of RNA’s biggest threat: a ribonuclease

Back in graduate school, I purified a lot of RNA, and after a while, I became fairly successful at it. My yields were good, and the RNA was intact. However, many of my early attempts at RNA isolation yielded degraded RNA that did not work well in many downstream applications. In my case, successfully isolating high-quality RNA required practice. During my trials and tribulations, I learned a lot of tricks and tips about how to obtain high-quality RNA. Here I share some of these tricks to help you speed through that “practice makes perfect” phase so that you can isolate RNA like a pro.

Continue reading “How to Isolate RNA like a Pro”

Practical Tips for HEK293 Cell Culture When Using cAMP-Glo™ Assay

Posted on by Nives Kovacevic

HEK293 cells stably expressing HaloTag®-ECS (ExtraCellular Surface; comprised of a signal sequence and single transmembrane domain of β1-integrin) fusion protein labeled with HaloTag® Alexa Fluor® 488 Ligand and then imaged.
HEK293 cells stably expressing HaloTag®-ECS (ExtraCellular Surface; comprised of a
signal sequence and single transmembrane domain of β1-integrin) fusion protein labeled
with HaloTag® Alexa Fluor® 488 Ligand and then imaged.
G Protein Coupled Receptors represent one of the largest classes of cell surface receptors and one of the most important classes for drug targets. Fifty of the top 200 drugs target GPCRs. GPCRs respond to various stimuli like light, odors, hormones, neurotransmitters and others. They cover virtually all therapeutic areas. When a particular GPCR is implicated in a disease, researchers screen the GPCR and its signaling pathways, the hope being that promising therapeutic targets might be identified. Major G-protein families signal via secondary messengers like cAMP, which in turn activate a range of effector systems to change cell behavior and/or gene transcription. There are various approaches and methods to study GPCRs and measure the increase or decrease of intracellular cAMP. However, the fastest and the most sensitive among all methods is a plate based cAMP-Glo™ Assay. Continue reading “Practical Tips for HEK293 Cell Culture When Using cAMP-Glo™ Assay”