...fully summarized in a short blog post, but some examples I’m personally interested in include: intracranial... preference.   Historically, ICSS was done by implanting an electrode and non-specifically electrically... also models reinforcement but is considerably simpler than ICSS. The test chamber is divided into two...expression of the early response gene c-fos. For example, using Chr2 stimulation should result in robust...Inhibition of neuronal activation is a little more complicated since basal neuronal activity in your brain region...c-fos expression to get the evidence you need. For example, as shown in this study [3], hippocampal neurons...but before you do any type of behavior analysis, simply take a few animals and stimulate them for 30min...

...you only need 1-2 ul of sample and the run time is just a few minutes per sample. During the run, DNA fragments...absorbance. Then you measure the absorbance of the DNA sample.  These absorbance measures give you an idea of...dilution factor x 50 ug/ml This method is quick and simple and doesn’t require any special reagents. However...especially when you expect low concentrations in your samples and are often used to quantify DNA for next generation...fluorescence-based methods require a standard curve, a set of samples with a known DNA quantity and their corresponding...That way, you can compare the fluorescence of your sample against this curve to quantify your DNA prep. Though...yourself as many fluorometers will calculate your sample concentration for you. Agarose gel electrophoresis...

...are a few examples. Make sure you use a proper plasmid (i.e. contains the α-complementation cloning MCS...isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside). (To be completely accurate, IPTG binds and inactivates the lac ...to a lacZΔM15-mutant bacterial cell in trans complements the mutation allowing for a functional enzyme...enzyme. This process is called α-complementation. The system described above was put to practical use in the... inserted it into a plasmid, creating an α-complementation cloning vector. When a cloning reaction goes...interrupted as shown in cell A, and thus will not complement the cell's β-galactosidase mutation. An unsuccessful...functional β-galactosidase enzyme through α-complementation (cell B). As shown on the representative plate...

...are more techniques and strategies one can employ beyond simply incubating cells with single-fluorophore-conjugated...ELISAs.  A popular method for indirect labeling employs a primary epitope-targeting antibody that is conjugated...antibody can originate from a range of species; for example, rabbit or mouse. In a second step, a fluorophore-conjugated...interested in one of the various cell populations; for example, CD8+ T (“T killer”) cells. Typically, you would...FACS achieves greater purity of your sorted cell sample than MACS. An effective strategy to sort out your... B cells, and dendritic cells. In this case, we simply need to label the lineage markers of all cell types...selected color will not be CD8+ T cells and we can simply “dump” them by gating on the negative population...

... research is about and what you think you can accomplish. No matter how many times I say this, candidates...specific questions and experiments. Nobody EVER complains that a seminar was too easy to understand. Make... to a Perfect Science Talk." 4. The chalk talk, simple in principle The first question I usually get about... important to understand. (1-2 sentences). For example: Distinguishing correctly folded and misfolded ...essential for human health. Failure to do so is implicated in several human diseases. Proper patterning ...focus of your first grant? (1-2 sentences) Simply stated, what are your aims? You could directly ...official aims, but I suggest distilling them into simple goals/outcomes. This isn't the time to go into ...

...fluorescently labeled probe. If the DNA is complementary to the probe (for example, has the sequence of the mutated...searching for), then the probe will bind to the sample thereby labeling it. The label can then be visualized...strength of the signal in comparison to a control sample. Southern blotting applications range from confirming...experiments to forensics and clinical diagnostics. One example of southern blotting being used to identify a gene... MstII and southern blotting are conducted on a sample from an individual without sickle cell anemia, ...interest by recording DNA abundance throughout the amplification process, rather than just at the end as in standard...DNA sequences to see which is more abundant in a sample. Whereas Southern blotting is labor intensive and...

...an account of the material resources needed to accomplish your science, and can include: equipment, reagents...then start identifying the resources needed to accomplish that goal. 2. Identify the tools in that timeline...consumables (such as pipet tips, glassware, etc), get a simple list from your current P.I., lab manager, or administrator...need to tap for your future research team. For example, if you’re going to need a tech because you’ll ...regions where the host institute is located. For example, salaries in Kansas versus salaries in NYC will... most start-up P.I.’s. It doesn’t have to be complicated, or difficult to create this list. Start BEFORE... that have the means to support your work. For example, if your work requires specialized equipment, try...

...tissues, cells, plants, fungi, or bacteria, keep samples cold and work quickly to mitigate RNA degradation...180°C for at least 4 hours.   If your final RNA sample(s) are resuspended in water or TE buffer, store...freezer.   RNA extraction methods evolved into a simple protocol still used today There are many alternative...for RNA extraction and purification. There is one simple method that works, and variations to that method...requires a lot of time and depending on how many samples you may have, access to one or more large, expensive...effectively separated from DNA and proteins by a simple extraction protocol with guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform...thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform. In this method, samples are still homogenized and lysed in a guanidinium thiocyanate...

...important that the digest go until completion. The time required for complete digestion varies for different...between samples. In addition to a DNA ladder standard, it is also a good idea to run an uncut sample of each...plasmid to the new fragment thereby generating a complete, circular plasmid that can be easily maintained... gene insert with respect to the promoter. For example, let’s say your plasmid backbone looks like the...    Alternatively, this whole process can be completed using a single enzyme if your insert is flanked...you to either stain your gel after you run your samples or add the stain as the gel is being made (post... digestion to anneal to one another and form a complete, circular plasmid. You then add DNA ligase to ...

... used immediately for amplification.*Pro-Tip*: The cells will become completely confluent and the media...particles = number of particles per mL of sample. The purity of the sample can be estimated by looking at the...negligible toxicity. However, their production is more complex and the presence of helper virus contaminants have...AdV can be found in reference 3. Production, amplification, and quality control of 2nd generation AdV   ...bacterial strain not prone to recombination for amplification. The final purified plasmid stock should be ...incubation as it will result in very low titer. Amplification (1-2 weeks) - The rAdV-S is used to infect more...and clump together ~3 days post infection. The amplified virus can be harvested once roughly 50% of the...

...your sample to. For example, we use our negative control to compare exposure times of our samples. A prominent...cannot be reproduced and projects that cannot be completed. A 2015 review analyzing and explaining the antibody...Baker, 2015), causing a huge waste of precious samples, time, and funds – up to US$350 million in 2015...techniques on rodent brains and is expanding to more complex brain systems such as non-human primates and humans...noise. We then compare the negative control to a sample with the primary included to confirm that the signal...antibody and not from the background noise. If the sample images similarly to the negative control, that ...weak or with general non-specific binding. If the sample differs from the negative control, such as showing...

... CRISPR samples. We invite you to jump in and try it out, or take a look at our live examples: experiment... principles listed here. It employs biological best practices. For example, it ranks guides by CFD score...each gene, we needed to design guide RNAs, donor templates and sequencing primers for quality control. At...score, and it mutates HDR donor templates to avoid re-cutting when needed. It gives you control over your...if desired. It works as a whole or in part. For example, you can analyze experiments designed outside CrispyCrunch...with NGS data were: Crispresso CrispRVariants AmpliCan We chose to adapt Crispresso by Luca Pinello ...active guide. With these constraints in mind, we implemented the following algorithm for optimal mutation ...

... as the building block of our understanding of complex biological processes. Many tools exist to perturb...in the context of the biological question. For example, while gene knockouts have long been considered...silencing,” of any gene that contains sequence complementary to the dsRNA (Wilson and Doudna, 2013). RNAi... translation, or chromatin modifications of complementary gene sequences (Figure 1). As a result, gene...unmodified dsRNA elicits immunogenic reactions that complicate the effectiveness and interpretation of RNAi.... of interfering RNAs.   RNAi vs. CRISPR: Complementary techniques It is fair to say that CRISPR has...of the technique—all that is required dsRNA complementary to your gene or genes of interest to trigger...

...target protein? Epitope Availability The answer is simple: epitope availability. An antibody can only bind...the researcher and ones that happen naturally.  Sample Denaturing  First, let’s think about induced conformation...frequently denature the proteins as part of the sample prep. This involves using heat and/or chemicals...being used as a marker for flow cytometry, for example, can only be recognized by antibodies that bind...epitopes available if it is being selected out of a complex mix of proteins that have been extracted from a...Picking the Right Antibody  It can get even more complex if you’re looking for proteins that are interacting...help to visualize an abstract protein during your sample prep process, imagining how it starts and if any...

... strategy is that large complexes may not permeate through your tissue samples as homogeneously as a single...processing and sample preparation can also help reduce the levels of endogenous IgGs in your samples, but know...option is from the same species as your tissue samples. The bad news: this situation is hard to avoid ...The culprits are endogenous IgGs in your tissue sample. Most common IHC protocols use two antibodies -...targets.  Pre-formed primary and secondary antibody complexes (Figure 2B) Some labs have found that you can ...with serum from the same species as your primary/sample, and then applying this mixture to your tissue ...secondary antibodies before adding them to your sample so the secondary antibodies aren’t free to bind...

...benefits gained by lowering the complexity of the screen. For example, the analysis becomes easier, the...discussed below. The software could also be used as a simple tool to rapidly find one or a few gRNAs suggested... the single cell level), are separated by, for example, cell sorting. The separated cells are subsequently...-defined, hypothesis driven research question. Examples of custom CRISPR screens Differentially expressed...a lasting impression on me. The slide showed a complex signaling pathway with many receptors, signaling...be very useful for drug discovery, to dissect a complex signaling pathway, and to identify what part of...potential components of a signaling pathway. For example, one could study the cellular response to a cytokine...

... exact amount of protein in your sample, you’ll compare your samples to a standard curve. This curve is...the known samples is used to calculate the concentration of protein in the experimental samples. Get more...heavy chains, and the rest of the Fab regions are completed with the Ig light chains. The variable region ...optimized for specificity and sensitivity, for example by changing certain amino acids to improve its ...expression in cell lysates, whole cells, or tissue samples. Many experiments that use antibodies use a primary...are used to detect the presence of proteins from samples containing a mixture of proteins. The proteins ...single protein from a heterogeneous mixture - for example, cell lysate or media from cultured cells. ELISA...

...promoter or the coding sequence and the template or non-template strand, among other parameters. .  Stanley...bacterial CRISPR engineering One common way of accomplishing bacterial genome engineering is done with recombineering...introduced along with an oligonucleotide repair template. Through recombineering, the locus of interest...interest is modified to match the repair template, and the locus cannot be recognized by the spacer-derived ... contains the specific gRNA(s), and the repair template is supplied as a dsDNA fragment. Each round of...pCRISPomyces-2 contains Cas9 and a gRNA cassette. The simpler system of pCRISPomyces-2 displays a higher editing...with XbaI to insert extra elements, like a repair template, using Gibson Assembly or restriction enzyme cloning...

... is completely degraded. Cloning Grade DNA (high quality/low quantity) – You can usually complete a cloning...flexible in this situation as you can simply add more beads to your sample. But, you’ll need to ensure you ...plasmid DNA itself, which can happen if you leave the sample in a lysis buffer for too long or if you get a ...easier than others to prevent quality issues. For example, some kits reduce the risk of ethanol carry-over...you mix specially coated magnetic beads into your sample and use magnets to isolate the beads for the wash...Take your average column-based miniprep kit for example. These kits are designed to handle ~1–5 mL of liquid...can affect the lysis buffer ratio and result in incomplete lysis. You may be able to scale the amount of...

...overhangs perfectly match up. They just need enough complementary ssDNA to hold the plasmid together, even if ...if there are gaps or flaps remaining. This incomplete plasmid looks like a homologous recombination intermediate...to work fixing up the “damage” and producing a complete plasmid. Besides being compatible with any vector...either by annealing a mixture of products or from incomplete PCR — although higher DNA concentrations are ...SLIC cloning process, a gene of interest is PCR amplified to add 5′ and 3′ homology regions from the target... separate PCR products (middle branch); or by incomplete PCR, which skips the final extension step to ...single-stranded overhangs (right branch). The mixed PCR and incomplete PCR methods yield a minority of usable product...