Companies are introducing column-free antibody labeling kits that can be used in place of traditional, labor-intensive column-based methods

Droplet Digital™ PCR–based assay quickly and cost-effectively assesses genome-editing events

Problem: Nearly 40 years after its introduction, western blotting continues to be a powerful method for protein quantitation. Arguably, finding the right antibody to detect the protein of interest is the technique’s most critical and challenging step.

Stain-free gel chemistry uses a unique compound, which, when activated, reacts with tryptophan residues in the protein sample to emit a fluorescence signal. This allows the quick visualization of proteins without any staining steps. In addition, stain-free gel chemistry makes it possible to use total protein levels as a loading control rather than the housekeeping proteins used in traditional western blotting protocols. This negates the need to strip and reprobe blots and prevents any attendant errors that can be introduced at this step.

Problem: Scientists must typically rely on high-end cell sorters in core facilities to run their samples. These cell sorters—equipped with five or more lasers and double digit detection channels—were originally utilized to answer pressing questions arising in the immunology field. However, they are overly complex for the new breed of user who sorts cells today: cell biologists and biochemists who employ fluorescent proteins and require at most four colors and one-to-two population sorting. The challenge is that as demand increases, the number of staff available to operate these complex instruments remains the same. As a result, wait times at core facilities have ballooned, literally putting research on hold until capacity is available. For the more than half of today’s cell sorting users who require four colors or
fewer sorts, the elaborate equipment is becoming a bottleneck. 

Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE: BIO and BIOb) received a Silver Telly Award, the highest honor, in the category Branded Content, Commercials, for its commercial “Bio-Rad iScript Supermix vs.Brand X”. The 35th Annual Telly Awards were announced June 16. Bio-Rad’s winning commercial compared its iScript™ Reverse Transcription Supermix for RT-qPCR to a product from a leading competitor. This year there were nearly 12,000 entries for Telly Awards from all 50 states and numerous countries. This is the second Silver Telly Award Bio-Rad has won in two years

Since its introduction in 2011, Bio-Rad Laboratory’s Droplet Digital PCR (ddPCR™) technology has demonstrated the potential to be a transformative technology, particularly in clinical applications. At the second annual CHI Digital PCR Conference in San Diego, CA, Oct. 7–9, 2013, 12 scientists using Bio-Rad’s Droplet Digital PCR systems will highlight ddPCR applications that have advanced their research.

Basic research and clinical research labs have long relied on real-time PCR (qPCR) for its speed, sensitivity, specificity and ease-of-use. Common applications include gene expression analysis, mutation detection and identification of copy number variation to better understand inherited disorders, cancer and infectious disease.

Problem: A mainstay in life science research, western blotting is commonly used to assess relative protein expression differences, such as when investigating cellular signaling pathways. Accurate quantification requires careful attention to procedural details and normalization.

Using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to exploit the mechanism of RNA interference (RNAi) has become a powerful tool to study gene function in cell culture and in vivo.