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The Polymerase Chain Reaction

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a revolutionary laboratory technique that enables the replication of a specific DNA sequence. Using PCR, millions of copies of a target DNA can be easily synthesized within a short period of time.

6 Mar 2016

How Does CRISPR Compare to Other Gene-Editing Techniques?

Gene-editing techniques based on synthetic nucleases and transcription factors have enabled the targeted modification of gene sequence and expression. They have been used to directly targeted gene addition for therapeutic purposes, knock out genes associated with diseases and correct pathogenic mutations.

13 Jan 2016

CRISPR: The End for Zinc Fingers?

The past decade has brought rapid and significant innovations in genome-editing techniques. For the first time researchers have the opportunity to manipulate essentially any gene in a plethora of cells and organisms, using targeted nucleases that were designed for sequence-specific binding of the DNA.

13 Jan 2016

CRISPR: Ethical and Safety Concerns

CRISPR and Cas proteins have become a crucial tool for genetic manipulation in biomedical research and biotechnology, and the crux of its action is the recognition of specific sequences in the DNA and their subsequent cleavage from the chain. One specific system, CRISPR-Cas9, has become the standard for genetic editing, since it can be tailored to target any set of DNA sequences. Thus it is of no wonder that it caused an upheaval in biomedical field.

13 Jan 2016

CPISPR Applications

Regularly clustered, interspaced, short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) represents a family of DNA repeats initially described in 1987 in an intergenic region in the E. coli K12 genome, which are often accompanied by CRISPR-associated proteins (Cas). The wide variety of CRISPR sequences found in the microbial world offers an opportunity to exploit them in various applications.

13 Jan 2016

What is CRISPR/Cas9?

In the late 1980s and mid-1990s, genomes of diverse lineages of bacteria and archaea (the latter representing a domain of single-celled prokaryotic microorganisms) revealed clusters of regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats, known today under the abbreviation CRISPR. Later it was found that these repeat sequences (previously considered disparate) share a common set of features.

13 Jan 2016

2D and 3D Cell Culture Comparison

Cell culture systems are indispensable tools that are used in a wide range of basic and clinical in vitro research studies. The classically preferred model is a static dish culture system which mainly generates adherent two-dimensional (2D) cell monolayers.

13 Jan 2016

What is Neuroscience?

The term "neuroscience" refers to the scientific study of the nervous system. The word is derived from a combination of the words "neuron" meaning "nerve" and "science".

17 Jan 2014

What are Introns and Exons?

Introns and exons are parts of genes. Exons code for proteins, whereas introns do not. A great way to remember this is by considering introns as intervening sequences and exons as expressed sequences.

13 Nov 2012

DNA Methylation Detection

DNA methylation is one of the most important modifications in mammalian cells which plays an essential role in regulating growth of the cells and their proliferation. In humans, it refers to the addition of a methyl group at the 5-carbon position of cytosine (5-methylcytosine or 5 mC), which happens exclusively at symmetric CG sites on the DNA double helix – also termed CpG dinucleotides.

10 Apr 2011

DNA Methyltransferase Enzymes: DNMT1 to DNMT3

Global cytosine methylation patterns in mammals appear to be controlled by a complex interaction of DNA methyltransferases: DNMT1, DNMT2, DNMT3A and DNMT3B.

10 Apr 2011

What is DNA Methylation?

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism used by cells to control gene expression. A number of mechanisms exist to control gene expression in eukaryotes, but DNA methylation is a commonly used epigenetic signaling tool that can fix genes in the “off” position.

10 Apr 2011

What is Autophagy?

The word autophagy is derived from Greek words “auto” meaning self and “phagy” meaning eating. Autophagy is a normal physiological process in the body that deals with destruction of cells in the body.

31 Jan 2011

Ubiquitin-Like Modifiers

Ubiquitin is the most widely recognised post-translation modifier that bonds to proteins, marking them for degradation in the proteasome. However, there are many other proteins that have similar properties and are grouped together as a family, referred to as ubiquitin-like modifiers.

4 Nov 2010

Ubiquitin and Diseases

Ubiquitin, and the biological pathways of this protein, has been associated with the pathogenesis of certain diseases. Additionally, it is also thought to be beneficial in the diagnosis certain conditions, acting as a biological marker.

4 Nov 2010

Ubiquitin Function and Variety

The most widely regarded function of ubiquitin is its ability to mark proteins that need to be degraded by the proteasome. It is for this reason that it is occasionally referred to as the molecular “kiss of death” for proteins.

4 Nov 2010

Ubiquitination (Ubiquitylation)

Ubiquitination, also known as ubiquitylation, is an enzymatic process that involves the bonding of an ubiquitin protein to a substrate protein. This has sometimes been referred to as the molecular “kiss of death” for a protein, as the substrate usually becomes inactivated and is tagged for degradation by the proteasome through the attachment of the ubiquitin molecule.

4 Nov 2010

What is Ubiquitin?

Ubiquitin is a small protein that is found in almost all cellular tissues in humans and other eukaryotic organisms, which helps to regulate the processes of other proteins in the body.

4 Nov 2010

Gene Concepts

The underlying concept of Genes has undergone rapid changes over the last few decades. It was originally thought as the unit of inheritance and simply a DNA based unit that converts to RNA and forms proteins that are essential for life. Genes were thought to form the blue print of an organism.

3 Nov 2010