Advice for experimenters in training – think inside and outside the kit!
I honestly think that one of the most important things when it comes to being a good experimentalist – a […]
Picking colonies and starting starter cultures
When picking colonies, your goal is to take genetically-identical populations of bacteria (benefit of plates) and transfer them to a […]
Satellite colonies and ampicillin/beta-lactamase-based selection
Satellite colonies are bacterial free loaders – they’re tagging along for the antibiotic selection ride even though they don’t have […]
Choosing and using detergents in biochemistry
Difficulty deciding on detergents? Let me try to help… Detergents are “artificial soaps” and they’re a type of surfactant (SURFace […]
Membrane protein biochemistry – living in a world that’s inside out…
Although we often think about cellular membranes as greasy, oily things, much of the mass of these membranes* comes from […]
Help choose the next IUBMB puzzle I design!
If you do, there’s potentially an amino acid jigsaw in it for you! A couple years ago, I worked with […]
Tips for pipetting volatile liquids (things like ethanol)
Pre-wet the tip (pipet up and down several times before the “real deal” to equilibrate the air). Have you ever […]
What’s a postdoc?
This week is my 1 year labaversary – it’s been 1 year as a postdoc in Danica Fujimori’s lab at […]
Choosing and using syringe filters – some practical advice from a frequent filterer…
Choose a pore size* depending on how gunky your sample is & what you’re trying to filter out. The smaller […]
Slow & steady makes strong science (& scientists), so don’t give in to “lab guilt!”
When you’re really excited about your research project (or when you’re feeling like you don’t have much to show for […]
