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Micro-Ultrasound in Cancer Research

Cancer angiogenesis is a key focal point in biomedical research. However, lack of a high resolution and portable imaging technique that helps in non-invasive, real-time quantification of various parameters is a huge challenge facing cancer research studies in animals.

23 Dec 2016

Micro-Ultrasound Principles, Strengths, and Weaknesses

Micro-ultrasound is a miniaturized version of ultrasound with a wider range of applications, especially in research pertaining to small animal models. Smaller versions of imaging techniques boost the efficacy of the techniques, and also reduce the number of animals required for a particular study.

23 Dec 2016

What is Transmission Electron Microscopy?

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a technique used to observe the features of very small specimens. The technology uses an accelerated beam of electrons, which passes through a very thin specimen to enable a scientist the observe features such as structure and morphology.

20 Dec 2016

What is cytopathology?

Cytopathology is the use of specialist diagnostic techniques to examine individual cells extracted from tissues to determine the cause and nature of a disease.

20 Dec 2016

Clinical Chemistry Tests

Clinical chemistry refers to the biochemical analysis of body fluids. It uses chemical reactions to determine the levels of various chemical compounds in bodily fluids. Several simple chemical tests are used to detect and quantify different compounds in blood and urine, the most commonly tested specimens in clinical chemistry.

19 Dec 2016

Amino Acid Biosynthesis

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins, which control practically all cellular processes within our bodies. The roles of proteins are critical for the function, structure and regulation of our tissues and organs.

2 Dec 2016

Function of Amino Acids

Like differently shaped individual beads in a chain, amino acids are joined together to form proteins. The main function of amino acids is to serve as building blocks for proteins. Proteins tend to be typically comprised of between 50 to 2000 amino acids joined end-to-end in many different combinations.

2 Dec 2016

ATP Biosynthesis

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a high-energy molecule present in living cells. It is a nucleoside triphosphate that provides energy within cells for metabolism and is used in several cellular processes including the synthesis of key biomolecules.

2 Dec 2016

Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) Function in Cells

ATP is the main source of energy for most cellular processes. The building blocks of ATP are carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and phosphorus. Because of the presence of unstable, high-energy bonds in ATP, it is readily hydrolyzed in reactions to release a large amount of energy.

2 Dec 2016

What is Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (PAGE)?

Electrophoretic techniques separate charged molecules in an electric field. The mobility of a molecule is inversely proportional to its size and directly proportional to its charge.

2 Dec 2016

What is the Expanded Genetic Code?

There are 20 canonical amino acids that are encoded by the genetic code of nearly all known organisms - there are only very few exceptions. In order to add novel building blocks to this existing repertoire, unique aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase and tRNA pairs are required, in addition to the specific amino acid codon and a source of the amino acid.

30 Nov 2016

Applications of Confocal Imaging

Epifluorescent microscopy is capable of generating images of certain fluorescent samples; however, the sample will appear indistinct if the sample reaches a thickness greater than micrometers. This is because some parts of the sample lie outside of the focal plane. A new imaging approach was required to overcome this challenge.

29 Nov 2016

Applications of the Expanded Genetic Code

The genetic code consists of 64 triplets of nucleotides called codons. With the exception of three codons, each codon encodes for at least one of the 20 canonical amino acids and most of the amino acids are encoded by more than one codon.

17 Nov 2016

START and STOP Codons

The universal genetic code is made up of several codons or triplet bases. The standard code has evolved over time to minimize coding errors. There are a total of 64 codons in the genetic code arising from the permutation and combination of the 4 bases in nucleic acids.

17 Nov 2016

LC-NMR Applications

LC-NMR combines two techniques - liquid chromatography (LC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). It involves a HPLC separation followed by the detection of separated components by UV or other methods and ultimately NMR analysis. LC-NMR is a powerful analytical tool used to resolve complex mixtures. The coupling of LC separation with NMR characterization has been employed in a wide range of applications.

18 Aug 2016

Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) Applications

LC-MS is a technique routinely used in sample analysis that combines liquid chromatography (LC) with mass spectrometry (MS). Extremely sensitive modern MS has helped LC-MS replace several immunoassays. LC-MS has helped improve the efficiency of drug discovery due to its excellent sensitivity and specificity. The technique can be combined with stable isotope dilution for precise and reproducible assays.

18 Aug 2016

Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) Applications

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a hybrid analytical technique that couples the separation capabilities of GC with the detection properties of MS to provide a higher efficiency of sample analyses. While GC can separate volatile components in a sample, MS helps fragment the components and identify them on the basis of their mass.

18 Aug 2016

Liquid Chromatography versus Gas Chromatography

Chromatography is classified into two types based on the physical state of the mobile phase used – liquid chromatography (LC) and gas chromatography (GC).

18 Aug 2016

Hybrid Analytical Techniques: GC-MS, LC-MS, GC-IR, LC-NMR

Hybrid techniques are a combination of 2 or more analytical techniques that help detect and quantify components in a mixture. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), gas chromatography-infrared spectroscopy (GC-IR), and liquid chromatography-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (LC-NMR) are a few of the most popular hybrid analytical techniques. These are widely used in chemistry and biochemistry.

18 Aug 2016

Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography (HIC)

Hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) is a powerful technique used for the purification of proteins in analytical and preparatory applications.

10 Aug 2016