Optimal knock-down can be done by a shRNA sequence that depends on the gene expression level and the cell type. Usually, 4 shRNA should be tested to find the one inducing a minimum of 70% increase of the targeted mRNA pool. Genecopoeia has developped shRNA expression vectors with improved performances.

Gemma N. Jones et al has recently published in the British Journal of Cancer an article revealing pRAD50 (Ser635) as a pharmacodynamic biomarker of ATM (AZD0156) and ATR inhibitors (AZD6738) to treat cancers. doi:10.1038/s41416-018-0286-4

Key sensors of DNA damage such as ATM and ATR are targets of choice for drug discovery. A useful screening method is based on synthetic lethality. The pre-screening can be done on convenient HeLa cells.

High density antibody arrays represent powerful technologies which have opened a new era in functional proteomics. However, when faced with a large magnitude of array data, you must apply comprehensive statistical and data mining analysis to discover potential biomarker panels and meaningful patterns. Biostatistical analysis can also help to evaluate the quality of protein expression data by detecting and extracting errors and confidence level. As one can get easily lost at this game, this post illustrates a selection of packages available, taking the example of High density antibody array services performed by tebu-bio laboratories in Europe, in collaboration with their partner RayBiotech. I doubt you will want to do it your self when you have realized what can be done for you, and at very affordable pricing!

Recombinant protein production and protein purification raises the tricky question of host cell proteins (HCPs). To monitor the purification level of your protein of interest, the HCPs must be quantified. Of course, the quality and the optimisation of purification depends upon it. Here, we’ll take a look at an alternative to the gold standard, offering a way to detect more HCPs present in the production. So, are you ready for higher grade detection?