Today, I’d like to give you an overview about methods in actin research with validated R&D products and kits which will allow you to measure binding to actin and effects on the polymerisation dynamics of actin.

Actin functions as one of the major cytoskeleton structures. It is involved in a plethora of processes in cell biology:  stabilizing the cell shape, cell movements (e.g. cell migration)  and intracellular movements and transport mechanisms.

Actin is a 43 kDa protein that is very highly conserved between species. Actin has three main isotypes (α-actin, β-actin and γ-actin), which show >90% amino-acid (aa) homology between isotypes and >98% homology within members of a particular isotypic group.

The term Autophagy was introduced by Christian de Duve during the Ciba Foundation Symposium on Lysosomes – which was held in London in February 1963. In 1974 he was honoured with the Nobel price in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering research about peroxisomes and lysosomes. In 2016, once more, a pioneer in the field of autophagy research won the Nobel price: Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese researcher, whose findings “led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content”.

Fig 1: The process of autophagy

Autophagy (Autophagocytosis) describes the fundamental catabolic mechanism during which cells degrade dysfunctional and unnecessary cellular components. This process is driven by the action of lysosomes and promotes survival during starvation periods as the cellular energy level can thus be maintained.

LipiDye lipid droplet Green* is a new highly sensitive fluorescent probe for detecting lipid droplets in live or fixed cells. In this, let’s review the characteristics of this dye which is compatible with live cell imaging.

StemBeads^® FGF2 is a revolutionary growth factor supplement that offers a more efficient way to grow FGF2 dependent stem cell cultures.
This supplement delivers a steady release of growth factor into your media of choice creating a more stable environment allowing for:

• Reduction of media changes by 67%
• Better culture quality through reduction of spontaneous differentiation
• No change of culture conditions – use your favourite media

I hear you thinking “Well, that’s just more marketing promises… “. Well, it isn’t, it’s real life!

Just read on and see some of the feedback from researchers…

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