Plasmid preps are to science what salt is to cooking. They’re so common that nobody notices, but nothing can be done without them. There is no mention of this step in any published paper, nobody mentions them in any activity report, no comments are made on how much time is actually spent on it.

But let’s face it: it takes time, as simple and as usual as it may be. A couple of days, spent here and there. It’s so well planned in your weekly agenda, it’s such a habit, that you don’t even think about it. It’s just routine. When you’ve done a plasmid prep a couple of times, there’s nothing new to learn about it. It’s like riding a bike, once you know how, you don’t even notice any more.

But it takes time…

Hyaluronic acid (also called HA or Hyaluronan) is a glycosaminoglycan with elevated viscosity, enabling tissues (eye, skin, joint and synovial fluid…) to resist to physical and mechanical constraints (torsion, flexion…). Over time, when HA production declines, tissues progressively lose these tensile properties, leading to wrinkles and fold, weak re-epithelisation and age-related troubles. But HA is also involved in many other chronic and cancer-related diseases. In this post, we’ll review one of the most popular HA quantification assays (ELISA test), known to be highly sensitive and robust, appreciated by researchers involved in cosmetology and drug discovery.

…or how to make your protein attractive

Biomagnetic separation is a powerful lab tool in protein biochemistry which can be used in a wide range of applications including analysis tools (for protein solubility and protein-protein interaction studies, and for testing several purification buffers…), high throughput screening (HTS) and larger protein purification scale.

Indeed, it’s an easy, quick and efficient method to purify recombinant proteins and antibodies. Note that it also can be used to remove endotoxins and abundant protein contaminants from samples. Let’s take a look together at the large number of possibilities available and how we can help you to design the most adapted protocol for your study.

The role of the interactions between tumor cells and their microenvironment (TME) is now well-established in various stages of cancer development. Cytokines, produced by both the cancer and the immune cells, actively contribute to these critical connections (see the previous posts related to the crosstalk between cancer and immune cells in relation to tumor escape, immunoediting and immunosurveillance).

In a recent review published in BBA, RayBiotech‘s team highlights the “cytokine signatures and dynamics” seen during cancer development. They also demonstrate the necessity of designing relevant multiplex immunoassays for the profiling and the quantification of cytokines in biomarker and anti-cancer drug discovery programs.

Source:
Valerie Sloane Jones, Ren-Yu Huang, Li-Pai Chen, Zhe-Sheng Chen, Liwu Fu, Ruo-Pan Huang “Cytokines in cancer drug resistance: Cues to new therapeutic strategies” (2016) Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, Volume 1865, Issue 2, 255–265. DOI:10.1016/j.bbcan.2016.03.005.

Download the publication written by RayBiotech, the leader in planar Antibody Arrays.