...considerations for behavioral testing As a general consideration for behavioral testing in a laboratory, a high...where and when certain genes are expressed to investigate their role in a specific behavior. This blog ...influence on the outcome and cause variability in the testing group. For example, if an experimenter picks up...Mice may need to be given some time to adapt to a testing apparatus. General stress levels of the test animal...cleaned thoroughly between animals as olfactory stimuli that were left behind from a preceding animal (...behavioral neuroscience using viral vectors Behavioral testing is often done in conjunction with a genetic manipulation...behavior test. This time window between injection and testing will vary depending on whether it is an overexpression...

...other things, science communication comprises broadcasting, science writing, and certain aspects of art...2) Public engagement - Participate in science festivals and outreach If you are comfortable talking in...in public, volunteer at science festivals. Or engage with non-scientists in an unusual setting: Discuss...audience’s applause with your performance. When your institute opens its doors to the public, for example at ...your own blog, you can probably write for your institute’s blog. The Wellcome Trust blog or the John Innes...provides on-site courses in public engagement for institutions and the Royal Society gives training in media...citizen science project. Answering the big science questions around climate change, biodiversity, or genomes...

...of attendees were scientists still working at the bench. It was a fantastic opportunity to talk to so many... posited that “we underestimate living things.” He further cautioned the distinction of “higher” and “...Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the NIH, started off with the first...unintended themes of the meeting was how much we still don’t know about RNA. One talk that really brought... gave a great introduction to the repeated and distinct aspects of the CRISPR regions of the prokaryotic... summed up this conference—nucleic acid science still has many surprises for the researchers in this field...

...pursue leadership opportunities at the local, institutional, regional, and national levels. These skills... But how does one gain such experience? Your institution may offer occasional workshops on leadership ...invaluable experience and even after 5 years, was still improving my skills. My involvement with the NPA...Harvard Medical School and then Boston University (institutions where I’ve worked as a postdoc). I soon realized...that many of the issues faced by postdocs and institutions are not local but are national issues. I applied...resulted in actionable tasks and I made a point of sticking to deadlines and performing the work I agreed ...every year it organized a “Committee Leadership Institute” (CLI) where each Committee Chair and Vice Chairs...

...techniques such as molecular cloning or molecular diagnostics.       Steps of PCR The beauty of PCR is...for this process as DNA polymerases require an existing strand of DNA to add nucleotides to.  Using these...The final PCR product is often visualized on a diagnostic agarose gel to confirm product presence, size...studying copy number variation, and molecular diagnostics.  Digital droplet PCR, ddPCR  Digital droplet...is determined and then analyzed using Poisson statistics to determine the concentration of the original... Cloning Site-directed mutagenesis Molecular Diagnostics qPCR Quantify starting template DNA concentration...number variations Quantify RNA levels Molecular Diagnostics NGS library prep QC ddPCR Determine ultrasensitive...

... as “instillation” or “gavage,” as they do not require any punctures. Intratracheal instillation Intratracheal...Skill required: advanced Intranasal instillation Intranasal instillation is very similar to its intratracheal... is best for you — and the mice. While not an exhaustive list, these can include what’s being injected...compounds, as circulation is slower, and more institutional oversight is required. Restraint: mechanical...Intratracheal instillation is used to deliver substances directly to the lungs. It is an advanced technique...gavage Oral gavage delivers drugs that require ingestion, such as experimental therapies or pain relief...

...There is no need for PCR or cloning, as digestion of the destination vector with SapI yields 2 sites- the...TEV-V5) with either blasticidin or puromycin selection. Researchers at the Allen Institute for Cell Science...sequences between the tag and homology arms). Digestion of the donor plasmids with SapI allows the tag... a tissue specific manner, as well as 3-site destination vectors for inserting a tag at multiple target...lines they’ve been used to create in the Allen Institute’s recent blog post. For more information on other...can be modified to assay additional protein characteristics. For example, Masato Kanemaki's lab has developed...

...Bioinformatics/HTS a journal club. Sorting out the logistics Once you decide on the topic, there are a number...journal club should aim to have many of the same characteristics as a successful meeting: a clear purpose and...different person responsible for each figure. Others still are more casual with a single presenter summarizing...open forum where people feel welcome to ask any questions they have.  These variations are suited for different...mix of closed (multiple choice/binary) and open questions is helpful to ensure acquisition of the essential...thoughts you may not have even considered. These questions should be tailored to the group and format but...but should almost universally include the questions “Would you attend this journal club again?” and “How...

...developed to break through the resolution barrier while still utilizing fluorescence microscopy, is another option...et al. 2016). That being said, the anchoring, digestion, and expansion steps can impact the integrity ...how well the gel polymerizes, and the level of digestion. All of these factors in turn depend upon the ... between them to ensure the expanded images are still a good representation of reality. Third, expansion...signal can be caused by loss of protein during digestion, or masking of epitopes during sample anchoring...steps. But even under ideal polymerization and digestion conditions, loss of signal often occurs, due to...secondaries, can improve signal strength (Sherry and Stiles, 2022). Fourth, signal continuity can appear reduced...

...analogous to traditional restriction enzyme cloning. Sticky-end mediated gene transfer would be particularly...off-target editing efficiency. Kim et al. and Kleinstiver et al. characterized genome-wide editing efficiency... to single mismatches, but variably so, with Kleinstiver et al. reporting that Cpf1 can tolerate mismatches...essential function in Cpf1-mediated editing, as Kleinstiver et al. saw no decrease in Cpf1 activity with ... are indicated below each graph. Figure from Kleinstiver et al., 2016. Cpf1’s strength may lie in ... off-target editing rates, determined using sophisticated genome-wide analysis. At many of its computationally...activity than that previously observed with SpCas9. Kleinstiver et al. suggest that AsCpf1’s off-target rate ...

...in a range of biological studies, including investigations into environmental pollutants and health, embryo...developmental biology that arose from zebrafish-based investigations. Genetic resources for zebrafish A common ...about the genome are powerful resources for investigating any biological process. High quality genome ...screens produced ~1,500 zebrafish mutants that are still used in labs across the globe (Nüsslein-Volhard ...initiation or splicing. (RNAi, in contrast, engages existing gene regulatory mechanisms to block activity and...are particularly well-suited for neuroscience investigations. For example, neuronal activity can be tracked... best model organism depends on the biological question, and zebrafish are not ideal for every application...

...specifically should you do? What follows are just a few suggestions based on what I have found to be especially beneficial...employer’s career pages to look for current job postings. You may then reference the connection you made...get online and take a look at the company or institution’s career page, where you’re likely to find current...or monster.com, where you’ll find a variety of listings. Post your CV and make it visible, which will ...conference or job fair, or it may be someone at your institution’s career center. Alternatively, it might even ...other graduate students and post-docs from your institution have gone, and try sending them a professional... professional development, not count on your institution, program, or adviser to do it for you. Expose...

... A, et al., ‘Point-of-care testing for COVID-19 using SHERLOCK diagnostics.’ medRxiv 2020 May 8. Pubmed...based on the architecture of the CRISPR protein in question: C2c1, C2c2 and C2c3 (short for Class 2, candidate...opens up the possibility of using Cas13a as a diagnostic tool, as discussed below. Subscribe to CRISPR... Cas13a   Figure 1: Using Cas13a as a diagnostic tool. A pool of DNA or RNA nucleotides containing...specifically targeted RNAs. Finally (and perhaps most interesting), Cas13a’s propensity to cleave any RNAs after...efficiency but no significant off-target effects, a distinct contrast to the hundreds of observed shRNA off-targets...Addgene. 2. East-Seletsky, Alexandra, et al. "Two distinct RNase activities of CRISPR-C2c2 enable guide-RNA...

...that uses this waste as plastic lumber for things like truck bumpers, plastic adirondack chairs, and synthetic...encourage companies to obtain these labels! Reusing plastic Historically, scientists washed and reused materials... popular theme in life sciences, some of these plastics are high grade and can be washed and reused. This...tips cost in half, not to mention the amount of plastic you’ve saved. Repurposing regulated medical waste...collect in those red biohazard bags, typically is destined for a landfill. However, Triumvirate Environmental...use this material to produce various grades of plastic lumber and distribute it to industrial and residential...

...our in-stock viral preps: ddPCR, purity testing, sterility testing, and viral genomic sequencing to confirm...serotypes.   Figure 1: The process of requesting and ordering a Packaged on Request viral vector...The ordering process is split into two steps, requesting and ordering. This split allows us to provide...standards for both our depositors and requestors.  Requesting Plasmids available for Packaged on Request consideration...that Addgene cannot perform functional or in vivo testing. We recommend you check the original paper of your...order.  Timeline Once your order is placed, we estimate it will take 6-8 weeks for the service to be fulfilled...

...actual response takes 3 days and still doesn’t even answer your question. Does this sound familiar? Well...houses answers to all of your most commonly asked questions. On the Help Center webpage, you can browse through...ranging from depositing your lab’s materials and requesting them from your colleagues, to intellectual property...displaying the word “Help” next to an encircled question mark (see image above). This useful widget allows...widget, you’ll navigate to articles answering your questions making it easier than ever to get the support ...you’re looking for, or you just have a general question or concern about the answers we provide, within...

...which job boards list positions interesting to you. Many job postings will result in hundreds of applicants... requested in the posting Do this online and/or via email exactly as the job posting instructs even if...the majority of job offers arise as a result of existing professional (and personal) relationships. However... first job after the academic bench. Utilizing existing relationships as part of the job application process...you a much better chance at an interview –but you still need to nail the job yourself.   See the links in...

...detection of COVID-19 using CRISPR diagnostics. https://www.broadinstitute.org/files/publications/special/COVID...has spread to almost every part of the world manifesting as a full-fledged pandemic. Containing the spread...and to do so, the WHO recommends one strategy: testing, tracking, and social distancing. With countries...the curve, it has become evident that widespread testing is crucial in controlling this pandemic. Currently...general schematic of CRISPR/Cas based COVID-19 testing methods.   Rapid detection of 2019 novel coronavirus...illuminator. Approach: Highly similar to the SHERLOCK diagnostic test, this test varies in the sequence of steps...University. Shravanti Suresh is a PhD candidate who investigates cellular aspects of CRISPR/Cas immune systems...

...outcomes, suggesting that outcomes are already determined by at least day 13. However, distinct transcriptional... a single time point, making it difficult to investigate how early expression patterns influence reprogramming...cell type that can differentiate into hepatic or intestinal cell types. MEFs were reprogrammed into iEPs ...results suggest that iEP reprogramming is not stochastic, but rather there’s a particular cell state that...in a competitive transplant assay in the mouse intestine, demonstrating its utility in long-term tracking...The Morris Lab used CellTagging to uncover two distinct trajectories of MEFs undergoing iEP conversion...

...Every year, the Rare Genomics Institute sponsors a global competition for researchers working on rare... described more than 60 years ago, but there is still no treatment available. Aguilar is a basic cell ...He says that the award from the Rare Genomics Institute and Addgene will make a substantial difference... (top right) and his colleagues at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, PA will put their award to work...Joshua Wang (bottom right), also of the Wistar Institute, says that the lab got interested in XP out of...described in 1971,” McSweeney said. “But, it is still sometimes wrongly diagnosed as a seizure disorder...Resources Find out more about the Rare Genomics Institute and the BeHeard Award!    ...