A slew of papers focused on an epigenome roadmap and the nature of gene regulation were published this week, highlighting the increasing importance of understanding not just genes but the switches that control them.  The focused effort of more than 200 scientists that authored the publications was the topic of a New York Times article today. Understanding the organization of…

Viruses responsible for the common cold, polio, and hepatitis C and HIV are all single-stranded RNA pathogens. Scientists at University of Leeds and University of York have identified the code responsible for the infection by these most common and, at times, most deadly RNA viruses.  The discovery is important as it should lead to new research to block the deployment of…

An article published in Nature Methods today by scientists at Georgia Tech describes a method of tracking ribonucleotides in DNA which, when incorporated during DNA repair, can be an important source of mutations leading to certain neurological (and other) diseases.  The method called Ribos-seq will help researchers understand how ribonucleotides can change the function of cellular DNA.  Similar methods were also…

It feels like we all know that there are certain laboratory practices that are common in most life science labs but how well do we know the list?  Percepta polled over 1,000 global scientists to find out the relative usage of 11 techniques used in life science laboratories.  While there may have been some shifting of the rank order,…

Scientist at EMBL-EBI have published a new approach to single cell genomics based on single cell analysis using RNA-seq.  The method is called single-cell latent variable model (scLVM) and was published in the Nature Biotechnology this week.  The new method helps scientists create a more accurate picture of gene expression in different cell types, and reveals hidden subtypes of cells.  Read…

Cell Culture is among one of the most widely used research methods in life science laboratories globally, and is present in 73% of the laboratories recently polled by Percepta (see figure).

This large market has the attention of many suppliers wanting their fair share of the…

Clever Scientific offers an affordable gel documentation system.  The omniDOC series of gel documentation and analysis systems provide researchers with a quick, simple and flexible solution for their gel documentation needs in a compact and affordable benchtop unit.

Imaging applications are made easy by the pre-focused camera that requires little or no adjustment. The simple omniDOC ‘one-click’ image acquisition and analysis software intuitively…

Smart mobile devices have changed our lives and we now walk around with the internet in our back pockets.   They help us shop, share information, and update our favorite social media profiles.   However, how people use mobile devices tends to vary depending on the task at hand (pun intended).  Many find their mobile devices to be useful in the…

A careful study of images taken by the NASA rover Curiosity has revealed intriguing similarities between ancient sedimentary rocks on Mars and structures shaped by microbes on Earth. The findings suggest, but do not prove, that life may have existed earlier on the Red Planet.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-01-potential-ancient-life-mars-rover.html#jCp

Researchers at Northwestern University say they have discovered a common cause behind the mysterious and deadly affliction of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, that could open the door to an effective treatment.  Read More…