Pipette Jockey

Published: April 11th, 2016 Last Modified: June 16th, 2017

3D printing as a technology has been around for decades, with makers and hackers making 3D printers economical for consumers only in the last 5 years or so. There’s more than one way to frikassee a cat, just as there’s more than one way to 3D print an object. Rather than cover the plethora of emerging 3D printing technologies, I will talk about what is known as fused deposition modeling (FDM). Essentially, you have a plastic filament pulled into a heated nozzle (Think of an arts and crafts glue gun) which is able to move in the X, Y and Z axis. The movement of the nozzle is controlled by a computer interface where you put your digital 3D model. Software converts the 3D model into X, Y and Z movements the printer can understand and off it goes!

There’s been a bit of buzz about 3D printing lab equipment and I thought I’d weigh in with my experiences, both good and bad so that you can decide whether it’s worth getting one for your lab.

Continue reading “3D Printing stuff for your lab, hype and realities”

Published: April 7th, 2016 Last Modified: February 21st, 2019

Working with RNA can be challenging at times. Let’s say you perform a flawless RNA prep from your (read: your PIs) model organism of choice, with the precision of a brain surgeon and the finesse of a ballerina. You store your RNA in the -80C freezer, go to sleep and dream of nice, tight qRT-PCR curves. Take out a tube a week later, run it on a gel and there’s degradation! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! DAMN IT! Goings on such as this are what lead to the neurosis and superstitions of scientists working with RNA.

Let me show you how I inadvertently reverse engineered and improved upon RNAsecure, a commercially available buffer that you can use to re-suspend your RNA pellets. Now, 10 mLs from Thermo for 175$ seems a little steep (17500$/L? LOL), considering you can make 1000 mLs for 35$!!!!!!!

Continue reading “RNAsecure-ER / RNA Storage Buffer and how I learned to love DTT”