Adeno-associated viruses (AAV) are promising vectors for in vivo gene therapy. They can deliver a genetic payload of up to 4.7 kb and infect a wide range of cell types with virtually no pathogenicity. AAV production is a stepwise process that begins with construction of a transfer plasmid and ends with packaging of the recombinant genome into […]
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Examining gene expression at single-cell resolution provides insights into complex populations by identifying rare cell types, revealing cell heterogeneity, and uncovering other unique gene expression signatures that can guide our understanding of disease – and ultimately – drug development. However, finding meaningful patterns in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) results can be challenging, as data sets […]
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Ivory is a highly valuable material found in the tusks of hippopotamuses, walruses, and other animals, but is most commonly – and illegally – sourced from elephants. Every year, tens of thousands of elephants in Africa are slaughtered by poachers for their tusks to sell in the illegal ivory trade, contributing to the decline of […]
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Antimicrobial resistance represents one of the major global threats to health and development. Mutations are the driving force of evolution, but their phenotype is defined by the existing molecular mechanisms inside cells. By focusing not only on the mutations that lead to adaptation, but also on those that do not, mechanisms that constrain evolution can […]
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The development of scalable and sensitive technologies, such as next generation sequencing (NGS) and quantitative PCR (qPCR), has revolutionized genomics by enabling nucleic acids of almost any sequence to be amplified and quantified with relative ease using standard chemistries, revealing contextual insights into the complete genome and transcriptome. Proteins, on the other hand, the study […]
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With the emergence of cell and gene therapy and other gene editing technologies, interest in efficient and effective gene delivery systems has surged in recent years. Commonly used systems include adeno-associated viruses (AAV) and lentiviruses. While both are effective transfer vehicles, there are key differences in how they infect cells and deliver their genetic payload. Most notably, lentiviruses […]
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Basics of Synthetic DNA and Gene Synthesis Artificial DNA synthesis, a fundamental tool of synthetic biology, enables scientists to create DNA molecules of virtually any sequence without a template. Construction begins with the base-by-base synthesis of oligonucleotides (oligos), followed by assembly into double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) fragments. These custom DNA fragments can be used directly, cloned […]
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Antibodies are specialized proteins produced by the immune system that bind and neutralize foreign invaders such as viruses, bacteria, fungi, or parasites. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), composed of unique pairs of heavy and light chains, have been widely used by researchers to target antigens with high specificity. They have various applications in the diagnosis and treatment of […]
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RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) is a powerful method for studying the transcriptome qualitatively and quantitatively; it can be used to identify the full catalog of transcripts, precisely define the structure of genes, and accurately measure gene expression levels. Traditional RNA-Seq approaches typically require at least 10,000 cells or 500 ng of total RNA per sample. For […]
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The strength of any display-based antibody discovery program hinges on its library. While all library types have the potential to generate antibodies with high affinity and specificity, they differ in how reliably leads generated from the screening process can be converted into viable candidates during development. The diversity (quantity of and variety between library sequences), functionality (capability […]
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