Sorry I missed posting yesterday. It was a bit of a crazy day.
This morning when I got to the lab, Kate was preparing for a scheduled kill. Unfortunately, the lab rats cannot live forever, and as a result, they must eventually die. I know this might seem very sad, but it is important to remember several things. First of all, if it wasn't for the purposes of science, then these rats wouldn't have been born in the first place. Secondly, this is a fact that goes along with this type of animal research. Lastly, and fortunately, although the rats must be killed, the researchers in the lab make every effort for their death to be as quick and painless as possible. That is exactly what I saw today, and I can report to you that no rat was stressed out before its death.
The rest of the day was spent confirming that I did not have TB, finishing up some training for OSHA, and learning about a Western Blot. Wikipedia:
The Western blot (alternatively, protein immunoblot) is an extremely useful analytical technique used to detect specific proteins in the given sample of tissue homogenate or extract. It uses gel electrophoresis to separate native or denatured proteins by the length of the polypeptide (denaturing conditions) or by the 3-D structure of the protein (native/ non-denaturing conditions). The proteins are then transferred to a membrane (typically nitrocellulose orPVDF), where they are probed (detected) using antibodies specific to the target protein.[2][3]
A western blot's name comes from the fact that the first sort of immunoblotting technique
was invented by a man of the last name Southern. This allowed scientists to detect DNA.
Just to be witty, the scientists who invented the technique for detecting RNA decided to call
the stain a Northern blot. Similarly, the Western blot was named to play on these already
established techniques.
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
Step 4:
And lastly:
No comments:
Post a Comment