Molecular beam epitaxy

Genetic transformation is an important method, in molecular biology and genetic engineering, for transferring DNA amongst a variety of organisms. In Lab five, my lab partners and I used calcium chloride to make the bacterium cell walls more permeable and a heat shocking method to introduce the pGLO plasmid in the E.coli bacterium so that they may exhibit ampicillin resistance. The Goal of the experiment was to observe whether or not, given one of the four specific conditions, the pGLO plasmid…

The Cremation Process, Explained Cremation refers to the combustion, oxidation and vaporization of a corpse to basic chemical compounds, including gases, mineral fragments and ashes. Following cremation, the family of the decedent receives a container or urn that holds their loved one’s ashes. Many times, for financial reasons, an individual will forego a funeral with a burial, opting for cremation: The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) states that since 2005, cremation rates have…

Aspergillus nidulans: One of the lesser known pathogen of the aspergilli group, A. nidulans is a model filamentous fungus widely used for studying eukaryotic cell biology (Galagan et al., 2005). A. nidulans possesses a phospholipid-hydrolyzing novel cPLA2 protein, PlaA, which shows maximum similarity to mammalian-type cPLA2 proteins (α, β, γ) (Hong et al., 2005). Like the three isoforms of human cPLA2 proteins, A. nidulans PlaA also consists of two separate catalytic domainsA and B, and…

Cloning is a cell, cell product, or organism that is genetically identical to the unit or individual it is derived from. During the process of cloning, a piece of DNA is cut from its source with a restriction enzyme. Then, the DNA is put into a vector ( a DNA molecule used to transport genetic material into another cell). The vector is introduced to a host cell by the process called transformation, then the host cell copies the vector DNA with the original DNA; creating copies of the inserted…

4. Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction Multiplex PCR is molecular biology technique for amplification of multiple targets in a single PCR reaction. Indeed, multiplex PCR is a modification of conventional or realtime PCR in which two or more different PCR products are amplified within a single reaction (Henegariu, 1997). In a multiplexing assay, more than one target sequence can be amplified using multiple primer pairs in a reaction mixture. As an extension to practical use of PCR, this technique…

The book I read for my Biology book report was, The Double Helix, A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA an autobiography written by James D. Watson. It was released in 1968 and was published by Atheneum Press (US), Weidenfeld & Nicolson (UK) and is 226 pages. As the title suggests, the book is Dr. Watson’s personal account of the groundbreaking discovery of the structure of DNA. Biologists already knew that genes were the material responsible for traits getting passed from…

Imagine having glowing parts at night in your body. Having the ability to glow in the dark would be fun. There are many things in the world that glow in the dark. For example, glow sticks, lightning, fireworks, mushrooms, bacteria, algae and many more. The Aequorea Victoria Jellyfish is a jelly that glows in the dark. I am more than interested to learn how luminescence works and its processes. The Aequorea Victoria Jellyfish is a jellyfish found in the Puget Sound, Washington State. The…

This hospital-based case-control study was conducted on 110 consecutively newly diagnosed LP patients and 120 apparently healthy, age and sex-matched, control subjects. The control group consisted of participants referred for non-inflammatory dermatological conditions such as chronic hair loss or coming with their relatives. They had no oral mucosal, systemic or autoimmune diseases, and had no history of LP. All subjects were recruited from the outpatient clinic of the Department of Dermatology,…

Mo's story began on a Friday afternoon a few weeks ago. Which of course at the time, Mo believed Friday to be the start of a normal weekend, but she was wrong. Now, I am not saying her weekend was awful, but it did run awry. The plan was to travel to her father's house in Dixon, which is about two hours away from Bloomington-Normal. She had already said goodbye to her mother and step-father, on the grounds of the fact that they had left to celebrate their anniversary. The couple planned on…

between identified species. Electrophoresis Electrophoresis of DNA run in 2% agarose gel showed successful extraction of DNA in samples 1-8, 12 and 14-16. Samples were of good quality with high molecular weights (Figure 2). Samples 11 and 13 in Row 1 of gel 2 were not easily visible and thus the molecular weight was difficult to…