Gel Extraction Comb Trick

Did you enjoy this video? Please send us a comment if you know of other great lab tricks that you would like to shar.

Discover the 50 Cent Microscope

Call for Contributors to The Canadian Biotechnologist2.0 Blog

The Canadian Biotechnologist2.0 Blog is devoted to the productivity of the Canadian biotechnology sector and the fine people who take part in this profession across the country. We are inviting undergraduate and post-graduate students, bench scientists, and technologists to contribute content: posters, tools, research, presentations, articles, white papers, multimedia, music downloads and entertainment, conference announcements, videos, etc.

We are interested in publicizing the work of your lab and the people that work in it. Generally, we are looking for 250-500 word articles on the topic. Participating guest bloggers will gain recognition from the broader community, exposure to job opportunities, and personal exposure from page rankings on Google and other search engines. We are working toward building a broad community across Canadian labs. If you could pass this information along to anyone in your lab who may be interested in being a guest blogger, it would be highly appreciated.

We are also interested in learning about your personal insights on the biotechnology scene. Please take a few moments to answer the following questions so that we may publish your responses with attribution on the blog:
1. Briefly describe your current position and current interests.
2. What path brought you to this point?
3. What projects of interest (that you feel comfortable talking about) are occurring at your lab right now?
4. What trends do you see in the profession of biotechnology in academics and industry?
5. What advice can you give to students entering the field?
6. What blogs and other online sites do you use?
7. One goal of the blog is to introduce our audience to new methods, tools, and career advice. In your opinion, what relevant methods, research techniques, and protocols would help our readers?
8. From a blue-sky perspective, can you comment on the potential for online social networks to promote collaboration in the biotechnology community? Can social networks lead to the creation of new tools?
9. Can you comment of the shift in funding methods in the U.S. and how it will impact funding in Canada?
10. Is there any other content you would recommend, particularly tools that a broad biotechnology life sciences audience would find of interest?.

Cheers!

Howard Oliver
Blog Manager
Bio-Rad Laboratories (Canada) Ltd.
holiver@whatifwhatnext.com

Beardomics: How your beard holds the key to determining your risk of developing cancer

This is by far one of the funniest videos that I have seen in the lab comedy genre on the internet! Beardomics definitely deserves two thumbs up. Kudos to Unicorns of the Hydrocalypse for a fantastic video!

One of my favourite lines from the video is when he explains that hundreds of pounds of beard hair sample is kept at -80C “not for preservation…just because I don’t like the smell!” What’s your favourite part?

The common thread that binds miscarriages, heart attacks and strokes

Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital have identified a potential new cause for unexplained miscarriages in mice.

They also identified two possible treatments to prevent these miscarriages and their work has broader implications for the development of new drugs to treat heart attacks and strokes.

The researchers, led by Dr. Heyu Ni, found that the same kind of blood-clotting in coronary arteries or blood vessels in the brain that causes heart attacks and strokes also happens in the placenta. The massive clotting can destroy the placenta, block blood flow to the fetus and cause miscarriages.