Life Science Tools of the Trade

One of the first molecular biology techniques I learned was the classic “alkaline lysis” miniprep. It is a very complicated procedure with three solutions involved which must be added in the following order-Solution I, followed by Solution II and then yes, Solution III. Got that? It goes I, II, III! Some genius at Qiagen http://www1.qiagen.com/plasmid/has devised a new and improved system which I think Qiagen should market as “Maxipreps for the Totally Incompetent” instead of “LyseBlue”. From the advertisement I saw, if you add your solutions in the correct order you get a COLOR CHANGE! I guess that is a real advancement for a num-nutz who can’t remember I, II, III. “Ah, crap my Qiagen did not turn color-it is still blue. I wonder if I added the solutions in the wrong order? I’ll just toss it and mess it up again tomorrow” Solution II lyses the cells (obvious visual change-clear and gooey) and solution III brings about the proverbial vomit chunks caused by the neutralization which lets you know you added I, II, III in the correct order. What about someone who is incompetent and colorblind? I guess they are out of luck, they’ll never know their Qiagen Maxiprep never was blue in the first place!

Book: “The Evil B.B. Chow” a collection of short stories by Steve Almond
Music: The Best of Phil Ochs
SAB Longevity Levels: High
SAB Amusement Level: High
Science Mood O’ Meter: fluctuating wildly
Experiment holding up a manuscript: Sucrose gradient

Just to add to the glowing operon review, we typically get very high yields from even their smallest scale preps, so we almost never need to order anything larger. We have only had a couple problems with oligos ordered (one failed quality control and took a couple extra days), the vast majority show up on time without hassle early in the day. I think the Fedex shipping helps with this.

over all, two thumbs up!