Life Science Tools of the Trade

Hopefully anyone that would buy NEB’s new “Time-Saver” product knows that one unit of a restriction enzyme cuts one microgram of DNA in one hour. New England BioLabs is now marketing “Time-Saver Qualified Restriction Enzymes”. One microliter  of ”TSQRE” will cut one microgram of DNA in five minutes!! Holy smokes-how did they do that?

THE ANSWER REVEALED!!

First, note the not so subtle substitution of one MICROLITER for one UNIT. Most restriction enzymes have an activity of ~10-20 units per microliter. If one unit cuts one microgram in one hour, one microliter containing ~15 units should cut one microgram in about 4 minutes!  What is new and improved about  ”Time-Saver Qualified Restriction Enzymes”? Nothing.

Note: Thanks to HW for bringing this to my attention.

Apology: To HW (if she gets stuck taking the phone call from NEB refuting this post).

Disclaimer: I think NEB makes top quality products. I blame the young guns in marketing.

Unrelated Confession: I have never added the BSA supplied by NEB when digesting DNA.

I received an email and decided to check out Promera’s eNotes. In the blurb I saw a product I might be interested in. I clicked the link and up comes the dreaded “Registration” page.

Q-How badly did I want to find out about this product?

A-Not that much.

It is interesting that this question (scenario) was addressed on a recent SAB survey. Why can’t I browse the site without registering? I don’t have to register at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, etc. if I’m just looking. So, Promega and anyone else who demands registration: rethink your policy! I just added Promega to my spam filter-all future emails will go straight to the junk mail.

Glow-Green,  a substitute for EB (Ethidium Bromide)

• EB is a “carcinogen” not only to humans, but also for DNA/RNA.

I received some unsolicited email promoting Glow-Green as a safe alternative to ethidum bromide. I hesitate to buy anything from a company that would state ethidium bromide is a carcinogen “for DNA/RNA”. What the hell does that even mean? DELETE.

I’m sure you can find the company (maybe I should, just for laughs) if you google Glow-Green.

Over the holidays, I spent some time perusing the internet looking at different science websites.  The number of websites pertaining to the biological sciences is amazing.  You’ll find websites from the serious to the comical.  Here are two that you may or may not have heard of.

http://www.protocol-online.org/

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php

Hope 2007 is off to a great start for everyone!