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Tips and Tricks of the Trade

Want to know how to multiply reuse agarose gels? Researchers reveal their best experimental tricks or give advice on how to meet the typical demands of life as a scientist.

Control Laboratory Devices with Embedded Systems (3.2008)

Using embedded systems instead of supercharged Windows PCs to control laboratory devices has a lot of advantages. With the advent of powerful and license-free Linux distributions like Ubuntu, the transition from proprietary Windows systems to embedded systems running on open software has never been easier than today. ... more

10 golden rules for creating good scientific websites (2.2008)

The World Wide Web, as we know it today, is indispensable for current scientific research. Every scientist's daily work includes searching the web for the latest literature as well as conducting scientific discourse via email. To make things easier for people visiting the internet, some rules for good web-design practice are important. ... more

REACH (1.2008)

Ever heard of REACH? Most probably not. Well, listen up! REACH, the brand new European-wide legislation framework that regulates the handling of chemicals inside the EU, may also affect "downstream users" in biological labs. Matthias Faix from the poison centre in Bonn, Germany, provides some basic information about REACH. ... more

Fast Lane to Microarray Probes (5.2007)

While some molecular biologists still design their PCR primers by eye, designing probes for microarrays without a computer is almost impossible. Thomas Kern's group at the Research Center Hagenberg and Bernhard Ronacher from the Austrian biotech company Anagnostics Bioanalysis together with Christof Sohn and Gerhard Gebauer from the University of Heidelberg have developed a new free-of-charge online probe design programme called "hybseek". ... more

Homemade Protocol - Instead of DNA-Extraction Kit (3.2007)

It's not always necessary to order the latest kit when planning the extraction of DNA. Eduardao Daniel Souza-Canada has developed a simple protocol for the isolation of genomic DNA from leaves. ... more

Cyber-Protocols (2.2007)

The traditional way to learn science is by practicing it at the bench according to the advice dished out to the Lab-newbie by his mentor. However, in the Internet age it seems that students more frequently prefer to rely on protocols they find on the web. ... more

Post Processing Biological Data with EEGLAB (1.2007)

Photographers usually post-process their photos. By doing this, they often change reality. This is not what a scientist really wants to do. However, some events have singular characteristics so sharpening raw data is necessary and could even reveal new concepts and ideas. ... more