Technology Features

Gene profiling using quantitative PCR is becoming higher throughput, but researchers must be careful in gathering their data.

The focus of metabolomic studies is shifting from cataloging chemical structures to finding biological stories.

Advances in microfluidics and imaging, combined with some high-profile studies, are increasing interest in whole-organism screening.

Quantum dots, nanodiamonds and other nanomaterials broaden researchers' tools for watching biology.

Combinations of electrophysiology, two-photon microscopy and new tools for detecting neural activity show how neurons function in circuits.

Creating effective screens requires time, skepticism and astute trade-offs.

Various platforms for measuring microRNAs can provide different answers.

Overall safety is increasing, but new safety hazards, such as repetitive stress injuries and potential toxicities from nanoparticles, are coming under closer scrutiny.

To keep pace with accelerating sequencing machines, genomics researchers clean house and move toward the cloud.

Researchers try multiple means to get high-quality membrane proteins for X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy studies.

With microfluidics and multiplexing, researchers can get more information from PCR products in less time and with fewer reagents.

Nonlinear optical microscopy lets researchers see chemical composition in living cells and organisms.

As high-throughput techniques accelerate mapping of epigenetic marks, researchers are racing to find the biological meaning of these marks.

Mass spectrometry–based proteomics is still rapidly expanding, not just in terms of the methods and instruments but also the biological questions.

Rapid progress with induced pluripotent stem cells is bringing scientists closer to understanding their strengths and weaknesses as embryonic stem cell stand-ins.

They are the quintessential drug target—but the dynamic structures and highly elaborate mechanisms of G protein–coupled receptors continue to keep experts in both industry and academia on their toes.

Antibodies, the molecular workhorses of protein research, have traditionally been one of the most difficult reagents to procure. Using innovative new technologies, though, a burgeoning antibody production industry is turning these molecules into commodities.

Neuroscientists are taking advantage of powerful new tools for fluorescence imaging that enable detailed visualization of the structure and activity of neuronal circuits within the living brain.

Although many intricate microfluidic devices have been created in academic laboratories around the world, far fewer have been commercialized for wider use. But several efforts are underway to bridge this divide.

With the realization that cells interact extensively with their surrounding microenvironments during growth and development, the challenge for researchers has become designing three-dimensional culture systems that more closely mimic those relationships.