Technology Features in 2016

Sequencing technology drives microbiology and gives researchers new reasons to draw on classic techniques.

A maturing open hardware and open-source software movement seeks to expand DIY light-sheet microscopy.

Many neuroscience labs are intrigued by these social, vocalizing primates.

DNA folding shapes gene expression. Emerging techniques promise to reveal the intricacies of this architectural language of chromosomes.

Labs can generate neurons from pluripotent stem cells to study basic biology and to model disease. Protocols are getting more robust, and labs add personal preferences.

Cell-based assays are less routine for plant biologists than for researchers who work with animal or human cells, but that is changing.

Infidelity is painful in life and in the lab. The former is better left to other publications; the latter is best not ignored, especially in the context of PCR-based DNA amplification.

Tools are emerging to help labs trawl for sequences that reveal microbial strains and their functional potential in deep pools of metagenomic data.

Emerging ways to lower the error rate when hunting low-frequency mutations.

Probes and imaging finesse for a clearer view of tissue.

Both tried-and-true and new assays are helping labs to assess methylation at particular loci and from single cells.