let's talk science
My first book review is for Lewis Wolpert’s “How We Live and Why We Die: The Secret Lives of Cells”. This is a short book (a little over 200 pages) which aims to give the ‘layperson’ a glimpse into the complex world of cell biology. The author is a biologist whose scientific career has been… Continue reading Book feature: “How We Live and Why We Die: The Secret Lives of Cells”
In just 5 days it will be my 6-month anniversary of starting my PhD. Which means that I am already a sixth of my way through my time in the lab, and an eighth of my way through my entire PhD. That’s a pretty scary thought... and if I wasn’t already worrying that I’ve not… Continue reading My 6-month review…
Another DNA damage experiment that I’ve been trying to get working in our lab is called the gamma-H2AX assay. And if you’ve been following my blog for a while, then you’ll know that back in late February I travelled to Oxford to learn the technique at one of the Public Health England labs. This assay… Continue reading The benefits of hydrophobic materials
So if you’ve been keeping up with my posts then you have probably realised by now that most of the experiments that I carry out in the lab are for testing how much damaged DNA is present in a cell. And so I thought it would be useful to explain a little bit more about… Continue reading Why look at damaged DNA?
Hello everyone! Sorry that I have been a little quiet here lately – lab work has picked up the pace a bit and so I’m still trying to adjust to balancing everything. Unfortunately it was my blog that had to take the backseat, but I’ll try and get back into posting regularly… pinky promise! A… Continue reading My monthly feature… decided!
This week I have been working on an experiment I have been learning called the Comet assay and so I wanted to tell you all a little bit about how it works. Like a lot of the experiments I’ve been learning lately, its one that allows us to assess the damage of DNA in a… Continue reading The Comet assay
Last week I started a really exciting experiment using a skin biopsy…! For any experiments using human samples, scientists have to seek approval first from an ethics committee to ensure that volunteers, samples and data will all be handled correctly or ‘ethically’. For even a small saliva sample, ethics approval is necessary before carrying out any… Continue reading Isolating cells from a skin biopsy
