Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death, an intracellular cell death program that rids the body of cells that are no longer needed. It plays an important role in several biological processes to eliminate unwanted cells, such as those…
What is an antibody? An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a protein produced by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and toxins. These large, Y-shaped proteins are composed of two heavy chains…
Proteomics is the large-scale study of proteins which involves everything from examining their structure to trying to understand more about their physiological role or functions. First coined in 1995, the term ‘proteomics’ was used to describe the large-scale characterization of…
Western blotting is a popular technique used to detect and quantify proteins within a sample. Sometimes referred to as immunoblotting, this technique uses an antibody to detect the antigen found on the protein of interest. This enables researchers to separate…
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a simple and fast molecular method used to amplify small fragments of DNA in a sample. This technique enables you to male millions of copies of DNA from a small sample that can sometimes be…
What Is Cytotoxicity? Upon exposure to certain toxic agents, cells may be induced to lose membrane integrity and die rapidly as a result of cell lysis (necrosis); they would stop growing and dividing; or activate the pathway of programmed cell…