Sustainability Made Simple: Greener Choices in Molecular Biology

Sustainability in the lab isn't just a trend—it's a responsibility. In this quick but powerful Mol Bio Minutes episode, sustainability expert Sune Lund Sporring shares actionable tips to reduce energy use, manage lab waste, and transition to greener materials like Thermo Fisher’s Sustain Series bio-based plastics.Discover the difference between bio-based and biodegradable, why second-generation feedstocks are a game-changer, and how to make low-impact changes without compromising performance. Learn how small shifts—like using aluminum beads instead of water in a bath or switching to carbon-reduced plastics—can significantly cut your lab’s carbon footprint. And remember: if greener options aren’t available, your demand can help shape the market.Helpful resource links mentioned in this episode:My Green Lab – Facts and resources about lab sustainabilityEnergy use of fume hoods – Energy use and savings ideas for fume hoodsGreener by Design – Thermo Fisher’s approach to green solutionsLab Armor™ Beads – A sustainable option to replace water in water bathsInstrument trade up program – trade in your equipment to be green and give it a second lifeLab plastic waste – Stats about plastic waste in labsDoing something about it – Thermo Fisher’s lower carbon plastics solutionSustain Series PCR plastics – Lower carbon footprint, without workflow interruptionReasons to believe – Fact sheet about Sustain Series PCR plastics Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Join us for an insightful conversation with Dr. Nadav Ahituv, a leader in human genetics and gene regulation at UCSF. He shares his personal journey from scoliosis patient to genetic researcher, exploring the mysteries of non-coding DNA, massively parallel reporter assays, and CRISPR-based therapeutic innovations.We dive into his lab’s diverse projects, from decoding bat wing development and diet adaptation to tackling complex diseases like scoliosis and cancer through gene modulation. Learn how cloning is used alongside technologies like AI, genome-wide sequencing, and CRISPR to revolutionize our understanding of regulatory elements and shape the future of precision medicine.Plus, discover how a surprising approach—using modified fat cells—could be a game-changer in cancer therapy. This episode is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by the intersection of genetics, technology, and evolution. Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

With prior Mol Bio Minutes episodes covering DNA form migration and staining considerations for nucleic acid gel electrophoresis, we tie it all together with this great set of overall tips, tricks and resources for the topic. Anyone that’s ever run a gel has undoubtedly produced gels with smeared, faint or poorly separated bands. What causes these and how can you avoid them?  Well, Aistė Polikaitytė, Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific is here to cover the likely causes and troubleshooting tips to help avoid the most common gel issues. She touches on how much sample to load, the importance of reagent selection, gel preparation, separation conditions, staining, as well as purification and contamination considerations. Helpful resource links mentioned in this episode:Selection guide for electrophoresis dyes and buffersLearn how using precast E-Gel agarose gel can help avoid common issuesA helpful troubleshooting guide for nucleic acid gel electrophoresisView an on-demand webinar covering these topics in more detail Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

It could be argued that biology has always boiled down to chemistry, and that chemistry has always boiled down to physics. However, not many would deny that the fields of biology and chemistry are overlapping more than ever, with both leveraging computing methods, also more than ever. This conversation with Dr. Ramesh Jha, Technical Staff Member at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), crosses biology, chemistry, and computing methods. The work of his biome team at LANL uses computational tools to inform the design of enzymes that are produced via PCR-based cloning and then expressed in microbes. They use fluorescent gene circuits in these microbes, along with flow cytometry, to screen these large libraries for advantageous gain-of-function variants. When they find an interesting mutation, they isolate it, sequence it, and produce and evaluate those biocatalytic enzymes for bioremediation, biomanufacturing, and other important applications. Ramesh makes this complex and interdisciplinary science approachable and gives hope to how it could help address problems of “forever chemicals” and other environmental and manufacturing challenges. Join us for this interesting and inspiring conversation.  Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

You can run the perfect agarose gel to separate your nucleic acid fragments but if you don’t stain and image the gel properly, it’s all for not. In this second installment of Mol Bio Minutes we take a look at the staining considerations for nucleic acid gel electrophoresis with Paulius Palaima, Product Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific. He covers the range of stains and staining approaches available while calling out pros, cons and considerations for each. How these recommendations change, depending on your sample, is also covered in this approachable but informative episode. Helpful resource links mentioned in this episode:A helpful DNA stain selection guideRNA stain options and detailsEffects of dyes on gel electrophoresis properties Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Topics and terms such as biosafety, biosecurity, containment, and contamination are things most of us have heard of and think about at some level, but with the pace of molecular biology moving faster than ever, these are topics with implications that are reaching farther than ever. We’re joined by Dr. Ryan Burnette and Dr. Lauren Richardson from Merrick and company for this episode, and they’re ace communicators that help walk us through the expanding horizon and implications of these topics.This conversation starts on the basic topics, like what biocontainment is and what’s needed for each of the four levels of biosafety labs, but it quickly moves beyond, shining a light on the security and containment needs for more than just the organisms. We hear about how the data and methods used to do modern molecular biology, as well as the data generated in the experiments, are equally precious and in need of protection and containment. With public health and safety on the line, and an acknowledgement that the pace of science moves faster than that of policy, we get into the idea of who really owns responsibility for protecting data. Your role might be more important than you know, so don’t miss this conversation that will make you pause and think! Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Agarose gel electrophoresis is a staple method in almost all biology and biochemistry lab where separation and analysis of nucleic acids is needed. In this Mol Bio Minutes mini episode Augustė Užuotaitė, Scientist III at Thermo Fisher Scientific, covers the basics of electrophoresis with a spotlight on how different forms of DNA migrate differently in agarose gel electrophoresis.In less than 10 quick minutes, you’ll learn about the many factors that affect DNA migration rate. Augustė reviews how DNA size, sequence, and conformation all affect migration rate, and she gives some beautifully simple examples to help it all make sense. Helpful resource links mentioned in this episode:Nucleic acid gel electrophoresis – summarized in 5 easy stepsFive important considerations for the nucleic acid gel electrophoresis Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

Obesity is one of the most pressing health challenges of our time, with genetic and molecular factors playing a crucial role in how our bodies regulate weight. In this season opener, we explore the science behind obesity, focusing on how hormones, genetics, and brain circuits influence feeding behavior and body weight. Join us for a fascinating discussion about the interplay between molecular biology and real-world health outcomes.Our guest, Dr. Giles Yeo, is a professor of molecular neuroendocrinology at the University of Cambridge and an expert in the genetics of obesity. With decades of research experience, Dr. Yeo dives into how hormones like GLP-1 interact with the brain and how genetic mutations can affect eating behaviors. He also explains the innovative molecular biology techniques his lab uses to map brain circuits and decode the genetic influences on body weight.But this episode isn’t all about the lab. Dr. Yeo shares his journey from studying the genetics of Japanese pufferfish to becoming a leading voice in obesity research and science communication. Whether he’s decoding how Ozempic works or reflecting on the importance of good science communication, Dr. Yeo’s passion for the field—and his knack for making complex topics relatable—shines through. Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

The start of Season 3 is just around the corner, slated to start in January 2025. What’s the new season hold in store you might ask? Steve assures us he’ll be back hosting Season 3 and teases at topics that are coming. These include biosecurity, bioengineering, polymer degradation, genetics of obesity, CROs and how they utilize mol bio, platelet biology, and epitranscriptomics. As if that were not enough to get you excited about the new season, Steve also teases on the inclusion of Mol Bio Minutes mini episodes in the upcoming season. These short but oh, so helpful episodes will cover molecular biology lab techniques – sure to be a hit with those working in the lab. Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.

We’re joined in this episode by Dr. Sarah Barry, Reader in Chemical Biology at King’s College London. Sarah started with an interest in biochemistry, went into organic chemistry because it was more concrete, and now applies her chemist’s approach to understanding and manipulating biosynthesis of natural products for important areas of research, including antibiotics. This insightful conversation gives a peek into the mind of a chemical biologist’s way of thinking about and approaching challenges that span biology and chemistry. We learn about the historical challenges of discovering and synthesizing natural products, but we then hear about how innovations in molecular biology are allowing researchers to revisit this field with a new approach. Sarah and her team identify and manipulate genes, express and purify proteins in the lab, and then characterize those enzymes for their abilities to drive biocatalytic transformations that are beyond challenging using traditional organic or inorganic chemistry approaches. Our conversation spans from the details of the molecular biology methods used, to the high-level applications being explored in this research, all with an ease that only someone this interdisciplinary could do. Subscribe to get future episodes as they drop and if you like what you’re hearing we hope you’ll share a review or recommend the series to a colleague.  Visit the Invitrogen School of Molecular Biology to access helpful molecular biology resources and educational content, and please share this resource with anyone you know working in molecular biology.  For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.