To analyze highly complex mixtures of proteins, a combination of 2D-PAGE and Mass Spectrometry (MS) is usually used. However, this can be problematic when dealing with low abundance proteins, membrane-associated or bound proteins, or proteins with extremes in pI or molecular mass. Read the rest of this entry »

The always wonderful BibliOdyssey site has posted some amazing 19th century drawings from pioneering microscopist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, as well as a few from Ernst Haeckel (a second set here). The images are part of the archives at the Humboldt University Museum für Naturkunde. Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, the New York Times featured an article on the growing controversy over Oxford geneticist Stephen Oppenheimer’s work on the genetic makeup of the British Isles. While the common belief is that the English come from the Anglo-Saxons and the rest of the population of the British Isles come from the Celts and a few others, Oppenheimer’s work points towards a more common ancestry for all groups. Read the rest of this entry »

This month CSH Protocols is focusing on Drosophila, with protocols on setting up and maintaining a Drosophila laboratory, culturing large populations of flies, preparing cytoplasmic extracts, isolating membrane proteins, immunoblotting and in vitro transcription. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to Bench Marks, the very first venture by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press into the wonderful world of blogging. Bench Marks is meant to accompany CSH Protocols, our online methods journal / database. CSH Protocols was built from the ground up to take advantage of being an online product. Rather than just transferring book pages into electronic form, we’re trying to build something new, to utilize the tools that the web provides. One such tool is easy and open communication, hence this blog from me, David Crotty, the Executive Editor. Read the rest of this entry »