Latest Articles

The epigenome plays a crucial role in the development of breast cancer. This exciting and rapidly evolving area of research holds great promise for new interventions – from prevention through to personalized treatment.

At the British Neuroscience Association (BNA)’s Festival of Neuroscience in April 2019, we were lucky enough to sit down with some influential neuroscientists to discuss their work. We’ve assembled these transcripts into our BNA Interview Series. Here we interview the University of Sussex's Anil Seth, whose research explores the mysteries of consciousness.

It is hard to imagine a world without antimicrobials. Unfortunately, the lifecycle of an antimicrobial does not end with the human or animal to which it was administered, posing challenges for their removal from the environment.

In a recent academic collaboration, scientists discovered another surprising behavior of the Cas9 and Cpf1 enzymes – a behavior which may have implications when developing novel therapies with CRISPR. We spoke with Brett Robb, the Scientific Director for RNA and Genome Editing at New England Biolabs Inc, and Becky Fu (previously a graduate student at Stanford University and now a Postdoctoral fellow at UCSF) to learn more about their research.

The Swiss EPFL’s Blue Brain Project is a vast effort with the goal of digitally reconstructing and simulating the mouse brain and ultimately, the human brain. The recent publication of a Cell Atlas of the mouse brain sounds exciting, but what can the Atlas tell us, and can it bring us closer to a simulated brain?

Two-dimensional cell cultures have played a role in the drug discovery and development process for decades, however in recent years three-dimensional (3D) cell culture has taken center stage. Here we take a look at the evolution of cell culture, the rise of 3D, and how the industry’s shift from “static” to “fluidic” is inspiring the next generation of in vitro models.

Mass spectrometry (MS) was once primarily within the chemist’s domain for molecular structural characterization. MS is now growing in familiarity and popularity for a variety of clinical applications; from laboratory tests for analyte quantification, to diagnostic applications in infectious disease, inborn errors of metabolism, and cancer, including a foray into the surgeon’s suite.

There is a growing underbelly of conferences that seem like the real thing but have none of the editorial standards expected by academics and have developed a reputation for advertising with fake agendas and high prices. A chance investigation took us inside one of these predatory conferences and has uncovered how predatory science has ensnared scientists at every level.

We often come across terms such as "Lab of the Future" and "Smart Lab" – but what do these actually mean? We recently spoke to Dr Patrick Courtney, member of the Board of Directors of SiLA (Standards in Laboratory Automation) to learn more about the value of implementing laboratory robotics and automation.

An open-source RNA analysis platform, Drop-seq, has recently been applied successfully in plant cells for the first time. We spoke with Christine Shulse, PhD, from the DOE Joint Genome Institute to learn more about this innovative breakthrough and its potential applications.