PCR

Find guides, protocols and helpful tips when performing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Random primers, oligo(dT) and gene-specific primers for cDNA synthesis

Random Primers Or Oligo(dT) Primers For cDNA Synthesis?

Having extracted and assessed the total RNA from your samples, you now have the task of creating the first strand complementary DNA (cDNA). Sounds...
Agarose gel

Reasons Why Your PCR Reaction Does Not Work

We have all been there. You have been performing PCRs perfectly for weeks/months on end but now, for some bizarre reason, you see …...
qPCR amplification plot annotated

What Is A Cycle Threshold (Ct) Value In qPCR?

In this article, I will explain what is meant by a Ct value in quantification (real-time) PCR (qPCR). I will also discuss the difference...
Bisulfite pyrosequencing pyrogram

How Does Bisulfite Pyrosequencing Work?

What is bisulfite pyrosequencing? Bisulfite, also referred to as bisulphite, pyrosequencing is a technique used to quantify DNA methylation levels on DNA at a single-base...

What Is The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)?

What is the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)? PCR is a molecular technique frequently applied to amplify regions of interest in DNA, resulting in millions or...
Pfaffl results graph

How To Perform The Pfaffl Method For qPCR

What is the Pfaffl method? The Pfaffl method, named after it's curator Michael Pfaffl, is used to calculate relative gene expression data while accounting for...

How To Make TBE Buffer

About TBE buffer TBE buffer, named so because of the three ingredients of Tris base, Boric acid and EDTA, is a solution commonly used as...

13 Free PCR Primer Design Programs

Gone are the days where you have to design primers by hand. Instead, we have a plethora of excellent resources available that utilises complex...

How To Calculate PCR Primer Efficiencies

Why bother with PCR primer efficiencies? Every time you receive a new set of primers, especially when using SYBR Green chemistry during quantitative polymerase chain...

How To Create Real-Time PCR Primers Using Primer-BLAST

Primer-BLAST Primer-BLAST is NCBI’s free online primer design platform which designs PCR primers using the Primer3 system and simultaneously checks the likelihood that the primers...