Pel-Freez Blog
Read more about the latest updates, how Pel-Freez products support research, and get helpful practical tips in our blog.
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The presynaptic terminal makes two decisions about release, and two proteins make themPlasticity research has spent forty years looking at the postsynaptic membrane. But a synapse cannot be potentiated if nothing is released into it. The...
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One disordered domain, three inputs, and a switch that runs in both directionsMARCKS is not a machine with a fold and a pocket. It is a floppy chain with one short basic stretch that does almost...
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ERK and p38: two phosphates, and the antibody is the assayMost phospho-specific antibodies report a modification that correlates with a functional state. For ERK1/2 and p38 the relationship is tighter: these kinases are catalytically...
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One protein, two phosphorylation sites, opposite answersDARPP-32 is the best-documented case in neuroscience of one protein working as a two-way signal integrator. Phosphorylated on threonine 34 it shuts down a...
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Tyrosine hydroxylase marks a catecholaminergic neuron but not which catecholamine it makesA tyrosine hydroxylase stain is one of the most reliable images in neuroscience, and on its own one of the most ambiguous. TH sits...
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Dopamine's life after synthesis is a transport problemDopamine's life after synthesis is a transport problem. VMAT2 loads it into vesicles and DAT takes it back out of the cleft — together...
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Long-term potentiation is not one event. It is a phosphorylation relayLong-term potentiation is not one event, it is a phosphorylation relay. Almost every step in it is readable with a phospho-specific antibody — and...
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A large membrane protein with two possible fates, and only one of them makes amyloidAPP is usually introduced as the source of amyloid-β, which is a little like introducing a tree as the source of firewood. It is...
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The bottleneck at the start of the dopamine pathwayOne enzyme decides how much dopamine, noradrenaline and adrenaline the nervous system can make. Understanding why that bottleneck exists explains a great deal about...
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How to thaw frozen serum: refrigerator or water bath, then aliquotThe bottle arrives on dry ice and you need it liquid. Refrigerator overnight or a 37 C water bath, swirl as it thaws, aliquot...
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Which complement source for which assay? What the literature actually usesComplement source is part of the assay method, not a preference. We mined 546 publications that name a complement serum into a searchable table...
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Inside coagulation screening tests: The reagents behind reliable PT and aPTT resultsThe prothrombin time test (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time test (aPTT) are the two front-line tests laboratories rely on to assess whether a...
