A Researcher’s Guide to Flawless Annexin V Staining
When you need to know if a cell is just starting down the path of programmed cell death, Annexin V staining is your go-to method. It’s a lab staple for…
Cell Culture Blog & Laboratory Guides
Practical protocols, troubleshooting guides, media comparisons, and laboratory resources from PurMa Biologics.
A Practical Guide to Live Dead Staining
Live/dead staining is one of those techniques that sounds simple on paper. The idea is basic: a dye gets into a cell with a leaky, compromised membrane (a dead cell),…
How to Use Hemocytometer: how to use hemocytometer for precise cell counts
Don't let anyone tell you that learning how to use a hemocytometer is an outdated skill. In an age of fancy automated counters, this simple glass slide remains the absolute…
A Modern Guide to the Bradford Assay Protocol
The Bradford assay protocol has been the go-to workflow for decades. The concept is elegantly simple: you mix your protein sample with a Coomassie Brilliant Blue dye, and the solution…
The Necessity of NOT Using Whey Instead of Pure Amino Acids in Cell Culture Media
Several cell culture media manufacturers keep prices low by outsourcing production overseas and shipping media as powders formulated with whey protein hydrolysate instead of pure amino acids, and with similar…
Advances in MEM Formulation for Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative medicine work built around mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) has largely converged on one specific MEM variant: MEM Alpha Modification, commonly written as α-MEM. The reason comes down to a…
DPBS in Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Applications
Dulbecco's Phosphate Buffered Saline (DPBS) shows up constantly in stem cell and tissue engineering protocols, but its usefulness in both fields comes down to one specific design choice: what it…
DEPC Water vs. Autoclaved Water – Which One to Use?
DEPC water vs autoclaved water is a question that only really has one right answer once you know what each process actually does to RNase, and there's a persistent lab…
When to Switch from MEM to GMEM?
Glasgow's Minimum Essential Medium (GMEM) isn't a generic upgrade to standard MEM, it's a purpose-built formulation with a specific origin story, and knowing that history is the fastest way to…
Charcoal Stripped FBS in the Development of Organ-on-a-Chip Models
Organ-on-a-chip models are built to reproduce real tissue physiology as faithfully as possible, and hormone signaling is one of the physiological systems these platforms are most often used to study.…
