Protocol for the analysis of DNA methylation using bisulphite sequencing. Method allows precise analysis of methylation in a certain region by converting all nonmethylated cytosines into tymines, while methylated cytosines remain unchanged. This method requires small amount of genomic DNA and therefore seems to be very useful for the analysis of clinical samples, where the material amount is limited. - [Read Analysis of DNA Methylation using Bisulphite Sequencing Protocol]
Human tissues are comprised of multiple interacting cell populations in a complex three dimensional arrangement with each cellular phenotype determined by a unique profile of mRNA and protein expression. Before microdissection techniques were developed, the only analysis tools for phenotypic studies were primarily immunohistochemistry and in-situ hybridization. While useful, these tools are limited to single gene analysis and, in general, do not allow qualitative studies. - [Read Microdissection Overview]
Diffraction-limited optical microscopy requires that the spatial resolution of an image is limited by the wavelength of the incident light & by the numerical apertures of the condenser & objective lens systems.The development of near-field scanning optical microscopy (scanning near-field optical microscopy) has allowed for a imaging technique that retains the various contrast mechanisms afforded by optical microscopy methods while attaining spatial resolution beyond the optical diffraction limit - [Read Near-Field Scanning Optical Microscopy]
The light microscope allows dynamic biological processes to be imaged in their native (i.e., aqueous) environment with relatively high temporal resolution. However, the diffraction-limited resolution is low. When working at or beyond the diffraction-limited resolution of the LM, a disadvantage of fluorescence imaging is the relatively low signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio of the images. However, this can be increased significantly by video and computer technology. - [Read Watching Molecular Motors at Work by Video-Enhanced Light Microscopy]
Procedure describes how it denatures most of the modification and degradation proteins immediately giving the most accurate read out of the true levels of protein at the time of harvest. However, in cases where detection is a problem, a limited purification (e.g. isolation of nuclear extract for the detection of transcription factors) might be required to allow analysis. - [Read Western Blot Analysis of Endogenous Gene Expression Protocol]