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Lentivirus-lanYFP Give Away
Promotion of the week 03-22-10 to 03-28-10: To help researchers get familiar with pre-packaged lentivirus, we offer free high titer lentivirus carrying a truly bright and fast maturing lanYFP (lancelet FP, new exclusively from Allele). Infect virtually any mammalian cells by a single manipulation (pipeting) and watch cells turn green/yellow in about a day under microscope or on FACS. Primarily a yellow FP, lanYFP will show brighter fluorescence than EGFP even when observed using standard GFP/FITC filter set.
New product of the week 03-22-10 to 03-28-10: anti-mTFP1/mWasabi polyclonal antibodies. It is tailored-made for Alleleustrious mTFP1 and mWasabi, the brightest teal and green FPs.
Fluorescent Protein-Based Assay Development II
FPs as pH and redox sensors:
The uses of FPs extend well beyond simple expression and fusion reporters. While pH sensitivity (usually quenching of fluorescence by acidic pH) is generally considered a drawback for fusion tagging, it becomes a useful property for constructing pH sensors. FPs specifically engineered to take advantage of pH sensitivity (“pHluorins”) report pH as either a change in fluorescent intensity or a change in the ratio of excitation at two different wavelengths, and may be used to monitor processes such as endocytosis or other pH-variable processes. In such an application, the pH-sensitive FP is fused to a localization tag for the compartment of interest which experiences variable pH. This technique can be used, for example, to visualize release of neurotransmitter-containing vesicles. In addition to pH-sensitive FPs, redox-sensitive Aequorea GFP variants have been produced (roGFPs and others) which produce similar changes in fluorescence intensity or excitation ratio when exposed to differing redox conditions or reactive oxygen species.
Sensors based on circularly permuted FPs:
Because FPs have such a compact and stable beta-barrel fold with N and C termini close together, it is possible to engineer circularly permuted variants which retain their fluorescent properties. Studies on circular permutation of FPs have led to the development of several different sensors which take advantage of domains inserted into sensitive areas of the fluorescent protein backbone. The most famous of these are the GCaMP calcium sensors, in which a calmodulin domain has been inserted into a loop in GFP, yielding a sensor that reports calcium concentration as a change in fluorescent intensity. Other circularly permuted FP variants, such as cpVenus (a yellow Aequorea GFP variant), have found usefulness in improving FRET sensor dynamic range (see next section).
FRET sensors:
Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a quantum mechanical process that allows the transfer of excited state energy between two fluorophores when they are in close physical proximity. Because this process operates with a strong distance (1/r^6) and orientation dependence (strongest when chromophore dipoles are parallel or antiparallel), it lends itself to the construction of highly sensitive reporters of biochemical activity. In FP FRET, excited state energy from a higher-energy (shorter wavelength) “donor” fluorescent protein is transferred to a lower-energy (longer wavelength) “acceptor” FP, leading to sensitized fluorescent emission from the acceptor and reduced emission (quenching) from the donor. By linking donor and acceptor FPs with a domain which changes conformation in response to a biochemical activity of interest, this activity is reported as a change in the ratio of sensitized emission to direct-excitation emission of the acceptor (or a simple ratio of donor and acceptor emission). FRET sensors have been engineered to specifically sense a wide variety of activities, including many protein kinases, as well as small molecules such as Ca2+ and neurotransmitters. While design of a new FRET sensor generally requires a great deal of optimization and trail-and-error, this class of probe is among the most powerful tools currently available for investigating live-cell biochemistry.
New Product of the Week 03-15-10 to 03-21-10: Oct4-Sox2 2-in-1 lentivirus ABP-SC-LVI2in1 for effective iPS generation link: http://www.allelebiotech.com/shopcart/index.php?c=132&sc=122.
Promotion of the Week 03-15-10 to 03-21-10: 5% off plate oligos at all scales! www.allelebiotech.com/allele3/Oligo_96Plate.php We are doing our “window promotion” again, during a hour-long window, get any Allele’s High efficiency competent cells at 30% regular price, the time will be announced tomorrow on our Facebook page.
Oligo Giveaway Results are in!
Last week our 10th Anniversary Free Month of Oligos Giveaway contest ended with the selection of winner Allan Kelleher from the University of California San Diego. Our contest was exclusive to our Facebook friends and fans but we announced the giveaway and updated the status of the contest via our other social networking channels. I got the opportunity to meet with Alan this last week at UCSD’s Bonner Hall where he is hard at work in molecular biology research.
We gave him a certificate to confirm his win and took a few photos. He was a really nice guy and we are happy that our $1600 worth of free oligos will assist him in his experiments. I will post the pictures on our social sites soon.
I was really eager to promote this contest. At Allele we wanted to do something that marked our ten years in business in an impressive way while at the same time abiding by our philosophy of encouraging the advancement of research. Oligos were an organic choice as they were our first commercial product on top of being a universally useful tool in the industry, which is evident in their use by medical researchers, molecular biologists, physicists, oceanographers; the list goes on.
To hold the contest exclusive to our Allele on Facebook friend/fan base was another organic choice as most of our contacts on this format are bench researchers. Some are just fans that are interested in our weekly product promotions and new product announcements. However, most of our Allele on Facebook contacts are friends. This allows us to see their bio questions. In frustration they will post, “Has anyone had experience with this type of ligation…?” Facebook gives our friends the opportunity to get help from top scientists for free and often during their workday for the fastest access to information available.
For all the benefits available to you, join Allele’s friends on Facebook today and be the first to know about everything Allele Biotech has to offer!
How We Give Back in 2010
This year has started off great for Allele. Every week our shipping volume is increasing, we have an arsenal of new products in the pipeline, we are the sole provider of oligos on the University of California San Diego’s central online purchasing site, and every day we are taking even more action to cut the waste and increase productivity in order to give our customers the very best at a reasonable cost. Our company is maturing nicely in its 10th year!
Lately we have really been focusing on giving back to our customers who I, on a daily basis, am impressed with. Most of all, I am impressed with how good of a relationship we have. I have several customers who I am on the phone with regularly and genuinely glad to hear from. We have fun with our friends on facebook, giving advice on molecular biology techniques and even swapping recipes.
So far this year we have designed three new ways to reward our customers:
There is our big 10 Year Anniversay Oligo Giveaway where we will give away a free month of oligos to one facebook friend or fan. DNA and RNA oligos were Allele’s very first product and we knew we wanted to have a big prize to reward to celebrate not only 10 years in business but also surviving through what is the worst economic time in decades. It only made sense that the giveaway should be oligos. Most importantly, this is also where our longest customer relationships exist; within our oligo customer base. Personally, I cannot wait for the winner to be announced. I am probably more excited about it than most of the contestants!
This last January we also launched our Allele Biotech Rewards Program designed by our Business Development Manager Eugene Pahk. We want to make it more affordable for all Allele customers to purchase Allele Biotech Products (we have over 1000). Allele Rewards are easy to earn and more importantly, easy to redeem. We do not make it complicated, rewards do not expire, and they can be used on a number of common molecular biology research tools. Just another way to give back to the people who keep us in business and support our research.
Our latest tribute to our patrons is especially designed for all the younger, tech savvy (and usually desperately in need of money) grad students! We will award $100 cash to anyone who submits an Allele product or service relevant picture to us for use on our homepage. We are tired of the current photos we have now and instead of just purchasing some (which we could do for a really low cost) we decided to get the force of our creative and intelligent supporters to not only have some fun but to get a different perspective on what the Allele brand means to people.
On top of the new programs and promotions, every week we make a promise to have one item or service on sale; sometimes at the direct behest of the researchers themselves. Our weekly promotions are announced via our social networking sites (facebook, twitter, Linkedin, myspace, and our Allele Biotech Blog). We want to have as many avenues as possible for customers to be involved with Allele Biotech so we can succeed in this business for decades to come while giving back to our customers the entire way.
Become a friend, fan, follower, contact, or bookmark our blog site today to get the most of what we give!
Submit Your Pictures and Enter to Win $100 in Cash
Allele Biotech is holding another fun contest to give back to our loyal supporters and everyone has the chance to win $100 in cash! We are looking for interesting and relevant pictures, illustrations, and computer generated art that pertains to any Allele Biotech Product or service to replace the flashes on our homepage. If it is chosen to be used we will give you $100 cash!
Check out our technical data sheets, read our past blogs, and even use your own lab experience and impressions with Allele Biotech Products to come up with your entry. There are over 1000 products to choose from so everyone should have lots of inspiration!
All you have to do to enter is submit your picture to our facebook inbox! The picture has to be of your own creation and/or one to which you own exclusive rights. Response time and prizes will take about a week.
Let your creative juices flow and you could get $100 in return. Your picture could be funny, serious, or even super nerdy!
Used to promote our Sapphire(TM) Baculovirus Expression Service
All photos, illustrations, and computer generated graphics (aka. “the picture”) submitted must be lawfully owned by entrants who submitted them. Pictures that are not chosen will not be used in any way by Allele Biotech. Winners may collect their prize via cash, check, or a one-time Allele credit of $100 good toward any Allele Biotech purchase. Allele Biotech has full rights to pictures selected for use in Allele advertising and winners must forfeit any future rights to the picture. Contest to run indefinitely and to be terminated at any time.
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