Greetings to you in this festive holiday week! As I imagine to be true for labs and offices around the country, holiday traditions have been a lively point of conversation among ICT scientists, colleagues, and customers this month. In particular, the great tradition of preparing a holiday feast - with a turkey - has garnered a lot of attention:
the working concept behind brining a turkey is similar to that of our FLICA caspase assay! Both procedures work by utilizing cell-permeant molecules and the principle of diffusion. (You don't end up with a fluorescent turkey.)
The purposes and results, of course, are quite different: one provides a moist turkey for your holiday feast (hopefully), while the latter provides an easily analyzed answer to an investigation of apoptosis (reliably!).
Of course, brining a turkey is more than diffusion (and as some claim, osmosis, to some extent); oh no, there is one more fabulous scientific principle at play: denaturing. The increase in the salt concentration in the meat denatures protein strands, which causes them to retain more water during cooking, resulting in a moist and flavorful meal.
In the case of probing in vitro cell samples with FLICA caspase assays, the act of diffusion is the first step towards the desired result, enabling whole, living cell analysis. After the fluorescent FLICA caspase probes are inside the cells, this caspase detection mechanism relies on other principles of molecular biology:
Wishing you all Joyful Holidays and a Prosperous New Year!
Fun sources:
http://gizmodo.com/5862312/brine-your-turkey-fool-its-science
http://science.kqed.org/quest/2009/11/25/the-science-behind-brining/
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brining.html
More information about our cell-permeant protease and apoptosis detection assays:
http://www.immunochemistry.com/products/apoptosis-assays.html
http://www.immunochemistry.com/products/apoptosis-assays/flica.html
©2011 ImmunoChemistry Technologies, LLC. All Rights Reserved. | Bright Minds, Bright Solutions.
- The logistics of arranging dinner for 25 humans and 6+ four-legged friends.
- "Yams" vs. "sweet potatoes."
- To bag or not to bag.
- How not to use a turkey fryer. [Have you seen William Shatner's video?]
- And brining a turkey - "... wait, isn't brining for pickles?"
the working concept behind brining a turkey is similar to that of our FLICA caspase assay! Both procedures work by utilizing cell-permeant molecules and the principle of diffusion. (You don't end up with a fluorescent turkey.)
Of course, brining a turkey is more than diffusion (and as some claim, osmosis, to some extent); oh no, there is one more fabulous scientific principle at play: denaturing. The increase in the salt concentration in the meat denatures protein strands, which causes them to retain more water during cooking, resulting in a moist and flavorful meal.
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| Due to the cell-permeant nature of FLICA caspase probes, whole cells can be probed for caspase activity and imaged. Here, caspase-1-positive THP-1 cells fluoresce far-red with FLICA 660-YVAD-FMK caspase-1 probe. |
- enzymatic affinities for particular peptide sequences (e.g. V-A-D is targeted by all caspases)
- ability of our proprietary caspase inhibitor reagents to form covalent bonds with the active sites of caspase enzymes
- and again, diffusion of unbound reagent from the cell during wash steps
Wishing you all Joyful Holidays and a Prosperous New Year!
Fun sources:
http://gizmodo.com/5862312/brine-your-turkey-fool-its-science
http://science.kqed.org/quest/2009/11/25/the-science-behind-brining/
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/brining.html
More information about our cell-permeant protease and apoptosis detection assays:
http://www.immunochemistry.com/products/apoptosis-assays.html
http://www.immunochemistry.com/products/apoptosis-assays/flica.html
©2011 ImmunoChemistry Technologies, LLC. All Rights Reserved. | Bright Minds, Bright Solutions.
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