How Promega Supports Sustainable Science

Posted on by Simon Moe

What is ACT and why does it matter?

The ACT label stands for Accountability, Consistency and Transparency. The ACT label provides information on the environmental impact of life science products to help researchers make informed choices about the products they use in their labs. ACT was developed by the non-profit organization My Green Lab, in collaboration with the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL).

The ACT label is one of the most comprehensive product labels for the life sciences. It measures the environmental impact of a product across four categories: manufacturing, user impact, end of life, and innovation. The criterion was developed with input from industry leaders, scientists, manufacturers, and sustainability directors. Most categories are scored on a scale from 1 to 10; 10 being the highest score. Other values are assigned a yes/no value or in some instances, a specific value per day (ex. kWh/day). The Environmental Impact Factor (EIF) is the summation of these categories. The varying energy usage and distinct reports across global markets has resulted in separate awards for different world regions. By choosing products with the ACT label, researchers can align their purchasing behaviors with any goals of reducing their environmental footprint and support sustainable practices in the life science industry.

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The Casual Catalyst: Science Conversations and Cafes

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

There is no shortage of stories about great scientific collaborations that have taken root as the result of an excited conversation between two scientists over sandwiches and beer at a bar or a deli. One of the most famous examples of such a conversation was that between Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen when they attended a conference on bacterial plasmids in 1972—that very conversation led to the formation of the biotechnology field as the two scientists worked together to clone specific regions of DNA (1).  

“Over hot pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen opened the door to genetic engineering and laid the foundations for gene therapy and the biotechnology industry.”  

Steven Johnson, author of Where Do Good Ideas Come From, credits the English coffee house as being crucial to the spread of the enlightenment movement in the 17th and 18th centuries (2). He argues that coffee houses provide a space where ideas can come together and form networks. In fact, he defines the concept of “idea” not as a single entity—a grand thought that poofs into existence upon hard work—but at its simplest level, a new idea is a new network of neurons firing in sync with each other.  

Johnson further argues that the development of great new ideas not only requires a space for ideas to bump into each other, connect and form a network, but also that great ideas are rarely the product of a single “Eureka” moment. Rather, they are slowly developing, churning hunches that have very long incubation periods (2).  

Science is Ripe with “Coffee House” Discoveries

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Elephants May Call Each Other By Name

Posted on by AnnaKay Kruger
Elephants intertwining trunks
New research points to the possible use of names among elephants in the African savanna

Names are part of something called “arbitrary communication”, wherein a sound represents an idea without imitating it. Where we have so far seen names used in nature, they are typically imitative—for instance, bottlenose dolphins and parrots mimic an individual’s signature call to get their attention. However, this differs from how humans refer to each other using an arbitrary or random sound chosen to represent an individual. The use of arbitrary language is a mark of linguistic complexity that moves beyond the limitations of imitative speech and expands expressive power into the potential exchange of intricate ideas, abstract concepts and symbolic thought.

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The Battle of Shiloh’s Angel’s Glow: Fact, Civil War Legend or Modern Myth? 

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

It sounds like the script for a Hollywood movie. The story, first appearing in 2001, begins with a purported civil war legend from the Battle of Shiloh. The legend said that the wounds of some soldiers glowed (faintly) in the dark. Soldiers with these glowing wounds were more apt to survive, giving the phenomenon the name “Angels Glow”. The story ends with two curious teenagers solving the mystery using their science fair project. They identify infection by the bioluminescent bacteria Photorhabdus luminescens (formerly Xenorhabdus luminescens) as the likely cause of the glowing wounds. P. luminescens produces bacteriocins (antimicrobial peptides), which the teenagers attribute to helping keep other infections at bay, resulting in the improved survival rate for the soldiers whose wounds glowed.

The teenagers win. The mystery is solved. The credits roll. 

Except life (and science) is rarely as simple as a summer block buster. 

Cannon at sunset on a civil war battlefield
The Battle of Shiloh took place in Hardin County Tennessee on April 6th and 7th, 1862.
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Targeting Dark Kinases for Non-Hormonal, Reversible Male Contraceptives

Posted on by Anna Bennett

Contraception, or birth control, is an important tool in family planning. Given the fourfold increase in population over the last century1 there is a clear need for more affordable, reversible, and safe methods of contraception. At present, the responsibility of taking contraceptives falls largely on people with female reproductive organs as there is no current method of birth control for people with male reproductive organs. The search for a non-hormonal, male birth control has been an elusive goal in the field of reproductive health.

A complex, futuristic scene within the outline of a pill.

Recently, a group of scientists from Baylor College of Medicine with contributions from Promega scientists identified a novel compound that 1) inhibits a specific kinase and 2) functions as a reversible male contraceptive. The kinase targeted in this study is the serine/threonine kinase 33 (STK33); a genetic knockout of this gene in male mice is known to cause sterility. The team published their work in Science and utilized a suite of approaches—including DNA-Encoded Libraries (DELs), crystallography, and cellular NanoBRET™ Target Engagement Kinase Assays—to discover a potent inhibitor of STK33 (CDD-2807).  The CDD-2807 inhibitor has shown promising results in inducing reversible contraception in male mice, marking a significant milestone in the development of non-hormonal contraceptive options. Let’s dive into the foundation, novel methodology, collaboration, and implications for this work.

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The Largest Known Genome: Unveiling Nature’s Genetic Giant 

Posted on by Riley Bell

In genetics, sizes often come with surprises. One tiny fern, Tmesipteris oblanceolata, also known as the Fork Fern, proved this phrase true, taking the scientific community by storm when it broke the record for the largest known genome. Researchers reported this discovery on May 31, 2024, stating that the plant, which is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, harbors a full set of genetic instructions over 50 times the size of the human genome.

Tropical rainforest in New Caledonia with ferns and moss-covered trees
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Fluorescent Ligands in Biological Research: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Headed

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

Fluorescent tags (fluorophores), have become excellent tools for labeling cells and cellular components. They can be used for imaging large molecules like proteins, on down to cellular components and enzymes such as transcription factors. Once labeled, these molecules can be tracked in tissue or inside a cell, when the right tag is used.

What is the ‘right’ tag? It’s a tag with bright signal, with low background and good photostability. For small cell components like organelles, the tag must be cell-permeable and small enough to not interfere with normal cellular processes such as transcription and metabolism.

Significant advances have been made in fluorescent tags in the past two decades. Here we look at several papers noting these advances.

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Revolutionizing Food Security: How Biotechnology Contributes to Sustainability and Safety

Posted on by Kerstin Hurd
field of crops/food

Projections from the United Nations suggest that the global population reached 8 billion in 2022. By 2030, the United Nations expect the population will grow to 8.5 billion (1).  In order to sustain the rapidly expanding global population, innovative approaches in the agriculture sector are required to ensure food security and safety while maintaining sustainable practices.

Centuries of cultivating crops and raising livestock have honed our current agricultural methods. In the 21st century, these techniques encounter persistent challenges. Environmental factors such as soil degradation, water scarcity, and climate change pose significant threats to production. Additionally, the constant risks posed by pests and diseases can devastate both crops and livestock.

Read more about how the current avian flu crosses species and affects livestock.

The agriculture sector’s challenge of feeding the world sustainably lies in the limited access to natural resources like land and water. Unfortunately, these resources don’t grow with our population, so we need to find a way to increase productivity per unit of land (2). Ideally, using less water and potentially harmful pesticides.

Biotechnology offers innovative solutions that support sustainable agriculture practices to not only enhance food production, but also increase nutritional value and safety of our food supply.

Biotechnology in Agriculture: Enhancing Crop Yield and Resilience:

For much of the history of agriculture, breeding programs have involved selectively breeding desirable traits to increase yield, quality, and resilience. In the age of biotechnology, agriculturalists are revolutionizing this practice with the help of cloning and CRISPR technologies.

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Logistics Built to Deliver: Kepler Center and Beyond

Posted on by Jordan Villanueva

In March 2024, Promega celebrated a significant milestone by completing extensive renovations to Kepler Center, the primary distribution warehouse located at Promega Madison. This massive expansion has increased the facility’s total area to an astounding 320,000 square feet (29,822 square meters).

So, what does this mean for you?

When you place an order from Promega, you can be confident your products will arrive on time. With customers in more than 120 countries, we have built a global logistics network that ensures quality and reliability from the warehouse to your lab. This expansion of Kepler Center enhances our ability to ensure prompt shipping, reaffirming our commitment to timely deliveries.

Delivering Products When You Need Them

Promega Madison ships directly to 40 countries. We maintain close relationships with domestic carriers and international freight forwarders to make sure packages are transported safely and efficiently. Some of these shipments go directly to customer labs, while others will stock distribution facilities around the world.

Promega has additional logistics warehouses strategically located around the world. These warehouses have much of the same capabilities as Kepler Center, such as a range of storage temperature capabilities including ambient, +4°C, -20°C, -70°C and liquid nitrogen cryogenic storage.

Our logistics teams around the world maintain local inventory and oversee the final delivery of orders. We share common processes around the world to ensure quality and continuity throughout the supply chain. These teams also work with our network of distributors to supply products to specific regions.

Our largest logistics facility outside the United States is the EuroHub, located in Walldorf, Germany. This 3,200 square foot (300 square meter) facility acts as a fulfillment agent, managing the entire logistics process to supply customers of every European branch. In 2023, almost 83,000 parcels were dispatched through the EuroHub.

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Mind Control, Mutilation and Death. The Fungal Fate That Lurks in Waiting for Emerging Periodical Cicadas

Posted on by Kelly Grooms

For the first time since Thomas Jefferson was president, broods of 13- and 17-year periodical cicadas are emerging from the ground at the same time. The fate that awaits some of these periodic cicadas—a fungal infection that hijacks their behavior and destroys their genitalia — sounds like the script of a bad zombie horror film. The culprit (or villain) is the entomopathogenic fungus Massospora cicadina.  

An adult red eyed 17-year periodical cicada sits on a leaf

While most entomopathogens kill their host before releasing their infectious spores, M. cicadina is one of the few species that increase spore dispersal by hijacking their host’s behavior and keeping them alive while sporulating (1). The manner it uses to do this is both gruesome and fascinating. If you can stomach some details of insect sex and dismemberment, read on.

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