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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Immunometabolism: The Dynamic Interplay of Cytokines and Metabolites

Posted on by Kendra Hanslik

Immunometabolism is the study of how metabolic processes influence immune cell functions and how immune responses, in turn, shape cellular metabolism. This field examines the roles of cytokines and metabolites, which act as signaling molecules and energy sources, respectively. Cytokines can trigger or modulate metabolic pathways in immune cells, affecting their activation, growth, and response capabilities. Similarly, metabolites provide the necessary energy and building blocks that enable immune cells to proliferate, function optimally, and sustain their activity during immune responses. This dynamic interplay is crucial for maintaining health and combating disease. Together, cytokines and metabolites orchestrate a complex network that links metabolic health with immune competence on a systemic and cellular level. This blog discusses how cytokines and metabolites not only influence but also drive immune cell functions, revealing new avenues for therapeutic interventions across a range of diseases.

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From Tracers to Kinetic Selectivity: Highlights from the Target Engagement in Chemical Biology Symposium

Posted on by Anna Bennett

In April 2024, Promega hosted the “Target Engagement in Chemical Biology Symposium” at the Kornberg Center, a research and development hub on Promega’s campus in Madison, Wisconsin. The goal of the symposium was to gather interdisciplinary researchers interested in the field of small molecule target engagement to foster collaboration through knowledge sharing and innovation. The symposium featured a 1.5-day agenda packed with 23 speakers, 4 workshops, poster sessions and social events. Over 130 attendees gathered to participate in the multifaceted event, with participants from different geographic regions and in different research sectors from academia to government to industry.  

People gather in a large atrium with scientific posters and table displays.
Attendees gather for the poster session in Kornberg Atrium. Photo by Anna Bennett (Promega Corporation)

The symposium highlighted the collective commitment to overcoming the challenges in drug discovery by developing more targeted and efficacious treatments, driven by a shared determination to create innovative solutions that address unmet medical needs. While we cannot share all the exciting research presented at the symposium, we are thrilled to highlight a few talks that exemplify the novel work and collaborative spirit of this research community.  

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Rethinking Cell Proliferation Assays

Posted on by Simon Moe

In the field of cancer research, accurately measuring cell proliferation is crucial for assessing the efficacy of therapeutic agents. This is particularly difficult with CDK 4/6 inhibitors, which arrest cells in the G1 phase without stopping their growth. This continued growth can skew results from proliferation assays which rely on factors that naturally scale with cell growth. These include mitochondrial activity (ATP levels), total cell protein, or mRNA as measured through the PRISM molecular barcoding strategy. Even though these cells are not dividing, the increase in these measurements can misleadingly suggest active proliferation.

There is growing awareness among researchers of these challenges.  A recent study highlights these limitations by demonstrating the discrepancies that arise when using metabolic assays to assess cell proliferation after treatment with drugs that induce cell cycle arrest. This blog post delves into the study’s implications and demonstrates how one of Promega’s latest developments is poised to address these challenges.

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