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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Decoding the NAD+/NADH Ratio and Its Crucial Role in Cell Health

Posted on by Kendra Hanslik

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) exists in two forms in the cell: NAD+ (oxidized) and NADH (reduced). This molecule plays a pivotal role in metabolic processes, serving as a key electron carrier in the redox reactions that drive cellular metabolism. The balance between these two forms, commonly expressed as the NAD+/NADH ratio, is crucial for maintaining cellular function and the intracellular redox state. This article explores the significance of this ratio, how it impacts cellular processes, and the consequences of NAD+/NADH ratio dysregulation.

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What do Exosomes have to do with Cancer Research?

Posted on by Shannon Sindermann
microRNA that is inside exosomes

Discovered in 1983 and initially dismissed as ‘cellular dust,’ exosomes have since emerged as pivotal players in biomedical research due to their roles in intercellular communication, potential as drug delivery vectors and as biomarkers for various diseases. These small extracellular vesicles, measuring 30–150nm, are crucial for transferring proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids — including microRNA (miRNA), mRNA, and non-coding RNA– between cells (1). miRNAs are particularly critical as they regulate gene expression and offer insights into the cellular mechanisms underlying diseases like cancer, enhancing the value of exosomes in cancer research.

Beyond exosomes importance in understanding intracellular communication and organ cross-talk, exosomes can also alter the functions of recipient cells based on their cargo. This capability makes them extremely valuable in providing insights into alterations in cellular communication, tumor microenvironments, metastasis and immune evasion.

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Cancer Moonshot: Solving Tough Problems

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

At the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in April 2016, then Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden, revealed the Cancer Moonshot℠ initiative— a program with the goals of accelerating scientific discovery in cancer research, fostering greater collaboration among researchers, and improving the sharing of data (1,2). The Cancer Moonshot is part of the 21st Century Cures Act, which earmarked $1.8 billion for cancer-related initiatives over 7 years.  The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Cancer Moonshot program have supported over 70 programs and consortia, and more than 250 research projects.  According to the NCI, the initiative from 2017 to 2021 resulted in over 2,000 publications, 49 clinical trials and more than 30 patent filings. Additionally, the launch of trials.cancer.gov has made information about all cancer research trials accessible to anyone who needs it (3).

“We will build a future where the word ‘cancer’ loses its power.”

First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden

In February 2022, the Biden White House announced a plan to “supercharge the Cancer Moonshot as an essential effort of the Biden-Harris administration” (4).  Biden noted in his address that, in the 25 years following the Nixon administration’s enactment of the National Cancer Act in 1971, significant strides were made in understanding cancer. It is now recognized not as a single disease, but as a collection comprising over 200 distinct diseases. This period also saw the development of new therapies and enhancements in diagnosis. However, despite a reduction in the cancer death rate by more than 25% over the past 25 years, cancer continues to be the second leading cause of death in the United States [4].

The Cancer Moonshot is a holistic attempt to improve access to information, support and patient experiences, while fostering the development of new therapeutics and research approaches to studying cancer. In this article, we will focus on research, diagnostics and drug discovery developments.

Solving for Undruggable Targets

KRAS , a member of the RAS family, has long been described as “undruggable” in large part because it is a small protein with a smooth surface that does not present many places for small molecule drugs to bind. The KRAS protein acts like an off/on switch depending upon whether it has GDP or GTP bound.  KRAS mutations are associated with many cancers including colorectal cancer (CRC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The G12 position in the protein is the most commonly mutated; G12C accounts for 13% of the mutations at this site, and is the predominant substitution found in NSCLC, while G12D is prevalent in PDAC (5).

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