The Protein Man's Blog | A Discussion of Protein Research

What is epigenetics and what roles does it play in disease prevention, treatment, and management? Can it be the key to effective personalized medicine? 

What is ELISA?

ELISA, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, is a plate-based assay technique designed to detect and quantify target molecules such as peptides, proteins, antibodies, and hormones in biological samples. Like other types of immunoassays, ELISA relies on specific antigen-antibody interactions to detect a target antigen.

DNA extraction refers to the technique(s) used in isolating DNA from a biological sample (cell membranes and other cellular components, tissues, proteins, bacteria, fungus, viruses) by disrupting the cell wall/cell membrane and nuclear envelope through physical, chemical, or enzymatic methods. DNA can be extracted from various sources, including the blood and body fluids, hair, buccal swab, frozen tissue sections, formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues, and direct Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC). There are a wide variety of kits and methods commercially available for isolation of DNA.

Protein Purification

When investigating a particular protein of interest, the first step is to separate it from the non-protein components and from all the other proteins in the complex sample mixture (cell, tissues, or whole organisms) by exploiting differences in size, physical and chemical properties, binding affinity, and biological activities of individual proteins. 

Basically, protein purification allows researchers to identify and examine the properties of the protein of interest, including its structure, function, and interactions. When classified according to purpose, protein purification can either be preparative or analytical.