Practical, experiment-driven guides from the Changyu Bio lab team — RNA quality control, gel electrophoresis, spectrophotometry, PCR, and more. New articles are added regularly.
Featured Articles
What Is RNA Stabilization? Reagents and Methods Explained — why RNA degrades, and the three ways to preserve it from collection to extraction.
RNAlater Alternatives: RNAfixer, RNAprotect, and Snap Freezing Compared — storage times, shipping, pack sizes, and how to evaluate an alternative.
RNAfixer vs RNAlater: RNA Stabilization Reagents Compared — storage times, tissue size, reagent volumes, and ambient shipping, plus a who-this-is-for decision guide.
Running mRNA on an Agarose Gel: Smears, Bands, and What to Expect — why enriched mRNA shows a smear (not 28S/18S bands), and how to QC IVT transcripts on a denaturing gel.
How to Check RNA Quality by Agarose Gel Electrophoresis — and Why OD Ratios Are Not Enough — a step-by-step guide to reading degradation, DNA contamination, and bright wells on a simple agarose gel.
Spectrophotometer numbers are not RNA integrity: read 28S and 18S on a simple agarose gel — what 28S:18S bands tell you before you blame your reverse transcriptase.
Why a 1.8 A260/A280 ratio is not proof of intact RNA — what OD ratios hide, and why a quick gel tells you more about RNA integrity.