Free, open-source software enables innovation with popular but tricky lab technique
Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 16:42
in Biology & Nature
(PhysOrg.com) -- When scientists need to detect and analyze DNA, or traces of a bioweapon or maybe an environmental contaminant, there's a good chance they'll turn to a lab technique called electrophoresis—or one of its many cousins. The versatile process is so pervasive that scientists published research employing it at a pace exceeding one paper every hour in 2007. But even though electrophoresis is used for routine experiments, such as gene sequencing or clinical analysis, it can be fiendishly difficult to create new experiment variations because the technique can be intricate and subtle.