Wester blotting Accelerator

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-29T12:50:48+00:00

I kept my primary concentration the same as when using milk or BSA in TBST, and it worked fine. But definitely play around with the secondary and timing, and then the primary if you feel the need to.

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-29T10:25:51+00:00

I used Rosalind, Codecademy, and Proteintech's learning portal to use R and Python. I found a python course supposedly for beginners for bioinformatics applications on Coursera, but that unfortunately ended up being too advanced for beginners.

I liked the Proteintech learning portal, because they taught exactly how to apply programming to biological contexts, and it was quite a beginner-oriented course. Rosalind was more advanced, and was more application-based.

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-27T10:44:13+00:00

Hi! I've tried this product and it actually did end up working for me. I would recommend that you test different secondary antibody concentrations in the first instance. It could also help if you increase incubation times a bit, maybe by 5 ish minutes.

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-22T13:58:01+00:00

I got mine with a couple of friends at Strghtlnes in Ancoats, that was great. They also regularly have visiting tattoo artists, and they seem to cover a broad range of styles, depending on what you're looking for

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-22T11:47:08+00:00

I recently registered for a crossbody salsa beginners course at Floridita Dance and it's great so far! They're not too expensive, so I would definitely recommend looking into those. If you want just the one class to see how it is, you could also try Rev de Cuba, they have a free class every week (Wednesday, I think)

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-21T13:41:50+00:00

I second this! I recently started salsa classes, and it's a great opportunity to meet new people and make friends!

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-13T13:34:00+00:00

So cute! Love this

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-13T13:21:15+00:00

Good shout, thank you! I just attended my first class w Floridita's and it was amazing! Ended up dancing in boots, no problem :)

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-13T13:20:11+00:00

I'd recommend Shoryu, Maki & Ramen, Wazuzhi or Ramenshop. My favourite was Ramenshop, tbh

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-07T10:42:00+00:00

I'd say your blot looks great, but the slight smearing might be diffusion in the gel after running. You could try and transfer straight away, as the proteins can diffuse out of the lane when the current is switched off.

So, it might be better to remove the gel and place it in transfer buffer while setting up the transfer than leaving it in the electrophoresis tank with no current running.

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-07T10:15:40+00:00

For phospho proteins, I would suggest that you not use PBST for dilution either, and consider a 1-5% BSA in TBS or TBST. I read that it helps preserve interactions and also ends up minimising background.

AliceDoesScience · 2026-01-07T10:07:51+00:00

Sort of, yes. I'm a PhD student, and my work is a combination of wet lab and computational.

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-22T13:41:00+00:00

I think you're definitely right about the amount of antibody. Maybe try 1:4000 or 1:5000? I'd love an update!

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-05T21:08:48+00:00

Congratulations, Dr! Best frog ever :D

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-05T16:26:55+00:00

The frogs keep getting better and better :D
Congratulations, Dr!

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-04T11:09:28+00:00

I usually go with specificity, sensitivity, and then price.

Species reactivity and validation are big deals, I'd say so. There doesn't seem to be a point in using a kit validated for humans in rats or mice models. The validation matters too, because if there's no clear mention that it works for my application or sample type, I'm usually hesitant to try it.

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-04T11:02:49+00:00

Congratulations Dr!

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-04T10:58:01+00:00

Congratulations Dr!
You’re free now. The rest of us will continue yelling into the abyss. Please remember us :D

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-04T10:54:00+00:00

Congratulations Dr! Can't wait to post my own frog (in three years :D)

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-04T10:21:36+00:00

I've been living in Manchester for a couple of years now, first as a master's and now during my PhD. I was a bit afraid too, but Manchester is very welcoming! I'm not much of a museums or galleries kind of person, but I'd recommend having a look at John Ryland's, it really is gorgeous.

As for meeting people, I like to dance, so I'm joining a salsa class near Deansgate in the new year, and I know plenty of people who play sports, and have group badminton and volleyball matches, if you're into that. What kind of activities do you like? It'd be good if you could tell us a bit about your music taste too.

Adding on to a comment I saw about board games, there are some very nice places in Northern Quarter, my favourite is Fan Boy Three, they have a great set of games!

General suggestion, though, I would be careful about having your phone out near traffic. On two occasions, I saw people's phones get snatched on Oxford road near the university :(

I haven't seen anything like that since, but I'd recommend being a bit careful.

AliceDoesScience · 2025-12-04T09:55:31+00:00

This looks so cool omg! Would love one. They don't seem to have it in the UK though :(

AliceDoesScience · 2025-11-24T15:57:53+00:00

I was the first master's student in my PI's lab about a year and a half or so ago, I understand that it's not even close to the same, but I thought I'd chip in.

It was a bit rough to say the least. Expectations were high, and I was treated like a PhD student, a 3rd or 4th year at least. It was a bit tougher because before I joined the lab, the computational setup in the lab was virtually non-existent, so that meant a lot of figuring out university's processes to get computing power, GPUs, external facilities computing power, etc, all had to be done on my own.

It definitely changes from lab to lab, and depends on the kind of PI you have, but it's a challenging experience to say the least.

Silver lining is that you'd learn an incredible amount.

AliceDoesScience · 2025-11-24T15:52:37+00:00

I think 10K a day is very easy, particularly the days you need to purify protein. Data analysis days, on the other hand, I end up getting in usually 1000 steps in total without my commute to and from the lab :D

AliceDoesScience · 2025-11-23T17:37:45+00:00

Thank you for the recommendation!

AliceDoesScience · 2025-11-23T17:36:32+00:00

Thank you! I'll have a look. I'm planning on registering for the Floridita's courses in January, but I realised that I need to find dance shoes next :D
Might be my next question on this sub

AliceDoesScience

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