molecular cloning
Competent cells and transformation controls
How to choose chemical competence or electroporation, and which plates report efficiency, no-DNA background and a ligation that had no insert.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
Tag
controls
Articles tagged controls. Tags group methods across clusters so a technique can be found from more than one route.
All topicsBuffers and laboratory water26Cell culture26Chromatography26Cold chain and sample storage26Cytometry and microscopy26DNA sequencing26Gels and blotting26Gene expression26Genome editing26Immunoassays26Laboratory labware26Laboratory safety26Liquid handling26Microbiology26Molecular cloning26Nucleic acid purification26PCR and amplification26Protein biochemistry26Proteomics26Research sourcing and study design26
cold chainbiosafetycrisprspecificationsequencingproteomicsenquiryglossarytroubleshootingcloningmicrobiologybuffersfreezerspipettingcalibrationelisacell cultureglassware
8 articles
genome editing
Controls for a CRISPR experiment
Place a non-targeting guide, an untransfected well, a known cutter, a second guide and a parental identity check before you treat a fluorescent marker as an
8 October 2026 · 9 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Controls for autofluorescence
How to separate autofluorescence from a real fluorophore using matched unstained cells, the same treatment, and the right detector.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
research sourcing
Controls the provider and the lab each supply
Separate controls the laboratory must supply from process controls the provider names, and stop the study when either control fails.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
nucleic acid purification
Extraction controls and blank samples
A reagent blank and a known positive decide whether an extraction batch is interpretable. A contaminated blank stops the whole set.
8 October 2026 · 7 min read
microbiology
Marking plates so a negative control stays negative
A negative-control plate that grows colonies means the label, the drug, or the DNA was wrong. Write the antibiotic and the date on the base so lids cannot swap
8 October 2026 · 9 min read
pcr amplification
PCR controls and contamination control
How no-template, positive and inhibition controls decide whether a PCR band can be trusted, and how a shared bench keeps old amplicons out of the next setup.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read
cytometry and microscopy
Single-stain controls
How to build single-stain controls that are bright enough for compensation, and when to branch to cells, beads, or a fresh tube.
8 October 2026 · 8 min read