Knowledge centre

Methods a laboratory can check.

Guides, method explainers and sourcing notes for research laboratories. Written by the EVRINTH Editorial Team from published methods, with catalogue links for enquiry rather than stock claims.

cold chain biosafety crispr specification sequencing proteomics enquiry glossary troubleshooting cloning microbiology buffers freezers pipetting calibration elisa cell culture glassware

520 articles

Gloved fingers placing a silica spin column into a collection tube beside a tube rack and pipette tips

nucleic acid purification

Labeling tubes so an extraction stays traceable

A perfect ratio on an unlabeled tube cannot be used. Record identity, date, method, elution buffer and operator so the extraction stays traceable.

8 October 2026 · 8 min read

Glass beakers and graduated cylinders holding blue and clear liquids on a dark lab bench

labware

Labelling plastic that will go into a freezer

Which cryo labels and solvent-resistant markers stay readable on plastic in a freezer, and which tapes loosen once the surface is cold.

8 October 2026 · 7 min read

Gloved hand pulling a rack of cryoboxes from a frosted ultra-low temperature freezer

cold chain

Labels that stay on at minus 80

Use a cryo-rated label and solvent-resistant ink, applied to a dry tube before it freezes. Paper labels let go when frost melts.

8 October 2026 · 9 min read

Wall-mounted water purification unit dispensing ultrapure water into a glass flask

Pillar · buffers and water

Laboratory water types and where they fail

Resistivity, organic carbon and endotoxin answer different questions. A water grade fails when the assay cares about a contaminant the meter cannot see.

8 October 2026 · 11 min read

Mass spectrometer coupled to a liquid chromatography system with sample vials in the foreground

microbiology

LB and other media as carbon and salt

What tryptone, yeast extract and salt actually supply in LB, and how SOB, SOC and defined media change cloning-strain growth.

8 October 2026 · 8 min read

Modern research laboratory at dusk with researchers at benches and a city skyline through large windows

research sourcing

Lead time is confirmed in writing or it is not known

Accept a lead time only when the quotation writes a date, and treat every other timing remark as a date you do not have yet.

8 October 2026 · 9 min read

Benchtop sequencing instrument with a teal status light and a flow cell cartridge in a genomics lab

dna sequencing

Library prep is where most runs are won

See why fragmentation, ligation and extra PCR cycles decide a sequencing run, and which branch to take when library yield is low.

8 October 2026 · 10 min read

Safety goggles, lab coat, nitrile gloves and a face shield on a bench with an eyewash station behind

laboratory safety

Load density and trapped air

Load density, trapped air, and steam contact are different ideas. This glossary says what each term means when a packed load fails to sterilise.

8 October 2026 · 9 min read

Gloved hands pouring acrylamide solution between glass plates in a gel casting stand

protein biochemistry

Loading controls are for blots not every gel

Actin, GAPDH and tubulin support a blot loading argument. A purification gel is judged by the band pattern and the total protein you loaded.

8 October 2026 · 6 min read

Gloved hands lifting a western blot membrane with forceps over a buffer tray, rocking shaker behind

gels and blotting

Loading controls on a western blot

Pick a western loading control for the comparison you are making. A housekeeping band can move, and a total-protein stain is the other argument.

8 October 2026 · 8 min read

dna sequencing

Long-read sequencing for structural variants

How to judge whether a long read can span an insertion, deletion, inversion or repeat that short reads only split or fail to cross.

8 October 2026 · 9 min read

Gloved hand closing the lid of a benchtop PCR thermal cycler holding a strip of PCR tubes, city lights at dusk behind

pcr amplification

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification overview

Compare loop-mediated isothermal amplification with endpoint PCR on equipment, primer count and what a positive signal means before you choose.

8 October 2026 · 8 min read