Western blotting
Western blotting forms the bedrock of many protein studies, with the technique cited in 9% of all protein related papers. The technique had its 40th birthday in 2019, an event that was widely celebrated in the life sciences.
The applications of western blot are often to the early stages of a study, validating the successful transfection of a cell colony with a non-viral vector, detecting the presence of a specific protein in a sample and determining rudimentary information about its size. However, this confirmatory nature can also be used later in studies, for example confirming the success of a gene-editing technique such as CRISPR.
This In Focus will examine the capabilities of western blotting throughout studies, highlighting the versatility of the technique in different applications including:
- Proteomics
- Diagnostics
- Transfection validation
- Gene-editing studies
- Best practices for conducting successful western blot workflows
- Key considerations for utilizing western blots in different contexts
