Everyone loves special offers, creative contests, and scientific tidbits. That’s why we’ve created Life in the Lab, your quarterly connection to other scientists and all your favorite life science brands and products from Life Technologies. We've also included tips, videos and other entertainment to keep it fresh.

1. WINTER
2011
INAUGURAL ISSUE
Words of wisdom
from fellow scientists
SAVE $100s ON How is your lab preparing?
AMBION® ESSENTIALS
Helpful tips & tricks
for the lab
BUY ONE, GET ONE!
GIBCO® GROWTH FACTORS
APPLIED BIOSYSTEMS® AND
Great deals on INVITROGEN™ PCR SOLUTIONS
lots of products
Frostie snowmaculus
In this issue: THE NEW It has arrived!
FLoid Cell™
QuantStudio™
Imaging Station 12K Flex system
p23 p9
Invitrogen™ Applied Biosystems® Gibco® Molecular Probes® Novex® TaqMan® Ambion® Ion Torrent™

2. The art of imaging
putting fluorescent probes to work
Multiplex imaging of human carcinoma (HeLa) cell labeled with Qdot® nanocrystals
and mounted with Qmount® media.
Imaging right from your mobile device
The Molecular Probes® cell imaging mobile app can help you find fluorescent dyes,
reagents, and protocols for cell biology–related fluorescence microscopy applications.
Available for iPhone®, iPod touch®, and Android™ devices from the iTunes® store.

3. Life Technologies Intro 2
HELLO
Thanks for reading! TABLE
Everyone loves special offers, creative contests,
and scientific tidbits. That’s why we’re bringing
OF
you the first issue of Life in the Lab, your
quarterly connection to other scientists and all
CONTENTS Gibco® Cell Culture
your favorite life science brands and products
from Life Technologies. Plus, you’ll find fun and
exciting ways to stay engaged with the scientific
community. You can start by letting us know what What’s Your Can IPSCs Protect
you think at www.facebook.com/lifetechnologies. Cell Culture IQ? Endangered Species?
It’s an exciting, challenging, and complex time to
live life in the lab. For those about to science, we
salute you.
Applied Biosystems®
WATCH IT Ambion® RNA Solutions Real-Time PCR Innovations
Invitrogen™
PCR Gets Personal PCR Essentials
This video is inspired by all the dedicated everyday
heroes of science. Life Technologies recognizes your
passion and admires your perseverance.
Invitrogen™
youtube.com/watch?v=lCblncsE8wQ Cloning Essentials Novex® Protein
or search Ph. Diddy
ON THE COVER
This original artwork illustrates
Frostie snowmaculus skeletal structure and vascular system.
© Life Technologies Corp.
Molecular Probes®
Cell Imaging Holiday Science
For Research Use Only. Not intended for human or animal therapeutic or diagnostic use.
© 2011 Life Technologies Corporation. All rights reserved. CO31751 1111
The trademarks mentioned herein are the property of Life Technologies Corporation and/or its affiliate(s) or their respective owners. TaqMan® is a registered trademark of Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., used under
permission and license. iPhone, iPod touch, iTunes, and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc. Android is a trademark of Google, Inc. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc. Pandora is a registered
trademark of Pandora Media, Inc. JAMBOX and Jawbone are trademarks of AliphCom Corporation. CytoTune is a trademark of DNAVEC Corporation. TRIzol is a registered trademark of Molecular Research Center, Inc.
Eppendorf is a registered trademark of Eppendorf AG. Twitter is a registered trademark of Twitter, Inc.

4. 3 Cell Culture Gibco®
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growth factors
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SPECIAL OFFER
on Gibco® Sera
Purchase $500 or more of qualifying Gibco®
sera/FBS and get a Gibco® cushioned floor
Work those glutes
mat for the lab.*
Is trypsin your Use promotion code RFBSFM.
Gibco® GlutaMAX™ media—a
better alternative to L-glutamine
dangerous liaison? Find now at
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TrypLE™ Express—a direct Contact your FBS specialist before your cells healthier longer.
substitute for trypsin—for better cell January 31, 2012, to discuss incredible Get your FREE* sample at
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www.lifetechnologies.com/fbscontactme
Easy and convenient, TrypLE™ reagent can
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*Certain restrictions apply. Please see page 26 for terms and conditions.

5. Gibco® Cell Culture 4
What’s your cell culture IQ?
Think you know everything about cell culture? Take our quiz and put
SCORE
DATE _________________________________
NAME _________________________________
your knowledge to the test. Answers below—no peeking!
1. DMEM cell culture medium 7. The stem cells that form blood
I’M NEW
contains how many components? and immune cells are:
[ A ] <10 [ A ] Neural stem cells
[ B ] 10–20 [ B ] Hematopoietic stem cells
[ C ] 21–30 [ C ] Mesenchymal stem cells
[ D ] >30 [ D ] Episomal stem cells
APPRENTICE
2. The two most common cell culture 8. The optimal pH for growth of
media supplements are: mammalian cell lines is:
[ A ] Penicillin and trypsin [ A ] 5.0–6.0
[ B ] DMSO and glutamine [ B ] 6.1–6.9
[ C ] Serum and streptomycin [ C ] 7.0–7.6
GENIUS
[ D ] Glutamine and serum [ D ] 7.7–7.9
3. The more glutamine you add to 9. Which cells cannot be expanded in
cell culture media, the better! culture indefinitely?
[ A ] True [ A ] Primary human keratinocytes
[ B ] False [ B ] CHO-S
[ C ] High Five™ DIRECTIONS
4. The HeLa cell gets its name from [ D ] 293F
which person?
[ A ] Harry Lake 10. Type II neuronal cells exhibit which
[ B ] Hester Lamont characteristic?
[ C ] Henrietta Lacks [ A ] Long axons • MAKE DARK MARKS
[ D ] Herman Lasiter [ B ] Short axons • ERASE COMPLETELY
[ C ] No axons
5. Cells should be frozen: [ D ] Multiple axons
[ A ] Quickly
[ B ] Slowly 11. Adherent mammalian cultures How’d you score?
should be passaged when they are:
6. Frozen cell should be thawed: [ A ] In the lag phase of growth 1–4 correct: I’m new
[ A ] Quickly [ B ] 100% confluent Let’s not be so quick to blame our lab
[ B ] Slowly [ C ] In the log phase of growth partner for last week’s contamination!
[ D ] After 2 days
5–9 correct: Apprentice
Moving in the right direction.
12. Geneticin solutions should be
prepared based on: 10 or more correct: Genius
[ A ] Dry weight You sure know your way around a T7 flask.
[ B ] Active weight
ANSWERS: 1 d, 2 d, 3 b, 4 c, 5 b, 6 a, 7 b, 8 c, 9 a, 10 c, 11 c, 12 b

6. 5 Cell Culture Gibco®
Get your FREE copy*
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neurobiology research.
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KnockOut™ Rock your lab at pandora.com/#!/stations/
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KnockOut™ ESC/iPSC Media Kit for optimal
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iPSC Media Kit FREE JAMBOX® Wireless Speaker
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7. Invitrogen™ Cell Reprogramming 6
Cell reprogramming
MADE
EASIER
Introducing the CytoTune®-iPS
Sendai Reprogramming Kit. Can endangered species be
rescued with iPSCs?
Get highly efficient, easy-to-use technology
for generating induced pluripotent stem cells
(iPSCs) with no viral integration. Much of the research on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has
focused on the creation of human iPSCs for potential applications
Find now at in human cell therapy and drug discovery. But recently Jeanne
www.lifetechnologies.com/cytotune Loring and her group at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla,
NEW California, examined the application of somatic cell reprogramming
to endangered species conservation and created iPSCs from two
endangered species: the drill, Mandrillus leucophaeus, and the
northern white rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum cottoni.
Loring and her team propose applications in cell therapy for
treating degenerative diseases suffered by endangered species
and generating iPSC-derived germ cells for the production of
viable offspring.
What do you think? What research needs to be performed before
iPSCs can be used to rescue endangered species? When will we
see this research being applied to species conservation? Send me a
message on Twitter at twitter.com/orthostichy
For more information on the research described above, read the
article in the September 2011 issue of Nature Methods at
nature.com/nmeth/journal/v8/n10/abs/nmeth.1706.html
TWEETS from ORTHOSTICHY
stem cell advances and other life obser vations
We believe in the power of community and support a variety of associations and
user groups. Here are some Twitter musings from our colleague, David Welch.
“iPSCs share a pluripotent metabolomic signature w/ embryonic stem cells that
is distinct from their parental cells: ow.ly/1A9zeX”
“Check out this PBS film on Dr. John Kessler of Northwestern
University and his mission with stem cell research: ow.ly/1A9z6X”
Follow David on Twitter
@orthostichy

8. 7 RNA Ambion®
Sasha Vlassov Interview Senior Staff Scientist, Ambion® Products
When did Life Technologies begin to offer oligonucleotides that are more specific due to
products for the miRNA functional workflow? innovative chemical modifications that inactivate
Ambion (now part of Life Technologies) was the the star strand. These mimic the natural
first company to launch tools for the miRNA microRNA, thus increasing the level of the specific
functional analysis over 7 years ago. In July 2011, microRNA inside the cell.
we launched the next generation mirVana™
mimics and inhibitors. What are the different offerings within
this product line?
How are the new mirVana™ products different? The new product is available both at small scale
mirVana™ inhibitors are single-stranded as well as at larger scales (In Vivo Ready format).
oligonucleotides that are more potent due to their We offer human and mouse libraries for both
novel chemical modifications. These inactivate the mimics and inhibitors with 100% coverage of
natural miRNA, thus reducing their levels in cells. miRBase version 17.
mirVana™ mimics are double-stranded synthetic
YOUR CAPTION COULD BE A WINNER!
Every two weeks we post a new
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caption.
Write a smart, clever, or witty
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If your caption is selected, we’ll
send you a print of the artwork—
with your caption included!*
(Your clever caption goes here)
Go to www.facebook.com/invitrogen to post your caption, or just to enjoy the wit of your fellow scientists!
*Certain restrictions apply. Please see page 26 for terms and conditions.

9. Ambion® RNA 8
What has been the feedback on this technology?
We have received very positive feedback from the
field on the functional robustness of our mimics RNAlater®
and inhibitors. A large number of scientists have
used our mirVana™ products for the microRNA
solution
functional analysis in cell models as well as mice.
Where can I order mirVana™ mimics
Make time stand still for your cells
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WOW
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Trust TRIzol® products and Use promotion code P7800533.
Offer ends January 31, 2012.
SAVE up to $193*
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With thousands of journal references,
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Purchase 1 TRIzol® tip and accessory item at
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Offer ends January 31, 2012.
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10. 9 Real-Time PCR Applied Biosystems®
IT HAS
ARRIVED
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Real-Time PCR System
NEW
The ‘all-in-one’ qPCR instrument
With five interchangeable blocks, you can analyze
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a single system.
• Increase your throughput 32-fold in a single run
• Enhance your flexibility and scalability with five easily
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• Start a 12,000 data point experiment typically in 20
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• Secure your results with integrated sample tracking
and 21 CFR Part 11 compliance assistance modules
See how it works at
www.appliedbiosystems.com/quantstudio

11. Applied Biosystems® Real-Time PCR 10
StepOne™ and
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Our most affordable and simple
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FREE iPad® 2 device Buy yours now at
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Trade in or trade up your real-time PCR platform!*
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Trade in or trade up today. To see complete terms, go to
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*
Certain restrictions apply. Please see page 26 for terms and conditions.
Once you’ve placed your order, send an email with your confirmation and mailing address information to
†
promotions@lifetech.com and we will send you an iPad® 2 device loaded with useful biology applications.

12. 11 Real-Time PCR Applied Biosystems®
SAVE $400*
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13. Applied Biosystems® Real-Time PCR 12
NEW
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14. 13 PCR Applied Biosystems®
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youtube.com/watch?v=9Px8zBaGcPQ
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PCR gets personal
2720 Thermal Cycler—
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15. Invitrogen™ PCR 14
Some like it hot—some don’t
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16. 15 Transfection Invitrogen™
Designer T-cells Two recent articles present the amazing results of
a clinical study led by Carl June at the University of
wipe out leukemia Pennsylvania. The story of patients’ own blood cells
designed to destroy cancer cells soon spread via
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The New York Times.
Two of three patients with advanced leukemia
are now in complete remission six months after
treatment in a phase-1 clinical trial. Powerful T-cells
that specifically target leukemia were engineered
using a specially designed lentiviral vector.
The team used Dynabeads® technology conjugated
with anti-CD3 and anti-CD28 antibodies. This
magnetic separation technology also enabled high
expansion of the engineered T-cells prior to infusion
to the Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) patients.
Full articles can be found at The New England Journal
of Medicine and Science of Translational Medicine.
WATCH IT WATCH IT
An entertaining and useful explanation of the Best practices and recommendations for
techniques used for cell isolation. successful transfection.
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transfectionvideo

17. Invitrogen™ Transfection 16
BUILD YOUR BENCH
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Tali™ Image-Based Cytometer
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™
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43,000 citations can’t be wrong
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18. 17 Cloning Invitrogen™
Get there faster
Don’t spend days or hours—minutes are all you need
Built on a legacy of innovation and trusted performance, Invitrogen™ everyday cloning essentials are designed to get you to faster results.
From hours to minutes
TOPO® PCR cloning kits take you from overnight
cloning to 5-minute incubation with 95% efficiency.
Do you have the new CloningBench app?
Pain-free cloning
GeneArt® DNA assembly kits let you clone without
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Because frost bites generate calculations for your
One Shot® competent cells offer the ultimate in PCR master mix, nucleic acid
convenience. Don’t compromise efficiency with concentration, molar quantities,
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Find out how at Download the FREE CloningBench
www.lifetechnologies.com/cloning mobile app at the iTunes® store.

19. Invitrogen™ Cloning 18
Invitrogen
TOPO® cloning
• For TOPO® cloning, start with a 1:1 molar ratio of insert and vector
• For TOPO® TA cloning, try to perform your PCR and TOPO®
cloning the same day—cloning efficiency can decrease if your
Build your next
PCR product is stored breakthrough
Gateway® products GeneArt® gene synthesis
• To obtain 5 to 10 times more colonies for your Gateway® BP or LR
reactions, incubate 16–24 hours
• To increase efficiency between two plasmids during a Gateway®
BP reaction, linearize the expression vector that contains the attB
sites or incubate overnight
GeneArt® solutions give you predictability,
• If your Gateway® destination vector has the same antibiotic adaptability, and confidence. Whether
resistance marker as the entry vector, cut the entry vector with increasing protein expression rates as much
a restriction enzyme that cuts within the antibiotic resistance as 100X or assembling genetic constructs
marker to eliminate background
• If you need to analyze your Gateway® clones, use restriction
with unprecedented precision, GeneArt® gene
enzyme BsrG1 to easily cut your insert out of the vector—BsrG1 synthesis and assembly tools enable you to
cuts in almost all att sites break through your most complex challenges.
Odds and ends
• When measuring ODs (especially to calculate culture densities for
bacterial expression experiments), dilute your solution to obtain
an OD below 1.0. Beer’s Law—many spectrophotometers are not
AS LOW AS
39
very accurate over ODs greater than 1.0
• To obtain the true OD of your culture, just adjust your OD reading
by the dilution factor
¢
• Before performing stable selection for mammalian protein
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• Before resuspension of your lyophilized oligos, spin down the tube
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• When you need help figuring out which restriction enzyme
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20. 19 Everyday Essentials Invitrogen™
Precious samples
Peace of mind
Qubit® 2.0 Fluorometer
Quantitates DNA, RNA, and protein with
superior accuracy, sensitivity, and simplicity.
Read user comments on Facebook at
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Find now at www.lifetechnologies.com/qubit
Product Cat. No.
Qubit 2.0 Fluorometer
®
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Better count fast
easy and reliable cell counting
The Countess® Automated Cell Counter
Accurately counts live and dead cells and
checks viability in 5 minutes using just 10 μL
of sample. Includes a dilution calculator and
data-archiving functions and requires no Shaken and stirred
setup or cleaning. with just a gentle hula
Find now at The HulaMixer® Sample Mixer
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50 Countess® Cell Counting Chamber slides and trypan touch.
blue stain)

21. Life Technologies Everyday Essentials 20
WANTED: Brilliant innovator
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22. 21 Protein Novex®
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23. Novex® Protein 22
Lab Wisdom
COLLEGIAL CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE LAB
Top 10 tips from lab managers
1. Honor health and safety concerns in your lab
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everyone does in the lab
Novex® products 3. Understand your lab’s financial standing—and stock up
• The Novex® and NuPAGE® Precast Gel Electrophoresis on nonperishable items when “times are good”
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- Download the Novex® and NuPAGE® Precast Gel 6. Include all people working in the lab on duty rotations—
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www.lifetechnologies.com/novextechnicalguide 7. Build strong relationships with stores and building
• 2.5% BME or 50 mM DTT can be substituted for NuPAGE® porters
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• Load 30–50 µg of protein per gel for optimal results— you never know when you may need a favor
maximum load is 100 µg per gel 9. Understand your PIs and help them with grant
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Marie, Lab Manager
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WATCH IT
Do you know about the upcoming technology
shift in immunoprecipitation? This video helps
explain it.
www.youtube.com/immunoprecipitation To contribute collegial words of wisdom to the next issue,
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24. 23 Cell Imaging Molecular Probes®
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26. 25 Holiday Science Life Technologies
How is your lab preparing for the holidays?
Follow these tips for scientifically magical holidays!
In your lab In your science
1. Be sure to spend any budget expiring at the end of year. 18. Safely freeze down your cells with Gibco® Recovery Cell
(May we suggest doing so at lifetechnologies.com?) :) Culture Freezing Medium.
2. Defrost freezers. #lamelabstuff 19. Transfer your lab notes from benchpaper and paper towels
3. Buy gift for your lab manager. #properlabetiquette into your lab notebook.
4. Pump up Gibco® Cell Culture Radio on Pandora at your lab’s 20.Clean your fridge and freezer with care. When in doubt,
holiday party. (You did get your free JAMBOX™ speaker, right? DON’T throw it out!
See page 5.) 21. Head to the cloud—ensure all important data files are
5. Ensure all equipment maintenance and calibrations are up to backed up.
date. (e.g., pipettes, scales, pH meter, etc.) 22.Educate yourself about new technologies. (Not sure how
6. Clean it up! (e.g., countertops and repaper public areas, to do that? Talk to us on Facebook!)
radioactive areas, common-use areas, etc.) 23.Plan what experiments need to be done before the
7. Prepare your lab for savings, set up standing orders with key holiday—you don’t want to have to check on your cells
vendors for 2012, and take advantage of year-end promotions during your break.
as you stock up on reagents with long expiration dates. 24.In the spirit of giving and getting—learn a new technique
8. Get in the spirit! Decorate your labmate’s bench with a and teach one to someone else.
garland of Eppendorf® tubes and lights. 25.Plan that next big experiment you are going to start when
you get back! #discoverthemeaningoflife
In your life
9. Read up on relevant papers, clean up your LinkedIn profile,
and join a new Facebook group.
10. Practice your 30-second conversation for eggnog with the
department head.
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any networks? Get busy!)
12. Plan attendance at research and user group meetings in
conveniently chosen locations (Hawaii, Colorado, and Paris
sound fun to us!) #perksofscience
13. Make sure to align your schedule with your PI’s. (Vacation
schedule, that is.)
14. Regift promotional items you’ve received over the past year.
(Who else needs a USB drive?)
15. Save yourself time—search iTunes® store and download good
scientific mobile apps. (Check out Invitrogen™ CloningBench,
Molecular Probes® Cell Imaging, and Invitrogen™ Daily
Calculator apps.)
16. Start the New Year by watching Monty Python’s Life of Brian
—always look on the bright side of life!
17. Spread some cheer! Make your own video—serious or
fun. (See the Zheng Lab Bad Project video on YouTube for
inspiration of the latter.)

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Terms & Conditions
All promotions are open to qualifying customers in the US and Canada. Offers expire January 31, 2012. Customer can use each promotion only once. Discounts
apply to list price in effect at the time order is received by Life Technologies. Each promotion cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions. By placing
the order, you warrant that you are not prohibited by employment, contract, or law from accepting a gift from Life Technologies. Offer void where prohibited by
federal, state, provincial, or local laws or regulation or agency/institutional policy. Limits on quantities apply. Other restrictions may apply.
To see complete terms and conditions, go to www.lifetechnologies.com/lifeinthelab

28. 8 premier brands. 600,000 citations.
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