Question: what in your opinion is the coolest piece of equipment in the lab?

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  1. Hi! In a similar question to this and I said the PCR machine. This allows me to amplify DNA and I use it for so many applications. But after a bit more thought I think the electron microscope this really cool! Its so powerful you can see things that are much smaller than with light microscopes. Light microscopes bend light to magnify small objects. Electron microscopes fire electrons to bend the image so we can see it larger. You can see some pretty amazing stuff and structures!

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  2. It is the gene gun! Introducing genes into different organisms have been a real headache for many years. Scientists tried chemical reagents which can transport genes inside cells but the efficiency was so low and chemicals show a lot of adverse effects on mammals. Scientist then started using “harmless” viruses (such a virus that carries the genes of your interest only doesn’t have its own genome so it can’t harm us) virus method was (is) an effective in terms of gene delivery but the idea of releasing virus into our body certainly didn’t sound very nice. With gene gun we can directly shoot our genes into any tissue, it is 99% effective and it is very safe. If you wonder why the gene delivery is important – scientists develop a fascinating technique called gene therapy where healthy genes can replace your faulty genes thus permanently treat your disease.
    For more information about gene therapy – have a look at comments of Miranda and myself in order to attempt to answer an excellent question asked by Misszombie: https://disease13.imascientist.org.au/2013/03/17/if-cancer-runs-in-your-familyis-there-a-way-to-get-rid-of-those-particular-genes/

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