Support & Resources

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Tech Tips and Protocols

Practical advice and lab tips from Biotium scientists on using fluorescence in your research


Tech Tip: Cell Surface Stains for Live & Fixed Cells

Find the right membrane or cell surface stain for your experiment.


Tech Tip: Five Steps to Successful Cell Membrane Staining & Imaging

Tips for success with CellBrite® and MemBrite® cell surface staining.


Tech Tip: Avoiding Artifacts from UV Photoconversion of DAPI and Hoechst

Many researchers are unaware that photoconversion of DAPI and Hoechst can cause nuclear stains to fluoresce in the FITC and Cy®3 channels. Learn about the different ways to avoid DAPI photoconversion.


Hoechst & DAPI Staining Protocols – Cell Staining with Hoechst or DAPI Nuclear Stains

How to stain live or fixed cells with these popular blue nuclear stains.


Tech Tip: Protocols and Tips for Success with the EvaEZ™ Fluorometric Polymerase Activity Assay Kit

In this tech tip, Biotium scientists offer protocols and advice for getting the best results using the EvaEZ™ Assay with your enzyme.


Tech Tip: Isolation and Staining of Extracellular Vesicles

In this tech tip, Biotium scientists provide detailed protocols for isolating extracellular vesicles (EVs) from cell supernatants using PEG precipitation or size exclusion chromatography (SEC), as well as procedures for staining purified or bead-bound EVs for analysis by flow cytometry.


Tips & Best Practices for Working with RNA

In this tech tip, we will simplify and demystify RNA work, and recommend tools that will help you to confidently isolate and analyze your RNA samples with ease.


Protocols Library

A collection of protocols for immunofluorescence, western blotting, protein labeling, and more.


Tech Tip: Measuring Cell Division in PMBCs by Flow Cytometry

In this tech tip, we will outline a typical procedure for using fluorescent ViaFluor® SE dyes for measuring lymphocyte proliferation in PBMCs, with helpful tips for getting the best results from your experiment.


Tech Tip: Workflows for Post-fixation Staining of Cells with Fluorescent Lectins

In this article, we provide considerations and a general protocol for staining cellular surfaces with lectin conjugates.


Tech Tip: Mix-n-Stain™ Antibody Labeling in the Presence of Stabilizer Proteins and Other Buffer Additives

In this article, we present technical tips and data for using Mix-n-Stain™ CF® Dye Antibody Labeling Kits with antibody solutions containing common buffer additives, including stabilizer proteins like BSA.


Tech Tip: Fluorescent Detection of EVs by Flow Cytometry

In this tech tip we share the expertise we have acquired for optimal fluorescent staining and detection of EVs.


Researching Applications for Membrane Dyes

Information and tips for researching membrane dyes for different organisms and sample types.


Immunofluorescence Staining Tips

Considerations for designing your immunofluorescence experiment, protocols, and troubleshooting tips


Tech Tip: Multi-Color Fluorescence Imaging Using Biotium’s Tyramide Amplification Kits

Tyramide signal amplification (TSA) is an immunofluorescence technique that uses enzymatic coupling to label targets with large amounts of dye, resulting in dramatically higher signal. Here, we provide protocols for performing multiple TSA reactions on the same sample.


Tech Tip: Combining Lipophilic Membrane Dyes with Immunofluorescence

A protocol for staining fixed and permeabilized cells with CellBrite® Cytoplasmic Membrane Dyes for immunofluorescence staining.


Tech Tip: Eight things to keep in mind for optimal gel staining with GelRed® and GelGreen®

Getting the best results with GelRed® and GelGreen® DNA gels.


Tech Tip: Using ViaFluor® SE Stains for Cell Tracing and Co-Culture

Learn how covalent cell cycle stains also can be used to trace cell morphology or track cell populations in co-culture.


Tech Tip: Imaging Bacteria Using Agarose Pads

Bacteria can be difficult to image because they are small, usually non-adherent, and often motile. Here we describe how to immobilize live or fixed bacteria using agarose pads for multi-color imaging experiments.


Tech Tip: Battling Tissue Autofluorescence

Autofluorescence in tissues can make it all but impossible to distinguish specific fluorescence staining from non-specific background. See our protocols for quenching autofluorescence with TrueBlack®.


Tech Tip: Combined Direct and Indirect IF Using Primary Antibodies from the Same Host

Protocol for combining fluorescent secondary antibody staining with directly labeled primary antibodies, for added flexibility in multicolor staining.


Protocol: Immunofluorescence Staining of Cells for Microscopy

Our basic protocol for IF staining of adherent cells.


Protocol: Cell Surface Antibody Staining for Flow Cytometry

Basic protocol for cell surface staining for flow cytometry.


Protocol: Intracellular Antibody Staining for Flow Cytometry

Basic protocol for intracellular staining for flow cytometry.


Troubleshooting Tips for Fluorescence Staining

Solutions for common microscopy, flow cytometry, or western problems.


Protocol: Fluorescent Western Blotting

A basic protocol for fluorescent western detection.


Protocol: DNA Probe Labeling by PCR

Synthesize fluorescent DNA probes by PCR with our CF® Dye dUTP or dCTP nucleotides.


Protocol: Using Pluronic® F-127 to Solubilize Dyes for Cell Loading

How to solubilizing hydrophobic dyes or AM esters for loading into live cells.


Protocol: Succinimidyl Ester Labeling of Protein Amines

Protocol for labeling proteins on amines with CF® Dye SE.


Protocol: Maleimide Labeling of Protein Thiols

Protocol for labeling proteins on free thiols with CF® Dye Maleimides.


Protocol: Aminooxy Labeling of Glycoproteins

Protocol for oxidation and labeling of carbohydrates in glycoproteins.