Integrated Calendar

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has increased our understanding of biological phenomena and human disease by enabling highly sensitive transcriptome analysis across a large dynamic range of RNA expression levels. As exciting new applications for NGS emerge, Clontech continues to develop powerful new tools for life science research by improving and building upon its core technologies. A common feature of Clontech® NGS kits is SMART® technology, which harnesses the template-switching activity of customized reverse transcriptases to enable researchers to analyze their most challenging samples, such as ultra-low input or single-cell RNA, noncoding RNA, and RNA from degraded samples. In particular, single-cell RNA-seq is one of the fastest-growing applications of NGS, and the SMARTer Ultra® Low mRNA-seq family of products, featuring a highly sensitive, dT-primed mechanism, has become the gold standard for this type of analysis. The newest generations of ultra-low input/single-cell mRNA-seq and picogram-input total RNA-seq kits have brought increased sensitivity to SMART technology by improving upon the SMART-Seq® method and incorporating locked nucleic acid (LNA) technology. Expanding applications for SMART technology have led to a ligation-free method for generating ChIP (chromatin immunoprecipitation) sequencing libraries. This seminar will take you on a tour of these new technologies and highlight ongoing research on a variety of NGS applications, including single-cell RNA-seq.

Abstract: Generations of scholars of different disciplines have struggled with the mystery of conscious awareness. How does it come about? And, no less importantly, what does it do? To meet the challenge of scientifically operationalizing this question, different experimental manipulations have been developed. With these methods researchers managed to demonstrate surprisingly high-level forms of unconscious processing, like semantic integration, executive control, emotional judgments, reading and arithmetic operations. Consequently, some have suggested that consciousness may not hold any unique functional role. In this talk, I will present experiments which employ such methods, and point out their implications and limitations. I will then introduce our search for new means to probe unconscious processes and examine consciousness' role in thought and behavior.