Chen Lab / Methods

Molecular Biology

Yeast one-hybrid assays for protein-DNA interaction
Yeast two-hybrid assays for protein-protein interaction
Site-directed mutagenesis
Recombinant protein expression and purification
Co-immunoprecipitation
Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to study in vivo targets of transcription factors
In vitro protein-DNA binding assays: EMSA and footprinting

Functional Analysis

Transient cell transfection assays with luciferase reporters
Double-strand DNA interference (RNAi)
Transgenic and knockout mouse studies
Functional analysis of mutant proteins carrying genetically identified human mutations

Gene Expression Analysis

Quantitative and qualitative RT-PCR analysis
In situ hybridization on retinal sections
Microarray (chip)
Western blots
Immunohistochemistry