Ever wondered how a rapid antigen test (RAT) works? Or better yet- ever wondered how a PCR test works? Well look no further, because I wrote about it a little while ago! 😂 I tried to make it as lay person friendly as possible and there’s lots of diagrams to […]
I just realised that my figure depicting the intracellular infection cycle of my Honours/Ph. D bug, Coxiella burnetii, has actually been stolen and used in other websites. 😂 I guess this is why people watermark their work. I’ll be careful to do this from now on. Oops! If anyone sees […]
We’ve had quite a monster run on this COVID PCR test explanatory series. Part 1 covered how to extract genetic material from your swab sample. Part 2 covered the basics of a standard PCR. Part 3 went over the very basics of an RT-PCR, which is what’s used for COVID […]
So far in our little series, we’ve covered how genetic material is extracted from a swab, and how a very basic PCR works. This third part will cover how the theories of a basic PCR are then applied to the fancy type of PCR used for COVID testing… Which is […]
So part 1 covered the process of extracting genetic material from your samples. But before I can explain the next step in the COVID PCR testing process, I first have to explain what a PCR is. 😅 PCR in a nutshell is the process of making lots and lots of […]
Okay. Who knew my previous post on rapid antigen tests would do so well. 😅 So while riding this brief increase in traffic, I’ll follow it up with posts describing the theory behind a COVID-19 PCR test. But given how large a topic this is, I’ve broken it up into […]
First post of 2022 is a hot topic at the moment, given their scarcity during this current Omicron wave here in Australia. If you’re lucky enough to have access to one of these tests, here’s a post to show you how it actually works (i.e. the theory behind it). If […]
It’s that time of year again when I write a reflective piece on the year that was. But… has it really been a year since the last one? Well- not exactly. The last one was posted on the 30th of December 2020, so I still have a week or so […]
I got invited to be a member of a judging panel for a science award aimed at groups of year 7-9 (13-15 year old) students the other day. It was a very inspiring event. The students had to come up with an every day problem that was relevant to their […]
Occasionally I get students who ask me for advice on doing a Ph. D. It usually starts with a, ‘should I do it?’ type of question, and… generally speaking… I tell them ‘no’. Now, some of you may be going, 🤠(<- that should be a gasp) At that. Others […]
A Bug's Life 
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