OK, look I know that by posting the latest viral marketing video from Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. I’m just a pawn (or vector) in their advertising game. This particular video has been around for a couple of months now but it is probably poor internet hygiene to spread these pandemic viral videos. I should just catch it, kill it and bin it. However, I can’t resist this one any longer because, like the last one, it is pretty kitsch, pretty funny and in a strange way, it might just increase the public awareness of Science. Maybe.
And it’s Friday today too, so to the tune of Y.M.C.A. by the Village People, you are now infected with just a little bit of (altogether now…) G.T.C.A.!
The lyrics go a little something like this:
Enyzme, whatcha doin’ today
I said enzyme, want to make DNA
I said enzyme, show me your binding way
Let me mix you with some primers
Enzyme, time to build a new strand
I said enzyme, cause I know that you can
I said enzyme, these letters also spell DAN
All we need to get things started
Is just a little bit of G.T.C.A.
I can build DNA
I can be a big star
you’re the key to my P.C.R!
that’s right I’m talking ’bout
G.T.C.A!
just a little bit of G.T.C.A!
I can make some new strands
I can view all my bands
I can be the best that I can
Enzyme, you have come a long way
But in my lab
demands are higher today
I said enzyme, now it’s time to go fast
We have got to increase throughput
Enzyme, i think I found what I need
It’s an enzyme, it gives me much higher speed
It goes so fast, when it builds DNA
All we need to get it started
Is just a little bit of G.T.C.A!
Is just a little bit of G.T.C.A!
I can build D.N.A.
I can reach for the stars
I can do faster P.C.R!
That’s right I’m talking ’bout
G.T.C.A!
Just a little bit of G.T.C.A.
I can make bigger strands
I can view better bands
I can be the best that I can
YEAH!
To all the scientists out there doing PCR, Bio-Rad salutes you with the all new line of Sso fast supermixes for Real Time PCR.
O'Really? 
Yes, I agree the video is very funny and cleverly done. Quite entertaining. But the unsettling part: isn’t this about splicing genes for genetically-modified foods? Many of which are already in our food without any required labeling and little to no testing period… One of my friends who works for Seminis/ Monsanto does this for a living forwarded this video to me a few days ago, and while I enjoy the comedy, I find the topic pretty unsettling.
Comment by Max — April 25, 2010 @ 7:30 pm |
Hi Max, I understand your concerns, but like most technologies PCR can be used to do many different things. It’s not the technology itself that is unsettling, but how the technology is used. PCR has many important applications in medical science that we just couldn’t do without, see Applications of PCR (via wikipedia).
Comment by Duncan — May 7, 2010 @ 5:40 pm |