The Clugston lab's primary experimental model is the mouse, but we are increasingly using cell lines to answer our research questions and we strive to perform confirmatory studies in human samples, where available. Below you will find a brief description of the main technical approaches we use to answer our research questions, while this list is not exclusive, it does cover the day-to-day methods that we employ.
If you are a potential collaborator who would like to measure tissue levels of vitamin A, please contact Dr. Clugston.
Mouse models
Whether it is knock-ins or knock-outs, feeding purified diets with too little or too much vitamin, administering alcohol, or other experimental manipulations, mice are the primary experimental model of the lab.
HPLC
This is the lab's workhorse for measuring tissue vitamin A levels (retinol, retinyl esters) as well as carotenoids and other fat-soluble vitamins.
Biochemistry
We use many biochemical methods in the lab. This includes various microplate assays for measuring proteins, lipids, and enzyme activities, as well as other standard techniques like western blotting.
Molecular Biology
Core methods here include PCR genotyping and gene expression analysis by real-time PCR. We also dabble in some genomics (microarray analysis, etc.).