High-content screening microscopy relies on automation infrastructure that is typically proprietary, non-customizable, costly and requires a high level of skill to use and maintain. The increasing availability of rapid prototyping technology makes it possible to quickly engineer alternatives to conventional automation infrastructure that are low-cost and user-friendly. Here, we describe a 3D pr...

In his essay “In Good Faith” (1990), Salman Rushdie discusses the reactions his novel, The Satanic Verses (1988; “SV”) has evoked around the world. According to Rushdie, his novel has been treated as “a work of bad history, as an anti-religious pamphlet, as the product of an international capitalistJewish conspiracy, as an act of murder,” everything but literature, a work of fiction. Rushdie is...

Microplate readers have been useful assistants of researchers for several decades. This work is focused on the applications of a simple absorbance microplate reader in yeast physiology research, and its advantages and limitations in comparison with alternative methods are discussed. The two main procedures involved are measuring growth curves and monitoring the pH changes of medium using two di...

A system for automatic Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) data collection and processing is described. Hardware for the system consists of a Dynatech microplate reader and Apple II series microcomputer. Software developed by the authors allows automatic configuration of the reader and direct data input from the microplate reader to the microcomputer. After optical density data is input t...