Let’s make a bet – Poisson statistics of digital PCR

09/13/23 • 36 min

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was discovered in 1983 by Kary Mullis and Michael Smith, who were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993. Since then, PCR has been a cornerstone method that has been a pillar of discovery and applied science. The various types of PCR are sometimes confusing, and the relative pros and cons of each method are not always clear, which is why it’s so great to have this episode's guest explain them all in a simple and clear-cut way.

Dave Bauer, PhD, is an Application Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific that specializes in real time PCR (qPCR) and digital PCR (dPCR). He has an educational background in physics, mathematics, and biology, but what’s more important is that Dave loves to help others learn and to break down a topic’s complexities to make it more understandable and approachable. In this episode we hear Dave explain the difference between qPCR and dPCR, the importance of Poisson statistics to dPCR, dead volume, reaction chamber volume consistency, and more. We learn how qPCR and dPCR complement each other and how they relate to sequencing methods for applications like single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) detection.

As you’ve come to expect from Absolute Gene-ius, you also get a good sense of who Dave is and how he got to his current role. We learn about how he knew right away that academia wasn’t for him, how he ended up unexpectedly working in forensics after his PhD, and how he eventually landed in his current Application Scientist role. Dave shares some great insights and advice, including how students should care less about their degree’s name and more about what techniques they’re learning and using in their studies.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guest, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.

This episode includes the following sound effects from freesound.org, licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0:

“Sax Jazz,” by alonart
“Balloon Pop / Christmas cracker / Confetti Cannon,” by Breviceps
“Crowd Cheering,” by SoundsExciting

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guest, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.

This episode includes the following sound effects from freesound.org, licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0:

“Sax Jazz,” by alonart
“Balloon Pop / Christmas cracker / Confetti Cannon,” by Breviceps
“Crowd Cheering,” by SoundsExciting

Previous Episode

Bioinformatics — the bridge to understanding biology

Bioinformatics is a relatively new field of science that is very interdisciplinary in nature. Its practitioners use a mixture of biology, chemistry, physics, statistics, and computer science to develop methods and software aimed at helping integrate and understand biological and other data.

Our guest for this episode is Nikhil Ram Mohan, Staff Scientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He describes bioinformatics as the bridge to understanding biology. We learn about his international studies and path that brought him to this current role and field of study, and then dive into some of his recent work. Here he and his team analyze biobank samples using digital PCR (dPCR) and quantitative PCR (qPCR) and compare results from the two while correlating results with additional data available for each sample to determine if SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection and quantification in blood can serve to help predict potential for patient coinfection. Their work found that dPCR was able to detect SARS-CoV-2 in samples that were negative when evaluated by qPCR and that a series of biomarkers can help predict coinfection.

We also get to hear a bit of Nikhil’s interesting personal story, which includes his undergraduate engineering studies in India and leaving his native country for the first time when he moved to the U.S. for graduate school. We learn how he managed changes in culture, what he loves about teaching, and about him being a new father.

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guest, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.

Next Episode

An introspective retrospective

It’s not every day that you discover a new podcast series you like, and it’s not every day that you start hosting a podcast series either! To bookend this inaugural season of Absolute Gene-ius, Jordan and Cassie interview each other to provide a retrospective look at the season and to learn more about each other and their respective career paths.

In their recap of the season, we revisit the diversity of applications that guests used digital PCR to progress, from monitoring wastewater for infectious diseases like SARS-CoV-2, to monitoring zebrafish populations to ensure research organizations around the world have reliable model organisms, to looking characterizing microbial diversity in some of the Earth’s most extreme environments. We also get to hear about each hosts’ favorite moments, biggest surprise, what they’re proud of, and what they love most about the series they’re helping build.

Jordan and Cassie also share a bit more about their individual career paths and journey within science. We learn how Jordan parlayed a childhood connection to a Claymation elf dentist into being a published author his career in marketing life science products. We learn how Cassie’s had several jobs that led to eye-opening experiences that eventually led to her finding a home in technical marketing and communication. Don’t miss this season 1 recap to get to know your hosts a bit better and to hear about what’s coming soon!

Visit the Absolute Gene-ius page to learn more about the guest, the hosts, and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio Absolute Q Digital PCR System.

This episode includes the following sound effects from freesound.org, licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0: