National Centre for Biotechnology Education

It’s that time of year again, when students make bacteria fluoresce! Bacterial transformations are a brilliant way to practise aseptic technique and explore how plasmids carry genes like antibiotic resistance. See our video for the best results: youtu.be/vli2ZJdhonw

You can now add a spare sub-culture slope when ordering our microbiology slope cultures! ✔️ Sub-culture immediately or after 2–3 months ✔️ Keep cultures viable for longer 🛒 Buy online or email ncbe@reading.ac.uk 👉 store.reading.ac.uk/product-catalo… #microbiology #schoolscience

MiSAC are a group promoting microbiology in schools. Every year we run a UK poster competition, with cash prizes for both the school and students. This year's competition is based on How Microbes Make Milk. For more information on how to apply go to: misac.org.uk/competition.ht…

🧪 It’s lactase season! Make practical prep easier with our ready-to-dilute lactase — high quality and just £21 for 100 ml. Don’t miss our immobilised lactase practical too! 🔗 ncbe.reading.ac.uk/lactase-%ce%b2…

🎉 Happy New Year from the NCBE! 🎉 We’re back open and ready for a busy term. From liquid enzymes, bacterial transformation kits, to cauliflower cloning, we’ve got you covered. 📧 ncbe@reading.ac.uk | 🛒 NCBE online store 🧬

🎄 Merry Christmas from everyone at the NCBE! We’d like to thank our fantastic community of teachers, technicians, students and researchers for your support throughout the year. We wish you a very happy festive season and a bright New Year ahead.

Bacterial snow globe?! ❄️ Or is it just us that sees snow when we look at this? Streptomyces griseus grows as a mycelium of branching filaments that tangle together to form small pellets in liquid culture - giving it a surprisingly snowy appearance! #Microbiology #Christmas

Celebrating 40 years of the NCBE! From its origins as the NCSB at the University of Reading to becoming a pioneering centre for school-level biotech education, the NCBE continues to support teachers and students worldwide. Here’s to 40 years of science education! #STEM

Last week our ambassadors visited @NewCollSwindon to run a practical with A-level students and talk about Food Science @UniRdg_FNS and careers in the food industry. A fantastic, engaged group, thanks for having us! We hope to see some of you again! #foodscience #nutrition

Teachers! 👩‍🏫🧪 Looking to bring some practical plant science into your lessons? Our new tutorial video on the NCBE Cauliflower Cloning Kit is now live! youtu.be/hancdyCwubk #plantscience #cloning

Our @UniRdg_FNS ambassadors visited @WrenSchool to chat with Food & Nutrition students about studying Food Science/Nutrition at uni. They shared career insights and student-life experiences. Great to meet such engaged students! #outreach #foodscience #NCBE

After a couple of weeks in kinetin-free media it’s finally moving day! Each cauliflower clone has been carefully potted into soil and returned to a bright windowsill to continue growing. A great hands-on demonstration of plant tissue culture and regeneration in action! 🌿 ☀️

Week 5 already! 🌱 Our cauliflower clones are now in fresh media without kinetin to help root growth before moving to soil in a few weeks. Carefully transferred and back on their sunny windowsill! ☀️ #CauliflowerCloning #PlantScience #STEMLearning #SAPS_News

The cauliflower clones are thriving! With plenty of lush leaves and fresh new shoots, one even looks like it’s sporting a wild new hairstyle! Exciting stuff! #CauliflowerCloning #PlantScience #ScienceEducation #STEMLearning #SAPS_News

Week 3: Our cauliflower clones are thriving! We can now see green leaves, new shoots & tiny florets, totipotency in action! Definitely starting to look like mini cauliflowers. Next we’ll move them to fresh medium (no kinetin) to encourage root growth. #PlantScience #SAPS_News

New video! Learn how to test enzyme activity using DNSA reagent & invertase. See how temperature affects reaction rate & denaturation! 🎥🔥 🎓 Great for A-level, undergrad & GCSE students. 📺 Watch here: youtu.be/PnhqFxXohB4 #Biology #Enzymes #Science #Alevel #GCSE #STEM

Week 2 update 🌱✨ Our cauliflower explants are showing some amazing progress! We’re starting to see fresh new leaves sprouting, and some clones are already noticeably bigger. Can’t wait to see how they continue to grow; stay tuned for more updates! #PlantScience #STEMLearning

It’s been 1 week since we kicked off our cauliflower cloning experiment using our NCBE kit! Last week, we placed our cauliflower explants into sterile media and now they’re starting to go green! 💚 hopefully that’s a good sign! Stay tuned for more updates #CauliflowerCloning

Ever wondered where the GFP plasmid in our NCBE transformation kit comes from? 🧬 We produce it ourselves using a DNA mega prep. We grow the bacteria, lyse the cells, purify the DNA. My favourite part? That fluorescent green pellet after using our huge centrifuge! #DNA #bacteria

Discover the kit: ncbe.reading.ac.uk/plant-tissue-c… #NCBE #CauliflowerCloning #PlantScience #STEMLearning #ScienceEducation

Cloning in action with the NCBE Plant Tissue Culture Kit! Today we kicked off some cauliflower cloning using our NCBE kit — a hands-on way to explore real-world plant biotechnology in the classroom or lab. Follow along as we track our clones’ progress over the next few weeks!