Introduction

The workshops aim to give participants a deep and objective understanding of real-time quantitative PCR for gene expression study. The workshop is intended for academic or industrial researchers considering mRNA expression analysis using DNA binding dye chemistries and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). The participants will experience RNA extraction from tumour and normal cell lines, converting RNA to cDNA, optimizing a qPCR reaction, assessing primers efficiency and determining the expression level of their genes of interest. Lectures will include an overview of gene expression, assay design and optimization, template preparation, analysis of results, additional applications of real-time PCR technology, and many more. Data analysis and simple statistical tests will be included. This workshop offers extensive hands-on training by experts in the field. Some previous experience using standard PCR or real-time PCR is helpful but not necessary for workshop attendees.