Category Archives: Tips

Working From Home: An overview of primer design workflows in MacVector.

By Chris | Published: April 16, 2020

Working from home?. We want to help familiarize you with the wide range of functionality in MacVector that you may never have used before. Here’s an overview of workflows for designing, testing, documenting and storing primers. You may not have a PCR machine on the kitchen table, but why not take the time to store […]

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Working From Home: accessing video tutorials of common workflows inside MacVector

By Chris | Published: April 9, 2020

During the Covid-19 pandemic we want to ensure that you have access to the MacVector license that you would use in the lab, if you are working from home. If you use MacVector, even an older version, and are having trouble activating it (or installing it) at home email MacVector Support and we will help. If you […]

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Working from home – Getting your sequence into MacVector

By Chris | Published: April 2, 2020

During the Covid-19 pandemic we want to ensure that you have access to the MacVector license that you would use in the lab, if you are working from home. If you use MacVector, even an older version, and are having trouble activating it (or installing it) at home email MacVector Support and we will help. If you […]

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Working From Home – common workflows

By Chris | Published: April 2, 2020

During the Covid-19 pandemic we want to ensure that you have access to the MacVector license that you would use in the lab, especially if you are working from home. If you use MacVector, even an older version, and are having trouble activating it (or installing it) at home email MacVector Support and we will help. If […]

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Working From Home – Comparing sequences

By Chris | Published: April 2, 2020

During the Covid-19 pandemic we want to ensure that you have access to the MacVector license that you would use in the lab, especially if you are working from home. If you use MacVector, even an older version, and are having trouble activating it (or installing it) at home email MacVector Support and we will help. If […]

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101 things you (maybe) didn’t know about MacVector: #52 – Data mining to identify and analyze pangolin CoV-2 analogs to the human COVID-19 virus

By Kevin | Published: March 25, 2020

One of the most underrated features in MacVector is the Database | Align to Folder function. You can use this as a more sensitive version of a local BLAST search to find sequences in a “database” that match a query sequence. But in this case the “database” is simply a collection of your own sequences, […]

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Primer validation with MacVector: Primer3, Covid19 and primer design

By Chris | Published: March 16, 2020

The CDC recently published diagnostic real-time primers for identification of SARS-CoV–2 in any person suspected of having COVID–19. Unfortunately as pointed out on the Biome Informatics blog these primers have issues that should have easily been detected had the primers been tested using a good quality primer testing tool (the linked blog post uses Primer3). […]

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Importing BAM files into an Assembly Project

By Chris | Published: January 20, 2020

You can import BAM files, containing reads mapped against a reference sequence, into a MacVector Assembly Project. As well as the BAM file(s) you will also need the original reference sequence the reads were mapped against. FASTA is fine, but an annotated reference is better for visualisation. The tool needed is called ADD CONTIG. This […]

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Calculating the optimal PCR annealing temperature

By Chris | Published: January 10, 2020

MacVector has several tools to help with primer design and testing. The Analyze | Primer Design/Test (Pairs) function uses the popular Primer3 algorithm to find suitable pairs of primers to amplify specified segments of DNA. You can also enter pairs of pre-designed primers and test their suitability for use in PCR. In both cases, the […]

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How to copy a specific short amino acid translation of a sequence

By Chris | Published: December 6, 2019

There can be times when you are messing about with open reading frames, inserting residues to change frames to try to get the perfect CDS fusion. The MacVector single sequence Editor will show those (click and hold on the “Display” toolbar button) but if you select and copy, only the DNA sequence (with any overlapping […]

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