As a qPCR trainer, I often get the question why to worry about careful design and validation of dye-based assays when an easier alternative is available: TaqMan probes. This question results from the widespread believe that probe-based assays are superior in specificity to assays that rely on SYBR Green I chemistry for detection.

In this blog post, I want to nuance this point of view: dye-based assays are perfect for many real-time qPCR applications. When you understand the true advantages and disadvantages of probe-based assays, you can reduce the cost while keeping the quality of your qPCR experiments high. And, in the end, isn’t that what we all want?

Many scientists have a hate-love relationship with statistics. Personally, I didn’t like statistics (at all) during my masters degree education [1]. Too theoretical, didn’t see the utility of it. Only when I generated my first data during my PhD research, I started realizing the necessity and power of bio-statistics. Later, I almost really fell in love with statistics after reading Intuitive biostatistics by Harvey Motulsky. This excellent book is written by an author who graduated from medical school; this probably explains why it contains only the most pertinent formulas. I particularly appreciate the book as it really is intuitive; it almost reads like a novel, and you could read it in bed, next to the fireplace with a glass of your favorite wine, or even when you’re on holidays. If you always felt the need to sharpen your basic bio-statistics skills, then this book may be really something for you.