JBC Methods Madness

The Journal of Biological Chemistry is proud to the announce the fifth annual JBC Methods Madness.

Instead of basketball teams, this March we’ll be pitting influential techniques against one another in a three-week competition for JBC Methods glory. Sixteen prominent methods, eight classics and eight new challengers, spanning the scope of biological chemistry have been matched up and you get to decide which method will be crowned the tournament champion!

How to play

Fill out and submit your bracket by Feb. 25.

Vote for your favorite methods on these dates:

• Feb. 26–March 1: Scientific Sixteen (Round 1)
• March 4–8: Energetic Eight (Quarter Finals)
• March 11 & 13: Free Radical Four (Semifinals)
• March 18: #JBCMethodsMadness Championship
• March 20: Champion method and tournament winner announced

Congratulations to the 2024 JBC Methods Madness winners Paul Neilsen, Ha An Nguyen, Aaron Robitaille and Matt!

And the winning method, Mass Spectrometry!

Scoring

Selection process

Widely-used biochemical techniques were selected by ASBMB and JBC editorial staff with expertise in a range of scientific fields. All selected methods fall within the scope of the society’s journals. Upon selection, the list was split into two categories: “Classics” and “New Challengers”, representing established techniques (greater than 30 years old) and newer techniques (less than or equal to 30 years old). This list was then condensed to 16 total methods, eight in each category. Low performing methods were removed from last year’s list and new methods were added in their place.

Image credits

• FRET: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Proteolytic_cleavage_of_a_Dual-GFP_fusion_FRET-pair.png Author: Thomas Shafee, Wikimedia Commons
• CRYO-EM: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aquareovirus_5ZVT.png Author: Guest2625, Wikimedia Commons
• Live cell imaging: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3DISCO_imaging_of_mouse_brain.jpg Author: Fenerliabi11, Wikimedia Commons
• Immunoblotting: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anti-lipoic_acid_immunoblot.png Author: TimVickers, Wikimedia Commons
• Optogenetics: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Optogenetic-Control-of-PIP3-PIP3-Is-Sufficient-to-Induce-the-Actin-Based-Active-Part-of-Growth-pone.0070861.s006.ogv Movie S4 from Kakumoto T, Nakata T (2013). "Optogenetic Control of PIP3: PIP3 Is Sufficient to Induce the Actin-Based Active Part of Growth Cones and Is Regulated via Endocytosis". PLOS ONE. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0070861. PMC: 3737352
• PCR: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Blue_-_a_prototype_polymerase_chain_reaction_(PCR),_c_1986._(9663810586).jpg Science Museum London / Science and Society Picture Library
• Mass spec: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mass_Spectrometer_at_NIH_(24549823931).jpg NIH Image Gallery
• Crystallography: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/29281977366/ NIH Image Gallery, NIH History Office, National Institutes of Health
• Flow cytometry: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/49698651201/in/photolist-2iHGzwz NIH Image Gallery
• Protein prediction https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/chain-of-amino-acid-or-bio-molecules-called-protein-3d-illustration-gm1289877355-385423929 Author: Christoph Burgstedt
• Precision medicine https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/masked-pharmacist-gm1280979682-379142674 Author: FatCamera
• CRISPR: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/41124064215/in/photolist Ernesto del Aguila III, National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH
• Spatial transcriptomics: https://www.jbc.org/article/S0021-9258(23)02149-X/fulltext "Development of a versatile LCM-Seq method for spatial transcriptomics of fluorescently tagged cholinergic neuron populations" Éva Rumpler, Balázs Göcz, Katalin Skrapits, Miklós Sárvári, Szabolcs Takács, Imre Farkas, Szilárd Póliska, Márton Papp, Norbert Solymosi, Erik Hrabovszky. Journal of Biological Chemistry