Monthly Archives: December 2009

5% Irish Cream

Hah! It looks like there’s a protocol for DNA hybridization in blots using 5% Irish cream liquor! I kid you not. Here’s a sample quote from the methods of Yamamoto et al. 1993:

Hybridization was carried out overnight at 65°C in a solution containing 6 × SSC, 5% Irish cream liqueur (Original Irish Cream, R & A Bailey’s), 20 mM Na2HPO4, 20 μg/ml heat-denatured salmon sperm DNA, and 2 μCi/ml of the 32P-labelled probe.

The original source appears to be Elbrecht, A. 1987, “Lab Hints: Irish Cream Liqueur as a Blocking Agent for DNA Dot Blots.” BM Biochemica, 4:12-13. BM = Boehringer Mannheim, it appears to be a newsletter. It’s too obscure for my cursory searching to turn up a copy of the original, I wonder what the motivation was! Maybe this way you can order liquor using grant money? This idea has a lot of potential…!