The Protein We Couldn't Find

What happens when an experiment doesn't work?

Science isn't always about getting the result you expect. In our project, we needed to detect a protein called MD2, which works together with TLR4 and CD14 in recognizing certain bacterial molecules. Even though other parts of our experiment appeared to work, MD2 repeatedly failed to show up clearly on our Western blots.

We tried different antibodies and conditions and even looked for MD2 in the cell culture media because the protein can be secreted. Still, we couldn't get a strong, reliable signal. While that might sound like a failure, unexpected results are a normal part of research. Our next step was to use qPCR to check whether the cells are producing MD2 RNA, which could help us figure out where the problem is occurring.