X-gal. He trained hundreds of researchers around the world in his sterile techniques and introduced the world to cautious studies. Although Gey was not given the chance to publish papers on his research or create patents before his untimely death, he left a legacy of understanding cancer, and began the foundation from which cancer research and cell culture has grown from. Awards and honors. In 1954, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center selected Gey to receive the Katherine Burken Judd Award for his contributions to cancer research. He won the Wien Award for Cancer Cytology in 1956. George Otto Gey George 	George Otto Gey
24003217	X-gal X-gal X-gal (also abbreviated BCIG for 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β--galactopyranoside) is an organic compound consisting of galactose linked to a substituted indole. The compound was synthesized by Jerome Horwitz and collaborators in 1964. The formal chemical name is often shortened to less accurate but also less cumbersome phrases such as bromochloroindoxyl galactoside. The X from indoxyl may be the source of the X in the X-gal contraction. X-gal is often used in molecular biology to test for the presence of an enzyme, β-galactosidase, in the place of its usual target, a β-galactoside	X-gal
24003218	. It is also used to detect activity of this enzyme in histochemistry and bacteriology. X-gal is one of many indoxyl glycosides and esters that yield insoluble blue compounds similar to indigo dye as a result of enzyme-catalyzed hydrolysis. Uses. X-gal is an analog of lactose, and therefore may be hydrolyzed by the β-galactosidase enzyme which cleaves the β-glycosidic bond in -lactose. X-gal, when cleaved by β-galactosidase, yields galactose and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-hydroxyindole - 1. The latter then spontaneously dimerizes and is oxidized into 5,5'-dibromo-4,4'-dichloro-indigo - 2, an intensely blue product which is insoluble	X-gal
24003219	. X-gal itself is colorless, so the presence of blue-colored product may therefore be used as a test for the presence of active β-galactosidase. This also allows for bacterial β-galactosidase (so called lacZ ") to be used as a reporter in various applications. Cloning. In gene cloning, X-gal is used as a visual indication of whether a cell expresses a functional β-galactosidase enzyme in a technique called blue/white screening. This method of screening is a convenient way of distinguishing a successful cloning product from other unsuccessful ones. The blue/white screening method relies on the  principle of α-complementation of the β-galactosidase gene, where a fragment of the lacZ gene (lacZα) in the plasmid can complement another mutant lacZ gene (lacZΔM15) in the cell. Both genes by themselves produce non-functional peptides, however, when expressed together, as when a plasmid containing "lacZα" is transformed into a "lacZΔM15" cells, they form a functional β-galactosidase. The presence of an active β-galactosidase may be detected when cells are grown in plates containing X-gal, the blue-colored product precipitated within cells resulted in the characteristic blue colonies. However, the multiple cloning site, where a gene  of interest may be ligated into the plasmid vector, is located within the "lacZα" gene. Successful ligation therefore disrupts the "lacZα" gene, α-complementation is therefore also disrupted and no functional β-galactosidase can form, resulting in white colonies. Cells containing successfully ligated insert can then be easily identified by its white coloration from the unsuccessful blue ones. Example of cloning vectors used for this test are pUC19, pBluescript, pGem-T Vectors, and it also requires the use of specific "E. coli" host strains such as DH5α which carries the mutant "lacZΔM15" gene. Often, the plate containing X-Gal also  contain the IPTG (isopropyl β--1-thiogalactopyranoside). IPTG is a chemical structure analogue of lactose. However, IPTG cannot be hydrolyzed by β-galactosidase. IPTG is used as an inducer that binds to lac repressor releasing the DNA and allowing transcription. The presence of IPTG in the agar plate therefore increases the synthesis of β-galactosidase. Variants. X-gal has a number of variants, which are similar molecules with slight differences serving mainly to produce colors other than blue as a signal. Protein-protein interactions. In two-hybrid analysis, β-galactosidase may be used as a reporter to identify proteins that  interact with each other. In this method, genome libraries may be screened for protein interaction using yeast or bacterial system. Where there is a successful interaction between proteins being screened, it will result to the binding of an activation domain to a promoter. If the promoter is linked to a "lacZ" gene, the production of β-galactosidase, which results in the formation of blue-pigmented colonies in the presence of X-gal, will therefore indicate a successful interaction between proteins. This technique may be limited to screening libraries of size of less than around 10. The successful cleavage of X -gal also creates a noticeably foul odor due to the volatilization of indole. X-gal X-gal (also abbreviated BCIG for 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β--galactopyranoside) is an organic compound consisting of galactose linked to a substituted indole. The compound was synthesized by Jerome Horwitz and collaborators in 1964. The formal chemical name is often shortened to less accurate but also less cumbersome phrases such as bromochloroindoxyl galactoside. The X from indoxyl may be the source of the X in the X-gal contraction. X-gal is often used in molecular biology to test for the presence of an