"""
I'm doing a bit of research for book chapter, and one of the things I
was looking into, was how much exactly would it take for a layman to
set up a functional molecular biology lab. With respect to this query,
there are a few things to keep in mind:
1. Most molecular biology research is driven by the use of plastic
ware, and various biological reagents. These are the sorts of things
that need to bought fresh or brand new. Fortunately, most of it is
also quite affordable from a layman point of view, and as previously
demonstrated, you can easily purchase this stuff if you happen to have
a credit card.
2. There are a number of pieces of equipment that require routine use.
Although some, like a weigh balance and fridge are pretty cheap to buy
new, most other types of equipment would begin to seriously add up.
This arguably makes the endeavor of setting up a lab simply out of
reach for layman sensibilities. For example, the sort of stuff you'll
probably need include.
Microcentrifuge - about $1500+
Pippetors - various volumes (new would cost about $300+ each)
Gel Box - about $500+
Powerpack - about $500+
Heating apparatus (dry heat) - about $600+
Incubator (ambient and up for e.coli work) - depending on size, at least $2000+
Transilluminator - about $700+
PCR machine - at least $2000 for a crappy one. Most reliable brands
start at around $4000+
Unless, of course, you use eBay to do your shopping...
Now note that these are eBay results for today, does not include
shipping fees, and as well, I tried to get the cheapest available that
still looked functional and comparible to equipment used in a proper
lab set-up (i.e. I know you can MacGyver certain things to work if you
buy something that is considerably cheaper, but I decided to go with
equipment that best mimicked what you would actually use)
"""
Yes, consumables are the real pain. I would be interested in hearing
about any clever purification techniques that you can offer us. To my
knowledge, the way that Dow Chemical and Sigma Aldrich manage their
specialty chemical lines is that they are hooked up as byproducts on
various industrial processes elsewhere, so they get their chemicals
sometimes as "riders"; others, such as some of the biological supply
companies, grow cultures that produce various substances, while others
manufacture pharmaceuticals in bulk/batch-runs. If there are organisms
that could be cultured and then some proteins purified, that would be
worth hearing about.
- Bryan
That's certainly interesting, but I thought we already had cell-free
protein transcription and cell-free protein fabrication? Isn't this
what in vitro protein translation is about?