Using ebay to set up a molecular bio lab for less than $1k USD
Bryan Bishop
http://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2009/04/using_ebay_to_set_up_a_molecul.php
"""
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)
"""
Dan
last month or so, I've started to notice that sellers are starting to
put more and more equipment up on Buy-It-Now auctions for higher
prices. If one wants to get in on this, I would recommend starting
sooner than later.
Jake
going to be completely different for any sort of project you want to
do.
If you just want to do some classical genetics all you really need is
a bag of peas and some dirt. You can also study fruit flies pretty
cheap.
If you want to do some simple genetic engineering you'll need a
centrifuge, gel box, power supply, a micropipettor, an electroporator,
a fridge, and just a few other things. The reagents are going to be
the expensive part since you can get most of the equipment pretty
cheap at auctions and on ebay. Reagent costs are going to depend
completly on what you're trying to do.
Charlie (Molecularist)
This is an interesting way to get around the start-up costs of setting
up a lab.
But the real cost ends up being the consumables (media, tips,
reagents, etc). I recall in my lab days a quote of $1500/month/person
(albeit, a full time researcher). But it ain't cheap.
Also, keep in mind, some things once started, cannot be stopped and
hence have all the costs associated as a package.
Sigh.
I so envy folks working in electronics.
But I always think back how science was done way back when, with home-
made stuff and all. If you are willing to avoid kits, you can save a
lot of money on consumables. Also, in my first lab, we still had glass
micro-pipettes. If you can find them, they should be cheaper than
plastic, I suppose.
Where there's a will, there's a way. :-)
Tchau,
Charlie
On Apr 10, 9:28 pm, Bryan Bishop <kanz...@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/09/howto-set-up-a-molec.htmlhttp://scienceblogs.com/worldsfair/2009/04/using_ebay_to_set_up_a_mol...
> 1 512 203 0507
Bryan Bishop
<edu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> But the real cost ends up being the consumables (media, tips,
> reagents, etc). I recall in my lab days a quote of $1500/month/person
> (albeit, a full time researcher). But it ain't cheap.
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
Mackenzie Cowell
Bryan Bishop
> I happened to run into George Church a couple of days ago (at an event Jason
> Bobe arranged for the PGP with the author of the Experimental Man book) and
> I asked him about the recent news from his lab that they have gotten a
> cell-free ribosome to work. I asked when "protein synthesis in a box" would
> be available for the diybio community. George said they were going to have
> something kit-like in a year or so, *and* (it gets better) they are focusing
> on ways of designing the kit so it can be used to build more kits.
> Obviously they've been thinking along the same lines as Bryan for some
> time.
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?
Nathan McCorkle
Nathan McCorkle
Rochester Institute of Technology
College of Science, Biotechnology/Bioinformatics
Jake
that is news!
Otherwise you're right, it is old hat.
A kit that makes it's self AND produces your protein would pretty much
be a living system.