How to start with DIY bio?

[Oliver Hankeln]

Hi,

I would like to setup a small lab to do some beginner's work.

Currently I have no biological equipment, but I am able to work on
electronics and I work as a software developer. 

I think it is probably best to grow the lab in several phases. First I'd
like to concentrate phase I but to keep all alter phases in mind, but
only to use them when I have to decide which of several paths to follow.

Phase I 

I'd like to be able to perform PCR and do some genetic
fingerprinting/barcoding for plants and animals.

Phase II 

I'd like to create my own GMO bacteria - probably starting with adding
luciferase or something similar (as I understand the luciferase gene is
patented)  to E.coli

Phase III 

GMO with plants

Phase IV

Work on c.elegans



I am grateful for all feedback for all phases, but would really like to
concentrate on phase I for now.

I am located near Munich in Germany. I would be happy to take part in
any courses that are open to non-students - but I don't know of any. The
"Deutsches Museum" in Munich has a visitor's lab - I've done a PCR
experiment there, but this is a 2 hour experiment and no followup is
planned nor are deviations from the standard protocol possible.
Also I'd be happy to join some kind of community lab, but again - I
don't know any.

All pointers are welcome.

If there really is no place for me to work on these kinds of projects I
would look into how to set this up myself on a budget.

The first steps would be to build a thermocycler and a electrophoresis
box. I'd probably buy a pipette (which size should I choose?) and a
centrifuge - I have a lot of respect of fast-spinning-stuff and would
not risk building something like this on my own.

For the thermocycler I am not sure how fast is has to be able to heat up
and cool. Especially cooling might make this more expensive, If I have
to cool faster than a normal fan would do. Obviously the cycle time gets
longer if the cooling is not as efficient, but are there any other
adverse effects, if I cool more slowly?
Also how exact do these temperatures have to be?

Apart from these questions, I expect I'd be able to handle the equipment
part on my own.

But where can I source the chemicals? What kind of dye should I use (I'd
prefer non-carcinogenic)?

I hope you can help and give me some pointers!

Thanks in advance
Oliver

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

Hi, if you wanna do real wetwarr work don't mess around. There are gelboxes available at 200$ (or cheaper on ebay)
abd thermocyclers.

Or buy pVIB from Carolina biotech and do a transformation... is there a university around where to rent some lab space?

[Mega [Andreas Stuermer]]

You will need 2 pipettors. One for 1-10 uL and 100uL

SybrGreen is a nice DNA dye, still try not to get skin contacr. Everything that colours DNA is nutagenic no matter what ads say. Just gets into cells slower than Ethidium bromide

[Cathal (Phone)]

Eh, it's not even clear that Ethidium bromide is carcinogenic outside the Ames Test (which is a terrible, terrible way to decide if something's mutagenic in people btw)..

On 9 April 2015 15:30:24 GMT+01:00, "Mega [Andreas Stuermer]" <masters...@gmail.com> wrote:

You will need 2 pipettors. One for 1-10 uL and 100uL

SybrGreen is a nice DNA dye, still try not to get skin contacr. Everything that colours DNA is nutagenic no matter what ads say. Just gets into cells slower than Ethidium bromide

--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

[Cathal (Phone)]

To qualify that a bit, circumin in turmeric also binds DNA and has even been (painstakingly) used as an intercalating DNA dye in at least one paper. Far from being carcinogenic/mutagenic, it appears to be anti-cancer and possibly also anti-depressive, nootropic, and perhaps longevity-promoting.

There's a reason I take a pill containing a DNA intercalating dye every day.. ;)

On 9 April 2015 15:30:24 GMT+01:00, "Mega [Andreas Stuermer]" <masters...@gmail.com> wrote:

You will need 2 pipettors. One for 1-10 uL and 100uL

SybrGreen is a nice DNA dye, still try not to get skin contacr. Everything that colours DNA is nutagenic no matter what ads say. Just gets into cells slower than Ethidium bromide

[Otto Heringer]

I have a similar plan for wetlab work on my hackerspace. After standarizing basic biomol techniches we're going to play with bioreactors instead going ahead with plants or more complex stuff (I heard that work with plants is no trivial).
Are you going to make your own equipment!?

Cheers,
Otto

--
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups DIYbio group. To post to this group, send email to diy...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to diybio+un...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/diybio?hl=en
Learn more at www.diybio.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DIYbio" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to diybio+un...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to diy...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/diybio.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/diybio/776D4E45-A056-447E-AC27-3ABF4EC98168%40cathalgarvey.me.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Josiah Zayner]

I run a company that sells lots of chemicals for biohacking and soon to be equipment.
http://www.the-odin.com
Please feel free to email me if you need help or have any questions.

[Benjamin Ölke]

Hey Oliver, 

I am also located in Munich and I basically just started planning to do something similiar. I know a place where we could set up shop. What do you think about joining forces ? Im a bioinformatician by the way 

[Pieter]

All the devices we built during the BioHack Academy are published under CC license:
http://biohackacademy.github.io/
Taking the basic microbiology experiments as a starting point, you can build up a standard set of chemicals that you would most likely need:
http://biohackacademy.github.io/biofactory/class/1-incubator/microbiology-materials/

As you are already skilled in electronics, you should have no difficulty in building the incubators, pumps, controllers, centrifuges and spectrometers you need. Centrifuges might look scary at first, but you'll get used to that after a while. Just trust in your own hacking skills: http://biohackacademy.github.io/biofactory/class/5-centrifuge/

We have C. elegans in the lab for longevity studies. You can come and pick up a colony any time you are near Amsterdam. Or just ask researchers at an institute nearby, they are mostly generous people.

PCR can be done on a 3 hotplates with pots of water. Just move the tubes around. You don't necessarily need a machine for that. Depending on what exactly you are trying to PCR of course.

[Benjamin Ölke]

nice thx

[Kabalen]

Hi you have to get a certain number of Biology professors in your area to support your lab.

[Maori Saint Mary]

Hey OLi,
I'm Molmed in Regensburg we should use the power of synergistcs...