Lutetium-
Hack Chat Transcript, Part 3
02/21/2019 at 16:47 • 0 comments![]()
Hi everyone! I came late.. Did you talk about baterio-algae fuel cells!? I was just researching about these for CO2 sequestration and power generation! This paper was pretty cool (it's on scihub) https://sci-hub.tw/10.1016/j.rser.2017.01.115![]()
*bacterio![]()
ooh that sounds interesting re. radiation resistant microbes![]()
Fuel cells are cool. I did some experimenting with them but gave up when a chance to do mammalian genetics came up. Still have all the materials so maybe I'll come back to it.![]()
I've been trying o isolate R. palustris which is one of the best microbes for fuel cells but it's proven challenging. Buggers just wont seem to grow. Trying to just get a pure culture from someone in the meean time![]()
Also they're the most versatile organism ever described. They eat the most toxic garbage we 've made as a species, excrete electrons, and are photosynthetic. Also they fix nitrogen. And are rich in vitamins so feeding them to fish or other wildlife is good for them. And innoculating soil with them makes plants grow better![]()
I thought so! Hopefully I will have a go at making one! Phew I just looked up buying R. palustris culture - it is like £360! Even the algae is expensive!![]()
@Thomas Shaddack I'm curious about FEP and PTFE now, I do see one claim that there is a PTFE printer. I guess the parts should be printed/made within a flow hood. With appropriate filtering of the exhaust. Next time you hear about a mass bird death you should suspect a chemist venting a ton of fluorocarbons to the atmosphere (only source I have is a BBC documentary on Teflon manufacture pollution ).![]()
look up EM-1 probiotic. It's a mixed culture that contains it. people have had success isolating it from that mix which is what Im tryng to do![]()
@Andrew Smart i was thinking about fluoropolymer coating using a plasma reactor, with the gas feed being thermally depolymerized ptfe.![]()
ah ok thanks! Will do!![]()
is that the manufacturer of teflon that produces toxic stuff? i didn't know that![]()
@Andrew Smart with vacuum pyrolysis you won't get as annoying products as in air.![]()
@anfractuosity in european union and california pretty much everything is toxic. those places are dangerous to live in.![]()
i'm genuinely confused, as teflon itself is very unreactive i thought![]()
@anfractuosity even soldering alloys cause cancer in california. stay away from there!![]()
@anfractuosity teflon is unreactive at sanely low temperatures. above 270c it starts decomposing.![]()
its the binder that they use to stick teflon to stuff that's toxic. so in cheap products they haven't baked it off sufficently and when you first use the items you're expsoed. SO baking teflon coated items for a while in a well ventilated area can help drive that crap off, but not so hot that it decomposes![]()
@anfractuosity (for here let's consider teflon===ptfe, sometimes you get other fluorocrap with the same trademark.)![]()
@thethoughtemporium what would you suggest for converting lubricant-grade teflon powder to a coating-grade teflon suspension?![]()
no idea. Haven't worked with teflon enough to say![]()
@thethoughtemporium could your ultrasonic homogenizer work for deaggregation of nanoparticles?![]()
"Fluoroantimonic acid thermally decomposes at higher temperatures, generating free hydrogen fluoride gas. It is exceptionally corrosive and can only be stored in containers lined with Teflon." that's pretty interesting![]()
hexafluorophosphate/hexafluoroantimonate salts are interesting. organic ones (iodonium, sulfonium..) are used as photoacid generators as they release these.![]()
probably![]()
handy for photopolymerization of epoxides.![]()
I used it to lyse ecoli for the first time 2 days ago. works like a charm![]()
thought about magnetostriction design, a kilowatt-scale transducer, a knockoff of world-war 2 japanese sonar.![]()
gets pretty damn warm though. Next time I'm keeping a bucket of ice water next to me so I can chill it between runs![]()
what about fan blowing air over the thing?![]()
not enough surface area for the amount of heat being generated to be removed effciently![]()
machine ribs on it?![]()
and I can''t care fins into it without screwing with the resonance![]()
*carve![]()
yes. mk.2 design then?![]()
honestly at this point I'd buy one if I need a stronger one. It's too hard to find higher power transducers![]()
that's why i was looking at the magnetostriction.![]()
and then someone else has already done the math![]()
a bunch of nickel tubes is easier to braze together than to hunt for a chunk of piezoceramics.![]()
i'll be honest until this second i had no idea magnetostrictiv ultrasound was a thing![]()
looking into it now![]()
ww2 japan used nickel first, iron-aluminium alloy later when nickel became hard to find.![]()
now we have more modern alloys, so either said nickel or galfenol. (there are better ones but galfenol looks doable with even a small furnace.)![]()
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galfenol
Galfenol - Wikipedia
In materials science, galfenol is the general term for an alloy of iron and gallium. The name was first given to iron-gallium alloys by United States Navy researchers in 1998 when they discovered that adding gallium to iron could amplify iron's magnetostrictive effect up to tenfold.
![]()
so is it literally just a stack of nickle plates with a coil around it??![]()
that's... like way too easy![]()
in principle yes. there will be a whole small portable hell on wheels in the details, chock-full of devils, and each of the devils carrying a bandolier with cans of worms.![]()
fair. I need to find a good resource for this.![]()
I totally just realized that these are in everything. And how a lot of sensors are made. Can't believe I hadn't heard of this![]()
happens!![]()
they dont seem overly efficent. I wonder if you can just stack the piezos to increase power![]()
Or you could just whistle https://oscillator2.wordpress.com/tag/ultrasonic-whistle/![]()
intriguing![]()
i saw a paper where they used ultrasonic cavitation in brewing, to pulverise the mash![]()
that makes sense![]()
My head hurts just thinking about the amount of ultrasonic energy you'd need to do that.![]()
I've been wanting to try to do that with meat in sauce, or vodka in wood casks![]()
not for beer though, right? you exactly don't want a pulverized mash![]()
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.06629.pdf
![]()
that's the paper![]()
it was for beer![]()
odd, and funny title as the reason you dno't want to pulverize usually is because it causes the wort to be cloudy![]()
oh it says hydrodynamic cavitation, just checking if it was ultrasound transducers![]()
lol ok so a blender XD![]()
sorry yeah, it seems to use the pump to do the cavitation, wasn't how i thought it worked![]()
ah![]()
I want to toss a lamb shoulder into an ultrasonic cleaner full of sauce![]()
heh![]()
you've heard of sous vide i assume![]()
yeah![]()
this would be more like marinading, I assume![]()
marinating![]()
but like, instantly![]()
the ultrasound would cook it you mean eventually?![]()
instead of over a day or several![]()
no, no cooking - just all of the micro cavities filling up![]()
ohh![]()
interesting![]()
is that a done thing?![]()
never heard of it![]()
vacuum impregnation.![]()
I'd guess you could do the same thing with vodka and charred wood - basically making a whiskey-ish thing really quickly instead of aging for years![]()
all of that is theory, but easily testable![]()
I will do it, some day![]()
i'm curious about artificial aging too, i think microoxygenation would be important for that too![]()
@OnlyOneCannolo Here is a DIY rotovap: I expect there are many other instrumentation cost-lowering approaches with the presented Chemputer system (e.g. a means to control a dial of an off-the-shelf hotplate?). I hope this would lower the cost of entry for new generic drug manufacturers, allow countries with drug shortage problems to produce drugs, etc... Many possibilities.![]()
I'm actually making a rotovap! Been meaning to turn the vacuum coupling on the lathe for the last week or so. Hoping to get around to it early next week.![]()
It's pretty easy to make one if you've got a lathe. Depending on how it goes I'm contemplating selling the vacuum coupling as that's the hardest part![]()
may make a small run of them![]()
I'd wanted a metal lathe for years so when the lab finally got one I've been finding any excuse to use it. That's why I made the electroporator out of delrin instead of 3d printing it. Bought a rod of teflon for the couplings and gonna cut them to fit a 24/40 glass fitting![]()
I love using the lathe at my hackspace![]()
I wish I had more projects that needed it![]()
sometimes I make pens![]()
I'm finally going to get trained on ours at work, hopefully Friday![]()
ok ya'll this has been fun but I've got to head out. Thanks for dropping in to chat! -
Hack Chat Transcript, Part 2
02/21/2019 at 16:42 • 0 comments![]()
you can already use lots of plants for that. it just won't be quite so magically effective![]()
true![]()
Come spring I'm planning on filling the space I work in with plants and air filters![]()
And putting algae growing tubing over the windows![]()
Looks like the DIY biodiesel crowd is big into making their own centrifuges to spin down waste frying oil. Found one video where they cast a big continuous flow rotor from aluminum alloy wheels and machined it into shape.![]()
there's a genemodded germ that acts as immunization against tooth decay. modded streptococcus mutans. not on the market due to some paperwork/lawyer wrangling. any chance of getting it done by alternative channels if the sequences can be found in literature?![]()
I have some in my fridge XD![]()
Been tinkering with it in the background![]()
I'd definitely be interesting in the algae growing tubes![]()
I also have the same plasmid that the crispr baby guy used basically![]()
...ugh!!!![]()
(droooool)![]()
I mean it's a pretty crappy plasmid as these things go, but it's funny to have![]()
The other fun one I can think of is one we're testing to see if it'll make plants grow faster.![]()
what about making the plants more tolerant to drought or saltwater or other stressors?![]()
Very doable, sometimes it's onyl 1 gene you need to kick, but it depends one the stressor![]()
another thought.very simple. modded fish that has melanine gene expressing in bones.![]()
The thing is we have the tech to do all kinds of weird stuff to plants to make them super tough and more nutritous and such, but it freaks people out so we don't do it. It's one of those things where you could make apples that taste like lemons and are rich in vitamin A, but that'd be too weird for people to handle![]()
making the bloody bones more visible.![]()
screw the people!![]()
@OnlyOneCannolo I suppose one opportunity would be microwave assisted digestion vessels, they're pricey.I can see a technique to digest samples in a household microwave (instead of a $$$ lab microwave) using a thicker PFTE vessel: https://www.nature.com/articles/srep37186
But I suppose there may be other uses for "microwave-assisted liquefaction": https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acssuschemeng.6b02447
![]()
@thethoughtemporium - Do you find that access to current literature is hampered by paywalls on journal sites? Any tips for getting around them?![]()
we don't need the people's opinions. we need enough underground labs to just get the things done.![]()
re papers, sci-hub does the trick.![]()
#OnlyOneCannolo More DIY instrument ideas: http://www.sciencemadness.org/talk/viewthread.php?tid=83552There is also the recently released Chemputer (open-source), the syringe pumps and 6-way valves are all DIY 3D printed (PFTE filament for chemical contact parts). Seriously an outstanding marvel, but I expect there would be hardware-hacking utility to bring part costs down (computer controllable rotovap & hotplate). Author estimates total cost is $10k, and idea is to use inexpensive off the shelf parts as much as possible:
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/suppl/2018/11/28/science.aav2211.DC1
https://github.com/croningp/ChemputerSoftware
![]()
*cough* sci-hub.tw *cough*![]()
Sci-Hub: устраняя преграды на пути распространения знаний
Первый в мире пиратский ресурс, который открыл массовый доступ к десяткам миллионов научных статей
![]()
;-)![]()
...that one.![]()
what paywalls XD![]()
i am just now assigned to some r&d on 3d-printing uv resins. may be suitable for lab parts, as the material is crosslinked and more resistant chemically, and there's more accuracy and better ways to control the material properties as you can just mix liquids instead of bothering with precision extrusion of filaments.![]()
and i saw a paper about curcumin working as a biocompatible photoinitiator or photosensitizer.![]()
I don't even feel bad because the scientists aren't even getting paid. Most of the time if you just email a researcher they'd give you a copy of the paper anyway as is their right. So why waste their time?![]()
@thethoughtemporium and they can get cited and that improves their standing, too.![]()
exactly![]()
@OnlyOneCannolo Oops forgot links to the Chemputer paper: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-chemputer-app-controlled-revolution-drug-production.htmlhttp://science.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aav2211
![]()
the chemputer-like thingy could be very handy for peptide or dna sequence synthesis.![]()
Ya microfludics is amazing. Some local researchers I know study it and do all kinds of weird lab on a chip stuff. If I ever get an SLA printer I plan on playing around with it. I really want to do complex 3d bioprinting and a microfludic nozel for smoothly adjusting the extruded polymer composition on the fly would be amazing.![]()
YESSSS!![]()
i am aiming in that direction with my materials. the guys want to target to model kit makers, but i am tacking on some of my own thoughts into the pipeline.![]()
@thethoughtemporium - About how many square feet (or square meters, if you prefer) would you say your lab occupies? I've only got about 60 sqaure feet to work with, wondering what I can accomplish with it.![]()
sla printers are going down FAST with price. i just now have anycubic photon here.![]()
The bio part of the lab is about 7'X12'![]()
@Andrew Smart I hadn't heard of most of those things before - very cool. $10k is definitely beyond most DIY budgets, so there's definitely opportunity for improvement there.![]()
@Andrew Smart and thank you for the links. I'll check them out after work :-)![]()
I mean I used to be in the fusion community and 10k is about what people would end up spending on their reactors and detection and shielding setups. Bio isn't much cheaper. The mammalian lab I collaberate with cost about 100k to setup, but that's small potatos compared to a university budget![]()
i am going to experiment with silicone composite, sol-gel silicone from methyltrimethoxysilane with hex boron nitride, for nonstick printer nozzle coatings. polycarbonate is a PITA to print otherwise.![]()
Oops I meant PTFE filimant, not "PFTE".![]()
Haha I figured - it was close enough![]()
@Andrew Smart it will be FEP or so. PTFE won't melt before decomposing.![]()
what about sol-gel glass or ceramics surfaces for inert layers on the printed devices?![]()
So we're getting up to 1:00 here in PST-land, which means our official time is about up. But I don't want to disrupt the conversation, so feel free to stay online and chat for as long as @thethoughtemporium wants to stick around.![]()
Today is video editing day for me so I'm happy to keep this tab open for a while if anymore has any more questions![]()
@thethoughtemporium feel free to mail me or pm me or whatever to discuss materials/polymers/crazy things.![]()
@thethoughtemporium anytime.![]()
I just want to say thanks to Justin for hosting this chat, and for fielding all our questions. I really enjoyed this one, and I feel like I'm going to be looking for space to build out a lab at home...![]()
@Thomas Shaddack Oh, thanks. I assumed it was 3D printed just like FEP. Teflon is nasty stuff.![]()
@Andrew Smart teflon is NEAT. but has its limitations.![]()
And don't forget that next week we'll be talking about X-Rays and High-Voltage experiments with Fran Piernas - https://hackaday.io/event/163583-x-rays-and-high-voltage-hack-chat![]()
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For those curious, this is a still from this weeks video. I spent the last couple days extracting red fluorescent protein from some bacteria to try and use in a glowstick![]()
Neat!![]()
@Dan Maloney Thanks for having me, this was fun :)![]()
polymethylsilsesquioxane - another material of interest. from said methyltrimethoxysilane, can withstand up to 500'c without decomposition. teflon, eat your heart out!![]()
The bioreactor I built and grew the bacteria in![]()
![]()
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i love that!![]()
http://shaddack.mauriceward.com/glovebox-final.jpg
![]()
this is a glovebox that won me a bet i can build one for $50 or less.![]()
note the airlock from two silicone-sealed food storage boxes.![]()
awesome![]()
newer versions hsould have glove ports 3d-printed.![]()
PDF for that?![]()
Been thinking that in about a year I'm gonna double the size of my lab so I can do mammalian and plant work. Looking forward to a nice flow hood.![]()
would make the design to easil scale from a big train of ones to a little box with one glove.![]()
@tocatrooper pdf for what?![]()
For a 3D printed glove box but I guess I’m being to ambitious![]()
@tocatrooper no pdf yet. the photo is of a manually assembled unit. glove ports aren't properly designed yet, but a suitably big kossel xl printer was acquired exactly with that purpose in mind.![]()
Understandable brilliant engineering on both your guys part not just the glove box but the bioreactor too![]()
Thanks!![]()
indeed, it's pretty!![]()
For anyone interested, my channel is: https://www.youtube.com/c/thethoughtemporiumGot lots more like the bioreactor and electroporator there
![]()
thanks for chatting, Justin![]()
So one more thing any recommendations on where to find individuals like yourself I mean on any platform I’m definitely gonna watch all the thought emporium videos on YouTube![]()
youtube. here goes my life!![]()
There's a couple large group on facebook (biohackin and design, biohack.me, diybio and others) and a bunch of good channels on youtube. But right now there isn't a good centralized hub to find people as everyone is spread out and in their own little bubbles. Some good ones are: David Ishee (youtube), Sebastian Cocioba (atinygreencell on instagram), Gabriel Licina and scihouse.space,![]()
once you get into those groups you'll see people posting about their various spaces and projects. There's labs all over the place so there's lots of content. Also Igem teams often make great content to show off their work![]()
Have you ever looked at synthesizers out of interest, sometimes they seem to turn up on ebay from what i heard, but it sounds like thre chemicals are very very expensive?![]()
ya a few times. The chemicals actually aren't that bad. But the machines are suuuuuper finicky. Things like air humidiity can have a huge effect on performance. So it can be iffy to get them working well. But they're useful if you've got them.![]()
ah yeah the chemicals expire fast don't they?![]()
cool, you've used them, what did you make with one?![]()
would a glovebox around the machine, with temp/humi control inside, work? or put the mchine into a larger cigar humidor?![]()
Never use don personally. One of my professors was one of the world leaders in apatamers and would remind us how awful it was to use the thing any time we asked to. SO we'd just order the DNA instead. It's cheap and fast and hassle free.![]()
*used one![]()
gotcha![]()
like: why would you ever etch your own PCB? ;)![]()
heh![]()
https://nanoporetech.com/products/minion that looked interesting![]()
the guy I mentioned, sebastian, uses those to sequence and publish new genomes. he's currently working on sequencing one of the most radiation resistant microbesHack Chat Transcript, Part 1 02/13/2019 at 21:08 • 0 comments
Is this the place for DIY biology chat?
![]()
yup![]()
yes welcome!![]()
speaking of diy bio, How to?![]()
@Chuck.untulis indeed it is. We'll get started in just a minute.![]()
Actually, it's noon, so let's get to it. Welcome to the Hack Chat! I'm really excited to have Justin Atkin here today...![]()
Hi Everyone!![]()
He'll be under @thethoughtemporium handle for the chat, please welcome him and start asking questions about DIY biology![]()
ohhh pst is 3 hours off est no wonder it didn't start a couple hours ago![]()
Time zones - getcha every time![]()
hullo!![]()
hi there!![]()
I don't use timezones![]()
they're just not that useful, to me![]()
@thethoughtemporium - Maybe you can kick us off with a little bit about yourself, and how you got interested in DIY bio![]()
Hey, I am in Ontario and was wondering where you get your perishables?![]()
Best machines/tools for a start up lab? Cost? Best place?![]()
Ok will do! my background is pretty odd. Been experimenting in a home lab since I was in highschool. My current goal is to not only do fun and exciting research in a variety of fields, but to show that science can be done anywhere on any budget![]()
I've always been interested in bio because of the immense potential it holds. Bio is essentially the best way of converting one sort of matter into another so you can kind of do anything with it if you're clever and have enough time to mess with it.![]()
Hi Justin I to have been working in a home lab for quite awhile.![]()
It's everything I love about physics and chemistry, but applied at the smallest and largest scales at once.![]()
The funny thing about biology is that for every "rule" there are a dozen exceptions. I always found that to drive the chemists and physicists crazy - they couldn't deal with the exceptions![]()
@lawrence_vpi I get my perishables from a variety of sources. And it really depends how perishable the item in question is. Most stuff I get on ebay and amazon honestly. It's crazy how much stuff is available. Anything specialty I have to get from the larger supply companies. If you set up a company and have a non residential address, you can order from them without issue.![]()
so, we're talking petry dish biology here?![]()
Really? Suppliers balk at residential addresses?![]()
@Jan Yes and no. Bio is interesting because most of it is moving small volumes of liquid around. But then you take that tiny starter and it can grow to kilometers wide depending on what the thing is. In my case I'm modifying yeast because then I can grow them in massive tanks to produce stuff![]()
Best diy molecular biology communities? Support/resources![]()
I mean, I can see ordering radioisotopes as a problem, but enzymes and reagents?![]()
why not lactobacilli?![]()
In your experience, what are the most cost-prohibitive aspects of diy bio that could benefit from more accessible equipment and tooling?![]()
ah, I can relate! baking with a sourdough starter which I feed at least once a week for like ten years...![]()
@Jan -- Mmmmm - sourdough...![]()
@Dan Maloney Yup they're really picky. It's a bunch of paperwork for some companies like thermo or sigma. So most of the time I tend to go with smaller companies that don't care as much but may only ship to the US. Then you have to get it imported which is a bit of a hassle. That's the thing with doing this on your own or as a small company, learning to source stuff and building those networks is easily the most important part.![]()
@OnlyOneCannolo very interesting question!![]()
Hey, i'm just wondering, i've got an old electrophoresis PSU, i'm wondering, if i could use that + PCR to compare different brewers yeast? i watched your electrophoresis video the other day, which i found really interesting (i've never done pcr or electrophoresis before)![]()
@thethoughtemporium thought. strains of easy to grow germs that make the most important ezymes. then we could just chromatoraphy-purify them without relying on orders.![]()
@OnlyOneCannolo It's kind of everything. Enzymes and reagents can be super expensive, but so can the hard ware. That's why bio projects are centered around detailed planning and sourcing well in advance. You get exactly what you need to save costs. But it's hard to really bring those costs that far down. Some of it is artificial and companies just overcharging, but some things like antibodies are just crazy expensive to produce at sufficent quality and there's no good ways around that.![]()
@anfractuosity Sure there's a variety of tests you can preform though most are pretty subjective. You could make PCR primers that target genes common to or present/absent in various yeast strains and then look at the results on a gel to see "finger" so to speak of the yeasts. Or you could just look at the distribution of proteins in the yeasts and see how that varies. I'm sure there's more but I'm not really an analytical biologist or microbiologist enough to say.![]()
One of the biggest problems I see with setting up a home lab is the lack of a big centrifuge. We used our Sorvalls all the time - we had six in one lab I worked in - and each is the size of a washing machine and pretty pricey. Don't know that I've seen a DIY version that replaces a good centrifuge.![]()
how's the lactose intolerance going?![]()
and, why isn't that "fix" more common? Seems like a magic cure, no?![]()
Large Capacity Centrifuges | Thermo Fisher Scientific - US
Reliable, reproducible separations for blood banking and large volume processing, our large capacity centrifuges can maximize your lab's productivity.
![]()
@Dan Maloney I use a cheap 15ml desktop model and a smaller one for my 1.5ml tubes and im totally content. I may pick up a 50ml at some point![]()
@thethoughtemporium thanks! i'll have to do more reading about PCR![]()
How feasible would it be in a home lab to detect the concentration of DNA fragments in the blood for early detection of cancer? As reported here: https://mrc.ukri.org/news/browse/blood-test-could-improve-early-detection-of-lung-cancer/![]()
small high-rpm multikilowatt motors are available at e.g. hobbyking as quadcopter motors. could work for centrifuges.![]()
@Dan Maloney I had looked into building a DIY centrifuge, but in the end found that you can get desktop models pretty cheap on eBay if you're willing to wait for a good deal. The Eppendorf model I got only cost me $9![]()
@Jarrett Still good. I think it may have worn off ever so slightly as I can't shovel cream cheese into my face quite the same as I could a months or two after I took it, but I can still handle mil in foods and cheese and pizza and such so long as I don't go crazy. But that's like anyone really. It's not common because gene mods, even simple ones are very serious. I'm glad I did it, but before I'd ever let anyone else try it there's a lot of upgrades I'd want to make for the sake of added safety redundancies and improved performance.![]()
As a community of hardware hackers, I think most of us here are better equipped to tackle the hardware problems. So I'd like to hear specific examples from anyone regarding hardware. Centrifuge is one so far. @Dan Maloney Is it really necessary to have one as big as a washing machine?![]()
@OnlyOneCannolo - Oh, no, definitely not. I'm just saying that we used these things all the time, and I kind of got spoiled. Just wondering what can replace it functionally without taking up too much space or $$.![]()
I think i read something about you doing something to do with yeast + silk iirc? I'm not sure i know the correct terminology, but how will you introduce the appropriate plasmid into the yeast, something like electroporation/...?![]()
@badger Depends how much you're willing to spend on setup and improving your technique enough to get accurate reads. There are lots of good kits for extracting floating DNA in blood, but the amount of DNA is small so it can be easily contaminated and it can be difficult to get enough to sequenece. But it's not impossible.![]()
upgrades like how?![]()
(re: home gene mods)![]()
That said, big centrifuges can be terrifying. I've seen rotors on ultracentrifuges fail at 100k RPM. Not pretty.![]()
@anfractuosity Yup I actually just builts an electroporator. Gonna test it out next week![]()
oooh! nice, using capacitors ?![]()
nope! better![]()
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtZ_36VAWgo/
A 2018 IGem team created the electropen which is an electroporator that uses a cheap BBQ ignitor piezo as the high voltage source. I've wanted an electroporator for a while now so made one of my own but with a few design tweaks. Can't wait to test this out!! #biohacking #biology #geneticengineering
94 Likes, 4 Comments - Justin Atkin (@thethoughtemporium) on Instagram: "A 2018 IGem team created the electropen which is an electroporator that uses a cheap BBQ ignitor..."
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haha! nice!![]()
Re centrifuges: https://hackaday.com/2017/01/22/paper-toy-can-save-lives/ Up to 125,000 rpm, enough to separate plasma from blood in under two minutes and isolate malaria parasites in 15. Some versions of the device could cost as little as twenty cents and don’t require anything more exotic than paper and string.![]()
@thethoughtemporium any thoughtsabout single-molecule techniques?![]()
@Thomas Shaddack in what context? Like DNA sequencing? Or..?![]()
@thethoughtemporium were do you get the plasmids from out of interest?![]()
@thethoughtemporium mostly dna sequencing.![]()
@badger - Thanks, I had forgotten about that![]()
@anfractuosity Variety of places. Friends, addgene, other researchers if you ask them nicely![]()
cool![]()
@Thomas Shaddack I mean nanopore sequencing is pretty amazing, as are the tethered polymerase thing. Blanking on the name. But haven't really used either personally![]()
@Dan Maloney re: centrifuge size -- gotcha. I wasn't sure if there was a situation where a desktop model just wouldn't cut it. Thanks!![]()
It seems like a lot of analytical/synthetic stuff (sequencing, primer synthesis, etc.) is available as a service these days, whereas we used to have to do all that stuff in house. Is that true? Can you just send a sample away for sequencing or order primers online?![]()
re: centrifuges - unless you need more than a 50ml fuge, there's really no need. My lab is tiny, I couldn't afford to waste space on a huge fuge unless I absolutely needed one. One person I know in the diybio crowd that has one is David Ishee because he's processing ecoli from a 5 gallon bioreactor![]()
@thethoughtemporium i am nurturing a thought of light-controlled dna or rna printing. a variant on transcription, but with light pulses to energize the given nucleotide addition. it's a bit far in the left field, kind of an artificial anoparticle/"enzyme" that'd absorb at five wavelenghs, have one for each nucleotide (add to the growing chain on illumination), and one for reset (to prevent longer light intervals from making polynucleotides).![]()
@thethoughtemporium - See, that's a use case I could see needing a big Sorvall for, and one that I might be coming up against. I wonder if there are any compact or DIY flow centrifuges, so you wouldn't have to spin in batches with big 500 mL bottles.![]()
@Dan Maloney Yup! you never do anything yourself if you don't have to. For some of the work we don't even build the plasmids. We just order the pieces from one company, send them to another company for assembly, then we get it and throw it into some cells. Same with tests. Why spend 100-500k on a machine when you can pay 150 bucks to use someone elses![]()
@thethoughtemporium if it could work as directly inserted into the cells, we'd have effectively light-programmable biosynthesis.![]()
@Thomas Shaddack what you''re describing is incredibly hard. Not to say it's impossible, but it's very hard. I encourage you to try because if it works it'll be great, but just know it's hard going in.![]()
I saw you've grown glowing yeast which looked really cool, are you planning anything else with yeast soon? I think i saw about people getting 'hop-like' flavours from yeast which i was intrigued by![]()
https://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2013-07/how-build-your-own-diy-centrifuge
How To Build Your Own DIY Centrifuge
For any garage-ista ready to tackle molecular biology, the centrifuge is an essential laboratory tool. Its super-rapid spin supplies the right G-forces to neatly separate biological materials-including cells, proteins, and DNA-from a liquid. University-grade centrifuges sell for about $2,000, but synthetic biology enthusiast and inventor Cathal Garvey figured out how to build one with a Dremel tool and a 3-D-printed wheel.
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@Dan Maloney I mean I've been toying with the idea of using a reverse osmosis filter setup to concentrate stuff. Not sure how well it would work yet though.![]()
Thoughts on the GM Pothos that can break down chloroform?https://www.newscientist.com/article/2188798-house-plants-dont-clean-your-air-that-much-but-this-gm-pothos-might/
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I've sent that link through your contact form, but you should totally try to replicate it :P![]()
also those DIY fuges suck. A lot. For the 50-100 bucks it costs for a fuge, there's no reason to ever make one of those unless you absolutely can't find one![]()
i'd worry the tube things would fall out of that diy centrigue?![]()
I blew up a 3D printed rotor like that spinning up a couple tubes in a Dremel. Would not recommend...![]()
heh eek![]()
@Jarrett I've seen that article. Looked cool. I don't think I'd want to replicate it but I'd love a sample of the plant. If I ever got a sample of the DNA I'd happily throw it into a plant. Been wanting to mess with some plant bio. Currently looking at protoplast fusion to make weird fusion plants![]()
@thethoughtemporium yay weird plants!![]()
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Open Source Biology and Biohacking Hack Chat
Hacking carbon, oxygen and nitrogen, not just silicon
