Re: [DIYbio] Re: Current examples of DIYbio that I see, what others do people see?

You could just get a mailbox at a commercial address in Portland, here
are some UPS Store convenient locations:
http://goo.gl/maps/bQDnq

On Mon, Oct 1, 2012 at 6:28 PM, BioGuy <justin.dormandy@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think a lot of people are doing fantastic work on bringing down costs and
> accessibility to biotech equipment which is great and fantastic!
>
> However, I think potentially the biggest hurdle that needs to be overcome
> right now is accessibility of reagents. Just as an example recently I've
> been trying to compare TAE, TBE, TB, TA, Na Boric Acid, and Li Boric Acid in
> terms of their use as running buffers. Just having access (not even money)
> to buy chemical reagents is an enormous hurdle in itself. For example I
> tried purchasing from Carolina - one item was simply reagent grade NaCl -
> and they wouldn't ship any of it. They will only ship to established
> businesses or schools. Same response from other chemical suppliers. It
> doesn't seem to be that difficult to acquire these if I wanted to work
> through the local hackerspace here in Portland, but its not necessarily the
> ideal environment.
>
> I haven't even got to the point of trying to procure a plasmid with a
> corresponding single cutting restriction enzyme yet, but I can't see how
> things will be any less difficult. As it is right now I don't see how an
> individual can pursue DIYBio without being associated with some kind of
> institution that can establish accounts with life science and chemical
> suppliers.
>
> In the 1970s a computer revolution occurred in people's garages. The price
> point was low enough and anyone had access to purchase what they wanted to
> experiment with. Now, the price point of reagents are low enough to foster
> DIYbio, however, these reagents aren't accessible to the individual. As long
> as this is the case and chemical and biological reagents MUST be purchased
> by an institution of some kind then a new biotech revolution cannot occur
> like what appeared in the 1970s with information technology.
>
> To add insult to injury - lets imagine you have a bright high school student
> and they develop an interest in chemistry and biology. What can they do
> after their classes? Pretty much nothing. But...if they were interested in
> electronics they would have absolutely no problems. Computers and
> programming - no problem. Working on cars - no problems. Setting up physics
> and electrical experiments in their garage - no problem. Yet working with
> chemistry and biology is virtually inaccessible right now. A student can
> read all he wants, but if he wants to actually DO then he is stuck.
> On Thursday, September 27, 2012 10:58:51 PM UTC-7, Nathan McCorkle wrote:
>>
>> Examples I see...
>> To date most completed projects have focused on lowering the cost of
>> laboratory equipment associated with biotechnology.
>>
>> An Irish bio-hacker named Cathal Garvey created an adapter that can be
>> printed on a MakerBot (or any 3D printer). When attached to a Dremel
>> tool it creates a centrifuge capable of performing to the standard of
>> many lab standard models. This creation dropped the price of a
>> centrifuge from thousands to a few dollars and made the technology
>> much more widely available. (http://diybio.org/2010/03/21/906/) Josh
>> Perfetto and Tito Jankowski created openPCR, a thermocycler device
>> that heats and cools micro centrifuge tubes filled with PCR reaction
>> mix to amplify DNA. This unit too compares with comparable commercial
>> devices selling for more than 5 times the
>> price.(http://www.wired.com/reviews/2011/12/reviews_pcr/) SpikerBox is
>> an amplifier kit for listening to the action potentials generated by
>>
>> neurons.(http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0030837)
>> The Pearl Biotech gel electrophoresis box is another example of a key
>> biotech lab item that's open-source.
>>
>> (http://singularityhub.com/2009/10/29/open-hardware-for-molecular-biology-experiments/)
>> Cory Tobin of LA BioHackers experimented and produced a plasmid
>> mini-prep extraction protocol using centrifugal ion chromatography
>> with silica columns and common household
>> ingredients.(http://wiki.biohackers.la/Miniprep)
>
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--
Nathan McCorkle
Rochester Institute of Technology
College of Science, Biotechnology/Bioinformatics

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