Re: [DIYbio] Re: Any ideas on edible electrophoresis buffers?

Hehe, I was suggesting not worrying at all about the chlorine.. Unless
it smells more, uh, chlorinous, than a swimming pool, of course. I guess
just do it in a ventilated room and leave the gel sit for a little while
before considering eating it, to let the gas evaporate?

Alternatively, heat the gel a little afterwards; chlorine boils out of
solution at around 60C, I think. Still well below agarose's melting
temperature.

On 02/11/12 12:22, Ravasz wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My two cents would be using PBS as buffer. You can both add it to the gel
> and use it as a running buffer. It has the salt (NaCl) and the buffering
> capacity (phosphate) you need, plus its edible. As Cathal suggested, be
> very careful with the chlorine gas produced during the electrophoresis.
> Chlorine is extremely reactive, and greatly damages the lungs upon
> inhalation.
>
> Alternatively you could try phosphoric acid and phosphate as a buffer
> system, plus low amounts of table salt for conductivity.
>
> Hope this helps,
> Mat
>
>
> On Thursday, 1 November 2012 08:53:56 UTC+1, Patrik D'haeseleer wrote:
>>
>> So I got the idea of trying some jello shot electrophoresis for Science
>> Hack Day <http://sf.sciencehackday.com/> this year. We won the judge's
>> prize last year with a drinkable DNA extraction<http://www.instructables.com/id/DNAquiri-the-delicious-DNA-extraction/>protocol, and this is my very transparent attempt at bribing the judges
>> with booze (and a little science) again this year...
>>
>> Turns out you can get some really nice results with food colors on a gel<http://peer.tamu.edu/curriculum_modules/cell_Biology/Module_4/Electrophoresis%20on%20Agarose%20Gel%20-%20Student.ppt>.
>> And of course regular agarose or agar gel is edible. Problem is that damn
>> Tris-borate EDTA buffer... First thing I thought of was to just replace the
>> buffer with table salt, but that would likely just give you a lot of
>> electrolysis, and Chlorine!
>>
>> So... any idea what kinds of salts might be worth trying? Needs to be
>> edible (of course), produce a well conducting solution, and not prone to
>> producing toxic compounds by electrolysis.
>>
>> I'm not looking for anything laboratory quality, mind you. Just looking
>> for something that will allow me to electrophorese some bands of food
>> coloring into a slab of agar, while still staying edible...
>

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