[DIYbio] Meet the competition: the $9999 biotech lab for ~40 people in a box.

 

Thought this might be interesting alternative to the scrounging/DIY for equipment done by most people, including me.

 

Factoring time and effort, there's always going to be stiff competition between "new" and "DIY". The $649 PCR kit (e.g. http://openpcr.org/ ) has to be at least as efficient as startup kits like this in order to grab mind share. The fact that OpenPCR was not in common (ie., any) use at BioCurious for the 6 or so months I was there (and that was the home base of OpenPCR) is a big warning light to me. Hacking something that works is great: hacking something that lasts for years is another. It is important to me that sufficient craftsmanship is evident that anything built will outlast its usefulness and be something worth recycling or subsequently hacking. The Edvocycler is $1799, ramps three times faster (3c/sec, vs 1c/sec) and requires no assembly. My metric for DIY is that it has to be comparable and 10x cheper, which puts the maximum i'm willing to spend on a PCR "kit" at ~$200. (I recently picked up a used Robocycler for $200, for example- so my price point is still shrinking). If you're going to supply into a lab, some of the cost has to account for what happens when stuff breaks.

 

Of course, with the Edvocycler, you don't have the fun of tearing your hair out debugging your bad soldering connection, or idly musing about the aftereffect of its last use in the isotopes or Ebola lab. 

 

Anyone have any experience with the pieces/parts in this kit?

 

The "simulated qPCR" protocol looks like it would make a nice demo: http://www.edvotek.com/370?category=1795 (ZOMG!!! EtBr!!! in the handz of kidz!!! :)

 

-matt