Re: home labs

It was a great project but I'm confident he could have gone even lower
in price if he didn't insist on seeking "mainstream" equipment. That is,
even though he broke his oath to buy-not-make for the electrophoresis
rig, he otherwise only bought stuff you'd find in a regular lab.

The glaring one for me was the centrifuge; if he really wanted to
benchmark cheap-ness, a Dremelfuge used with a drill could easily come
in under €60. That's if you don't print it yourself, where the costs
drop to about €11: €10 for a budget drill, €1 worth of ABS plastic.

Also, although micropippettes are almost always overpriced, you can get
them cheaper than he did if you're patient and wait for someone doing a
lab clearout lot. Or, gamble on Chinese sellers and get them or €20
each; I recall someone on this list revealing that they'd sampled them
and found them perfectly adequate.

On 01/12/11 02:53, Bryan Bishop wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 8:28 PM, Tom Randall <tarandall@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> http://www.genomeweb.com/node/993846?hq_e=el&hq_m=1152533&hq_l=3&hq_v=983578b048
>
>
> just fyi, but genomeweb has a history of canceling articles or hiding them
> behind paywalls. So here it is:
>
> -----------------
> Over in Medical Laboratory Observer, iCubate's John Brunstein chronicles
> his quest to set up a $500 molecular biology lab — reagents, consumables,
> and shipping costs not included. As part of the challenge he set for
> himself, Brunstein sought to source tools and equipment that required few
> to no modifications, such that a non-expert could use them out of the box.
> "My primary (in fact, in the end, only) resource for obtaining equipment
> was eBay, although I did consider and look at other potential sources," he
> says. In a three-week period, Brunstein purchased a $95 PCR machine (plus
> $45.76 for shipping), $62 pipettors ($21), a $129.99 transilluminator
> ($6.99), a $111 centrifuge ($40.48), a $5.79 scale, a $7.88 pH meter
> ($9.16), a $39.21 electrophoresis PS ($8.95), and a $2.25 125 milliliter
> Erlenmeyer flask, all used, and all listed on eBay. He also constructed his
> own "serviceable and professional looking gel box, set of casting trays,
> and one comb" using "some dollar store plastic food containers, a hobby
> knife, a tube of silicone cement, two stainless steel bolts with nuts, and
> a short length of fine stainless steel wire," he says.
>
> All told, Brunstein spent $453.12 on equipment and $137.75 on shipping
> costs, totaling $590.87. He estimates a market price of $7119.20 for his
> DIY molecular biology lab. "With regard to whether purchasing such
> equipment off eBay is reliable, in general, it was in this project,"
> Brunstein says.
>
> Brunstein says his work highlights "the potential to cheaply bring the
> power of molecular biology into anyone's hands for educational purposes,"
> though he cautions that this exercise "should serve as a reminder to those
> of us professionally involved in the field that we owe society a
> responsibility to educate and inform as to the ethical uses, applications,
> and shortcomings of molecular techniques. When anyone can build a PCR lab
> for $500, it's past time to start educating the general population on such
> matters."
> -----------------
>

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