[DIYbio] Re: A better way to share/use DNA?

If two people work together in a lab closely, then they will probably have a good idea of each other's DNA sequences/repositories. This information makes it easier for them to borrow and build on each other's work. However, if two people in a lab don't work closely together, they won't be able to do this and any improved productivity from mutual sharing transactions is lost.

My startup company, Desktop Genetics, has built a tool supporting networked DNA repositories for individual scientists/lab groups. Each person or group uploads genbank or fasta files of all the DNA sequences they have in their freezers/boxes, and this is indexed. You can upload a sequence that you have designed and want to build, and the tool will run designs against the index, developing assembly solutions that make use of the most efficient sources of template DNA across the network.

A list of fragment sequences from various "inventory sequences" is generated for any "design sequence", also identifying the smallest "unsourced" fragments you'd need have synthesised. You can request  sourced sequences from the people/groups who own them, and PCR primers are automatically designed to amplify the fragments from sourced sequences. Primers and fragments are designed based on your specific cloning chemistry choice. 

We have been showing the tool to academics and companies and getting a really good response. Its a pretty robust and pretty inventory management system on top of the solution generator, and I'd like to see if this is something the DIYbio community would like to start using. 

I think it would be really cool to have different hackspaces cataloguing their parts and making them all available to one another in this way. Maybe we could start getting some community projects going too.

Is anyone interested in making this happen?