Amino.bio – Homebrew synthetic biology kit
amino.bio
amino.bio
The bento lab looks more useful for teaching molecular biology: it has a mini-centrifuge, thermocycler for PCR, and apparatus for gel electrophoresis. The amino one looks like it only lets you culture bacteria, and track the pH/temperature/OD as you do so.
I don't really see why anyone would buy this. The sales pitches are unconvincing, and sound close to mis-selling: this is really not something I would choose to use in "domestic life" to make "bread, beer, cider or wine", and I'm skeptical the 'nightlight' makes enough light to actually function as a nightlight.
I think it would be better to market this as a purely fun thing, rather than as a serious, useful tool. I doubt many will sell: this may have been better left as an art/design project, without an associated company.
[0]: http://julielegault.com/amino [1]: http://www.amino.bio/intro/ [2]: http://www.amino.bio/what/
Also, you're right - different audiences. I think Bento is more about DNA barcoding.
It's still nice to see more competition in this space, though.
It does look fun and educational! ... But, if you're excited about a "homebrew synthetic biology kit" you definitely want to read the specifics of this kit. It actually has very limited uses. Not to dismiss it though; it probably is the best thing you could currently buy in the area. And the kind of sequence-grow-repeat DIY synthetic biology that may come to mind is still, unfortunately, outside the realm of any realistic affordability.
What happens if they accidentally grow a dangerous bacteria?
The real world of biology has been out to kill you for your energy for 4 billion years and yet you survive. We're really pretty good at it. It is genuinely difficult to hurt people with biology if you try, and it is even more difficult if you're not trying.
So that summer I did Princeton iGem with Ron Weiss. It was pretty disorganized, but I did spend 8 hours a day in Biology lab and learned more genetics. No longer remember any of it.
Now you can do it at home. That's kind of awesome. Possibly dangerous?
That term doesn't mean what you think it means.
>Poorly constructed, sealed chambers
This thing will work once, and then be contaminated forever.
>Talk about DNA programs
Replacing standard terminology with non-standard patronizing terms are a key to proper education, right?
>Random name drop of Obama, and biology "Threads"
I think you mean "threats". But hey obvious typos on your frontpage really showcase your commitment to quality, right?
>800 dollars
Good fucking lord.
Kids want to be empowered, not patronized. The intended user for a kit like this would be a 12-16 year old. At that age they are old enough to use real tools. Buy the kid an incubator, glassware, and a pcr machine.
The commodore is a great example because you could actually program things on it. Things not listed in the instruction manual. Kids will learn if you give them the tools to do real biology, not playskool biology.
Could you go into more detail about this? I'd love to know how to build a lab on the cheap. Can you get genetic material for bacterial transformation within a K-12 budget as well?
For a standard bacterial transformation experiment you'll need : An incubator, a pcr machine, taq, primers, pcr master mix, a centrifuge, petri plates, LB broth, agar, ecoli, a gel box. Honestly, half of this you could get as cast-offs from your local university for free. Universities are all about supporting K-12 science, you just have to ask.
Hardware is going to run you about 200-300 bucks. The real expense here is the used PCR machine. The incubator, and the centrifuge can be home-made or repurposed (ie a hand crank centrifuge, and a chicken egg incubator).
The rest of the cost is just reagents. The two big things you need to make yourself are Taq, and ecoli competent cells. Both of these are fun experiments in themselves are can be made for 50-100 bucks (resulting in years worth of reagents).
After that it's just buying primers (10-20 bucks a pop) and refills on reagents like agarose and LB which are cheap.
DIY lab doesn't have to be expensive if you are willing to sacrifice a little bit of time.
Check out the Journal of Visualized Experiments : http://www.jove.com/
For the centrifuge, I'd do 3d-printed rotor on a dremel (https://diybio.org/tag/3d-printing/) I use this already to spin down cells and is... cheap and not very safe.
You didn't mention an autoclave- that's needed to make sure all your buffers and equipment aren't contaminated.
I agree, but you could could get a few basic experiments going for that much. Much much more if you spent 800, like you would on this kit.
>You didn't mention an autoclave
Good point. The only stuff you would really HAVE to autoclave would be media, and you can use an off the shelf pressure cooker for that.
An absolute dismissal can feel good for a little while, but a culture of dismissals is one of the worst things that could happen here, so we all need to moderate our impulses a bit.
I've been doing molecular biology professionally for nearly 10 years now, I don't think I could so something very useful with this kit.
Which is fine, but maybe they should be open about that partnership. The Synbiota kits are kind of cool, but the Rainbow Factory kit didn't work for me as promised and they are seriously expensive.