DIYbio/Seattle/Meetings/04-03-09 3rd meeting at Brouwer's

04-03-09 3rd meeting at Brouwer's
We had a good turn out of 10 folks on a Friday night at Brouwer's. Sean turned several of us onto Piraat Amber Triple IPA - 10.92% whew!

Discussion occasionally split off into subconversations, but here is an overview of some of the pieces I heard:

Introductions
Who is doing what, interested in what

Sources for cheap lab equipment
eBay, labx

Icogenex lab facility
Conveiently located in Fremont

$1000/month/bench, with minimum of two benches

Expensive, but includes use of equipment and reagents

Overview of what facilities available at Dan's lab
Almost ready to go

Straw electrophoresis
Can pre-pour cheaply and buy/sell/store these in bulk.

Makes gradient gels easier?

Issues with air bubbles?

Is fractionation of DNA easier? Suggestion to add wells in the middle and pipette off the DNA as it passes.

Buffer is main reason for needing high amperage.

Other cheaper electrode metals than platinum? Need to worry about electrochemistry.

Reuse of agar
Issues with molecular debris even if you were to autoclave/microwave it

Might be able to soak/perfuse it

Why does anyone still use Ethidium Bromide when there are less mutagenic, more sensitive stains available?
EB is cheaper and may have more predictable effects on DNA migration rate.

Noted that blue light is also much better for DNA than UV - another reason to use newer stains.

Rob's new book on synthetic biology
Interesting research that a very significant % of US agriculture & industry already relies upon GM crops.

How much of Bush's science policy was motivated by private industry interests vs. mere right-wing nutcases?

How worried is the government about SB?
Can nucleic acids be regulated?

Guys in the room who prefer to worry about the "threat" before the "promise"

Computational bio
How to cooperate on a computational project?

How to integrate all of the databases out there? Ontologies?

How to answer the query: give me all pigments in a rose.

Boston DIYbio has challenged Seattle!
Should we register a DIYgem team?

Ideas for an inaugural project
Folks should submit ideas to the wiki before the next meeting.

In attendance
Sean, Dan, Alec, Ingrid, Rob, Mike, Scott, Kris, Tyler.