BMBMethod:Reagents

Departmental

Poly-cistronic Vector system pST44

• Tan lab has created a series of 75 vectors for E. coli co-expression of multiple proteins from a single plasmid
• As far as I'm aware of, Tan lab will give this to PSU labs for free. If not, Tien lab has gotten it in the past and should be able to give you some, if we can find it.
• Maps of plasmids
• Tan, S., Kern, R.C. and Selleck, W. (2005) The pST44 polycistronic expression system for producing protein complexes in Escherichia coli, Prot. Expr. Purif., 40:385-395. Link

T4 DNA Ligase

• Tan Lab has a large quantity of home-made T4 DNA Ligase that they are willing to gift to labs
• In exchange, when Tan lab is in need of a restriction enzyme, your lab can purchase it for them
• So, you get $250-400 worth of Ligase for ~$65
• I've used this ligase to clone many dozens of things, so it certainly works --Joseph L. Hill Jr. 08:22, 30 October 2014 (EDT)

Pfu Polymerase

• I've heard that Tan lab also has home-made Pfu polymerase, but not 100% sure --Joseph L. Hill Jr. 08:22, 30 October 2014 (EDT)

==Cheap_Reagents==

Mini-prep & gel purification Kits

• I've found the cheapest mini-prep kits available. Most kits are ~$0.65-1 per column
• I've gotten Biobasic EZ-10 spin columns for as low as $0.31 per column ($77.50 for 250 preps) and I've never paid more than $0.44 per column ($110 for 250 preps)
  • For comparison, the kits from the VWR stockroom are $0.65 per column ($130 for 200 preps)
• The 'catch'
  • The spin columns are rated at only 10μg DNA binding capacity (I think they can bind a more)
    • All other spin columns are rated for 30μg
    • So, technically, you get less DNA per prep. However, 30μg DNA in 50μL is a 600ng/μL concentration. Even with 30μg columns, I usually only got 100ng/μL. So (for me), I wasn't using the additional binding capacity that I was paying for
    • I believe I've gotten up to 15μg off these columns (according to nano-drop...), so there's that, too
  • Normal price is $140 per 250 preps, plus shipping, but they frequently have buy 1 get 1 free or buy 2 get 1 free deals, which really bring the cost down. These promos run for the majority of the year, but not 100% of the time
    • They have a build-your-own promo (always available), which is almost as good as buy2get1free, but it has a minimum order of several hundred dollars
  • They charge shipping

https://store.biobasic.com/product/bs614-size-250preps/