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Biology's McGyver: DIY DNA P.C.R.
joesao writes "In this short, charming interview, Dr. Eva Harris talks about popularizing biology by doing what she calls "knowledge-based" technology transfer: "...people purify DNA for P.C.R. processing with a fancy substance made of silica particles, which costs about $100 for a few milliliters. [...] So what we've done is buy a 20-pound bag of ceramic dust for $5 at the hobby store. And you wash the stuff in nitric acid and sterilize it, and then you have thousands of tubes of that substance. We're not violating anything because the commercial manufacturers have their way of doing this, and we have ours." Open-source biology, anyone?"
It really warms my heart to see liberals focus their concern for the poor in a specific and effective way. I feel the same when a conservative does so as well. No one is so callous as to completely not give a rat's ass about their neighbor, but it is more than difficult to find ways to help them than to feign contempt.
When effective people like Dr. Eva here go out and turn their ideas into reality it benefits everyone. If she were to go into politics the world would have been less one innovative scientist. Worse, the world would have been up one know-it-all politician.
There are several politicians out there today who could no doubt have been effective in changing society for the better had they pursued a specific profession other than politics.
Sometimes it's patented, but sometimes it's just "secret." (ie. not patented, but they're not telling you, either) For instance: Look at Zymo's Z-competent cell kit. They sure as heck won't tell you what is inside their special reagents, but if you walk them over to your local biochemistry lab with a GC/MS and run some of it through, you'll find it is simply a modification of the Hanahan protocol. What modification? It's not one that provides for higher efficiency, but a modification that provides for more success of producing competent cells. (If you've done the Hanahan protocol, you'll know it's high efficiency, but a fragile protocol.)
I ran the numbers. The Hanahan/Zcomp cost ratio is something outrageous like 1/20 for an equivalent batch of cells, and the efficiencies are higher.
In this case, I like old-school vs. new and wiz-bang.
Why not set up a business where the lab work gets done in a place where IP isn't enforced and use the cheaper methods and such that you can't in the US to do the lab work. Then you send the data back stateside over the 'net. Viola, you've got a cheaper lab! Does someone run a business like this? Why not? Can you use these primative techniques to get results as good as the fancier techniques?
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