HTGAA is a Synthetic Biology Program directed by George Church, professor of Genetics at Harvard medical school. The HTGAA is a part of the growing Academy of (almost) Anything, or the academany. The Academany is a distributed educational model providing a unique educational experience. Each Fab Lab that participates in the Academany program is part of a global Fab Lab / Academany network. These Fab Labs are Nodes that offer the Academany program.
Hackteria is a webplatform and collection of Open Source Biological Art Projects instigated in February 2009 by Andy Gracie, Marc Dusseiller and Yashas Shetty, after collaboration during the Interactivos?09 Garage Science at Medialab Prado in Madrid. The aim of the project is to develop a rich wiki-based web resource for people interested in or developing projects that involve bioart, open source software/hardware, DIY biology, art/science collaborations and electronic experimentation.
dusjagr labs was founded by Marc Dusseiller in April 2007 who is a transdisciplinary scholar, lecturer for micro- and nanotechnology, cultural facilitator and artist. He performs DIY (do-it-yourself) workshops in lo-fi electronics, hardware hacking, microscopy, music and robotics. Currently, he is developing means to perform bio- and nanotechnology research and dissemination (Hackteria | Open Source Biological Art) in a DIY fashion in kitchens, ateliers and in developing countries.
Institute for art, science and technology – is a pioneer in the field of digital media. It explores emerging technologies, and provides art and culture a central role in the designing of new applications for novel advances in science and technology. The organisation concerns itself not only with technologies related to the Internet, but also with those related to biotechnology and the cognitive sciences.
GaudiLabs are creative spaces where open research is conducted in open source culture technology. GaudiLabs consists of two complementary types of labs: A small physical lab space in Lucern, Switzerland with the head office. This is where longer term projects are elaborated, where people can meet for hack sessions, discussions and coordination. Then there is GaudiLabs mobile, a set of boxes and portable devices, workshops, concepts and formats to be taken to any place or institution, public space or events and there create a temporary lab space for collaboration. GaudiLabs is active part of the hackteria.org open source biology art network. http://www.gaudi.ch/GaudiLabs/
It is a device that employs a rotating magnetic field to cause a stir bar (also called “flea”) immersed in a liquid to spin very quickly, thus stirring it. The rotating field may be created either by a rotating magnet or a set of stationary electromagnets, placed beneath the vessel with the liquid (source: Wikipedia)
This is very common equipment in a bio lab. We have developed our own DYI-magnetic stirrer. Here you can see how it works with a portable battery.
It consists of a plastic support with magnets for eppendorf tubes that allows the use of magnetic beads for separating different molecules such us DNA or proteins. We have developed our own DYI-magnetic rack. Continue reading →
In order to perform a DNA extraction avoiding the use of centrifuge, we developed a protocol including a chaotropic agent that only requires a short heating step in a standard thermocycler.
It is possible to extract DNA from different biological samples such as blood, muscle or buccal swab.
Among the reagents used for DNA amplification, the DNA polymerase is the most delicate. In order to preserve it, we decided to lyophilize the whole master mix. You only need to add water and DNA and in a few hours you get your PCR product.
To know the success of the PCR, our thermocycler has got a fluorometer incorporated. By using a standard DNA binding fluorophore it is possible to get the amount of the DNA product. For cleaning the DNA amplicons we follow a purification protocol which includes magnetic beads to use with the DIY-magnetic rack that we’ve built.
