Amino.bio – Homebrew synthetic biology kit(amino.bio)
amino.bio
Amino.bio – Homebrew synthetic biology kit
http://www.amino.bio/
10 comments
Bento Bio looks pretty cool. But it also produces nothing tangible or fun. Much of molecular biology is so abstract - the mixing of particular amounts of clear liquids to get a band to show up on a gel. It's difficult to ground those abstractions into every-day tangible lessons. Making a blue paint from some sugar, water and cells is, on the other hand, a supremely tangible product. Whether it works and is actually fun and productive is another question. But it seems to be targeting a different kind of audience.
It's seems confused about who it is pitched at: the founder's personal site refers to it as "the tamagotchi for synthetic biology" [0]; but the main landing page [1] says that it enables "anyone to create and grow living cells for research, education or domestic life", and the about page [2] refers to use "at home, in labs or in schools" and says it "can be used in pro labs too".
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/
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/
As a molecular biologist, I think Bento aren't doing enough to pitch the possibilities of molecular biology. Amino has stuff that glows. With the equipment, Bento can pretty much make that stuff too, but they're not making that clear.
Also, you're right - different audiences. I think Bento is more about DNA barcoding.
Also, you're right - different audiences. I think Bento is more about DNA barcoding.
Yes, I saw a presentation from the Bento Box people at a conference a couple of weeks ago. It seemed to be a much more polished product than Amino, and they were clear about the use cases and limitations while Amino seems to be a lot more hand-wavy.
It's still nice to see more competition in this space, though.
It's still nice to see more competition in this space, though.
Ouh, interesting. I saw their article in Wired the other day and I was considering getting one of those. What were the use cases and limitations they talked about?
The lack of scientific rigor (why the heck is everything an app!) and specificity as to the content of these kits makes me skeptical. How do I engineer a plasmid on this thing? How do I verify gene expression? 900 dollars is way too much for a mold growing kit.
Amino was previously discussed here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10409433 .
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.
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.
Does the idea of getting people to grow their own cells in an uncontrolled environment without any knowledge of exactly what can happen kinda sound weird to me?
What happens if they accidentally grow a dangerous bacteria?
What happens if they accidentally grow a dangerous bacteria?
It's called a refrigerator. Or, more precisely, a kitchen. If you have yogurt, or beer, or bread, or cheese you have such a product. And if you've ever let any food in your kitchen go bad/moldy/rotten, you have, 'grown cells in an uncontrolled environment without any knowledge of exactly what can happen'. Very very few get anything more than a bit of a rumbley stomach from such 'experiments', and in the meantime they learn a significant amount about themselves and how life works in this universe.
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.
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.
I'm all for the product, I like at home things. It was just a little weird sounding to me. But I suppose at home chemistry sets are probably way more dangerous.
For those in New England, they are having a two day workshop: "Welcome to Do-it-Yourself Bioengineering!" as part of the 2016 Cambridge Science Festival in April, tickets on Eventbrite.
I did iGEM in 2006 as part of the Princeton Team. It all started when I took Biology I and we made glow in the dark E Coli. And I got excited.
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?
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?
why does the squarespace config popup when i press esc on this page
>Learn synthetic biology
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.
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.
It sounds like you know a lot about this area, but an angry denunciation doesn't help the rest of us much. It would be better to share your knowledge and drop the snark.
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.
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.
the $800 price tag seems reasonable if you compare the 1982 introductory price of the Commodore 64 at $595 (approx. $1,500 today)[0]. Most parents were buying the c64 or a similarly priced computer for their children's education and entertainment. From that POV the pricing for this biology kit, if you kids are scientifically enthusiastic, seems reasonable.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64
Give me 200 bucks and an ebay account and I can buy a lab that will run circles around this crippled mess.
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.
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.
> Give me 200 bucks and an ebay account and I can buy a lab that will run circles around this crippled mess.
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?
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?
> 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.
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.
I just went through the exercise of outfitting my home lab, and I think $200-300 is a bit low. Most of the stuff on ebay that goes super-cheap is just broken. You'll spend a lot of time debugging and fixing stuff that is unrelated to your experiment.
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.
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 think $200-300 is a bit low
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.
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.
I think you want to autoclave the glassware, since it comes in contact with the media when you're growing up a culture.
True. The problem with DIY labs I think is the barrier to entry. It's really hard to start from nothing to having a DIY lab where you have some idea of what's going on. Maybe an online lab (videos?) is the way to go? My microbio and biotech labs in college did serve me pretty well as far as knowing what the bands in my gel mean, etc.
>Maybe an online lab (videos?) is the way to go?
Check out the Journal of Visualized Experiments : http://www.jove.com/
Check out the Journal of Visualized Experiments : http://www.jove.com/
Arcturus BioCloud are doing an cloud lab geared towards DIY biology: https://www.arcturus.io/
Agreed. Applying the terminology of traditional consumer tech to Biology/Biochemistry is both conceptually incorrect and deeply problematic.
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.
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.
The amino lab itself is useless - the apps are the useful things. The lab is basically the equivalent of a big glass bowl.
My problem with Amino is that it seems like it's basically a shell for the Synbiota kits (synbiota.com). I met someone in Toronto a few weeks back who knows the Synbiota guys, and he said the founder of Amino and Synbiota are dating.
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.
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.
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.