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I tried this PCR analysis. . (Score:2, Troll)
by Money__ (hallada at msgto dot com) on Sunday June 18, @10:27AM EDT (#2)
(User Info) file://c:/con/con
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. .on a bloody knife I found in a dumpster in Brentwood CA. It identifies some guy named Orinthol James something or other.
___
Gnutella: Because the client is the server. |
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Re:I tried this PCR analysis. . (Score:1, Flamebait)
by Darchmare (jeff@velocinews.com) on Sunday June 18, @12:11PM EDT (#38)
(User Info) http://www.velocinews.com
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So is anything posted that is at the least funny or informative considered a 'karma whore'?
Who fucking cares, if the content is good?
I'd much rather deal with people trying to get good karma rather than a bunch of boring, unfunny, and uninformative posts - or a bunch of people going around with the sole purpose of telling them that they're karma whoring.
- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)
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Re:I tried this PCR analysis. . (Score:1)
by chris.dag (dag (at) sonsorol (dot) org) on Sunday June 18, @12:51PM EDT (#47)
(User Info) http://bio.perl.org
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(just my $.02) But it's not that funny....PCR takes a small amount of DNA and makes lots more. Has nothing to do with DNA fingerprinting except in that you might use PCR to increase your sample size. So -- weak humor attempt plus lame OJ Simpson reference makes me think that someone was just going for some cheapo karma...
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Re:I tried this PCR analysis. . (Score:2)
by Darchmare (jeff@velocinews.com) on Sunday June 18, @09:50PM EDT (#78)
(User Info) http://www.velocinews.com
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In such a case, it would seem to me that 'overrated' would be a better classification.
Either way, if someone truly is karma whoring, then what exactly is being accomplished by telling them?
You can't tell someone's intentions by the content of their post. Maybe they really are unfunny and mistaken? Those are observations that can be made without the 'karma whore' label (which seems to be attached to just about anyone but the people who use the label itself).
Just my $.02
- Jeff A. Campbell
- VelociNews (http://www.velocinews.com)
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PCR Can Be Used for Fingerprinting... (Score:1)
by crashcane on Monday June 19, @01:11PM EDT (#101)
(User Info) |
PCR CAN be used for fingerpring. By pcr, you can generate large amounts of _specific_ areas of the DNA; this is determined by the sequence of the primers you use. This allows fingerprinting to happen in one step, if the primers attach to some highly repetitive region of the genome. It works on the same principle as the Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism technique for DNA fingerprinting, but requires much less starting material.
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This has some neato-factor... (Score:1)
by cvoid on Sunday June 18, @10:33AM EDT (#4)
(User Info) http://www.morphine.com/void/
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...simply because it is a rather interesting glimpse of our own reality through science-fiction eyes if you will. take for example, computers, or better yet, the internet. science fiction authors have discussed the same type of thing, and people read it and thought 'wow, that is neat, but i wonder if it will ever happen'.
i may be getting confused in my old age, but didn't count zero by w. gibson have a hobbyist character who experimented with genetic engineering? looks like that is becoming a reality.
all i can say is, cool. albeit scary at the same time.
cvoid - satellites are cool |
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Re:This has some neato-factor... (Score:1)
by B. Samedi (BaronSamedi@sluggy.net) on Monday June 19, @01:24PM EDT (#102)
(User Info) |
Yep. It's Turner's (the mercenary) brother, Rudy (I've read that book way too many times). I don't remember it saying specifically that he played with genetic engineering but it was strongly hinted at that's for sure.
(Insert obscure, profound and/or funny quote here) |
Re:WmG characters (Score:1)
by drycht on Monday June 19, @11:48AM EDT (#98)
(User Info) http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~waltz
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Gibson's short story "Johnny Mnemonic" and novel Neuromancer take place in the same universe, and have some overlap (I seem to remember that Johnny is mentioned in Neuromancer, and Molly is an important charecter in both works). I believe there are some references to biological alterations in both of them (like the lo-tek's fangs, claws, etc), but they were more of the Chiba City sort, not things involving genetics.
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coffee stirrers (Score:1)
by Marce1 on Sunday June 18, @10:33AM EDT (#5)
(User Info) |
| 40% error - only! yeah, yeah, I know, it's not important except for the price of it...
-- [ convey meme here ] |
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Re:coffee stirrers had 4%, not 40% error (Score:1)
by Marce1 on Monday June 19, @06:50PM EDT (#105)
(User Info) |
| oops -yep -this is the bit that caught my eye though: " and I could dole out as little as five microlitres with only about 40% error" - serves me right for scanning through the text too fast NB - is that "i like your sig, btw" your sig? - that would be nifty..
-- [ convey meme here ] |
Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? (Score:2, Funny)
by drin on Sunday June 18, @10:35AM EDT (#6)
(User Info) |
James?? James!! Quit amplifying your sister's DNA and eat your dinner! NOW, young man!
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Re:Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do? (Score:2)
by Guppy on Sunday June 18, @11:00AM EDT (#18)
(User Info) |
Mommy! Mommy! I just sequenced my DNA, and it doesn't look anything like Daddy's!
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SCIAM (Score:2)
by cetan on Sunday June 18, @10:36AM EDT (#7)
(User Info) http://www.cetan.com
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In fact this entire issue of Scientific American is really worth reading. Discussion on life in the Universe, A huge report on The Human GENOME and the race to patent your body. Incredable stuff.
--------------------- cetan www.cetan.com --------------------- |
PCR Commercial (Score:5, Funny)
by Sempiternity (dj_fate2600@spam.yahoo.com) on Sunday June 18, @10:43AM EDT (#8)
(User Info) http://i.am/theplayer
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This is just what we need, a way to rip our own DNA to shreds for the amusement of our selves, our children, and to the detrimental terror of our neighbors. I can see the commercial now.
Bored with board games? Tired of those inoportune visits by your neighbors, relatives, and door to door salesmen? Well, imagine the fun one could have in creating a new life form. Use PCR to genetically mix your dog and cat. Use PCR to clone your children into the Eintstiens you have always wanted...
<blatant plug> I used PCR to advance my genes beyond that of normal human beings, and now I have brain cancer from my enlarged frontal lobe. THANKS PCR! </blatant plug>
Yes, that is PCR, create degenerate copies of yourself, advance yourself beyone the natural order of your neighbors. Create beings with supernatural powers...wake the dead, Your imagination is the only hurdle, Why don't you use PCR to do away with it?
<blatant plug> Before I used PCR, I was the life of the party, and now I'm regarded by everyone I meet as an aberrant decrepit freak of nature. Before, I couldn't even get noticed by women, but the shrieks and cries I get as I walk down the street are music to my ears. THANKS PCR!</blatant plug>
That is PCR, order NOW... only $19.95, plus shipping and handling. We are sorry no COD's.
0100100000100000011010010111000010000001100001001000000010001100101110 |
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Re:PCR? Commercial (Score:1)
by drycht on Monday June 19, @12:26PM EDT (#100)
(User Info) http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~waltz
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That commercial was very funny. Or at least it might have been, if it would have mentioned anything vaguely related to PCR!
For God's sake, PCR has nothing to do with genetic alteration, it's just a simple tool for duplicating DNA. If you are going to make blanket generalizations about genetic engineering, don't try to insert some term that you don't understand the meaning of. If you knew anything about PCR even, you would realize that it is just using the natural enzyme (polymerase) to duplicate DNA, a process that occurs in your body in almost every cell.
Or, you could just be pointing out how incredibly stupid and inept commercials can be at using snazzy-sounding technical terms, in which case, touche.
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binary art (Score:1)
by drycht on Monday June 19, @12:11PM EDT (#99)
(User Info) http://www.ece.utexas.edu/~waltz
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Dear AC,
I really like
111111101101 => 0xFED (C) or FEDh (asm)
or, in base 10
4077
Unfortunatly, 4077 also makes a nice
PIN number...
love,
00110001 00110011 00111001 00101110
00110001 00110110 00111001 00101110
00110001 00110101 00110110 00101110
00110000 00110101 00110010
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Re:PCR Commercial (Score:1)
by Sempiternity (dj_fate2600@spam.yahoo.com) on Thursday June 29, @12:11AM EDT (#113)
(User Info) http://i.am/theplayer
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It says 'H is not a #', and probably looks screwed up cause I was drunk when I wrote it.
0100100000100000011010010111000010000001100001001000000010001100101110 |
I come tomorrow.. (Score:1)
by hhg on Sunday June 18, @10:45AM EDT (#9)
(User Info) |
Twice - at the same time!
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I have been doing this for years! (Score:3, Funny)
by Bios_Hakr on Sunday June 18, @10:45AM EDT (#10)
(User Info) |
My research partner (read wife) and I have been recombining DNA in for years. We even did it in the kitchen once, however, the bedroom is more suited to our techniques. So far the results look promising, but I'll keep you posted if there are any changes.
~Bios Assumption first blinds a man, then sends him running. |
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Re:I have been doing this for years! (Score:1)
by mrfiddlehead (mrfiddlehead@yahoo.co.uk) on Sunday June 18, @11:46AM EDT (#33)
(User Info) |
That must explain why they keep turning down your article submissions at sciam. Perhaps you should take a hint and submit to another publication.
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Re:I have been doing this for years! (Score:1)
by NulDevice on Monday June 19, @04:48PM EDT (#103)
(User Info) http://www.nulldevice.com
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Sadly, neither Nature, Biochemistry, nor The Cell have a "Forum" section. "Dear Biochemistry Forum: I never thought this would happen to me. But I was in the lab one night and I spilled acrylomide all down the front of my lab coat. Luckily the new lab assistant was there to run the thermocycler for me while I decontaminated..." Hm. It's just not the same.
----
I haven't been fsck'ed like that since LISA. |
Oh so easy (Score:1)
by Vanders (vanders@no-spam.cableinet.co.uk) on Sunday June 18, @10:46AM EDT (#11)
(User Info) http://www.vanders.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
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So, is this the first step of the new book How to clone a human in 23415 easy steps! Now there's a scary thought, you could have a whole cloned army of amueter scientists!
This .sig here until i think of something funny. |
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Recombinant DNA In A Nutshell (Score:1)
by decipher_saint on Sunday June 18, @04:21PM EDT (#64)
(User Info) http://www.connect.ab.ca/~skid/
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I wonder what O'Reilly will put on the cover?
Capt. Ron
Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto |
Re:Recombinant DNA In A Nutshell (Score:1)
by Skald on Sunday June 18, @09:24PM EDT (#77)
(User Info) |
A nineteenth-century engraving of Charles Darwin and his Mini-Me?
"The great object is, that every man be armed. Every one who is able may have a gun." -- Patrick Henry, June 14 1788 |
Money saving tip for Amateur Scientists (Score:3, Informative)
by Guppy on Sunday June 18, @10:51AM EDT (#12)
(User Info) |
For those of you who might actually be compelled to try this at hope, here's a tip to save a little money. Scientific supply companies will frequently provide free samples for disposable equipment, like pipette tips or eppendorf tubes -- and there are a lot of scientific supply companies out there, so lather, rinse, repeat.
I had a (poorly funded) professor who kept her lab going for weeks with freebies. Sometimes she even managed to weasel out some more expensive items, like a free sample of Taq polymerase.
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Re:Money saving tip for Amateur Scientists (Score:2)
by thogard on Sunday June 18, @07:46PM EDT (#73)
(User Info) http://web.abnormal.com
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For thouse who want to try this at home, drop in the local toy store and look in the "science" area. You may find a $10 kit to do just this.
I've found most scientific supply places are a pain to deal with when you want something delivered to a home address. Sigma (out of St Louis) called me 3 times to find out why I was ordering $3 worth of tubing.
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Re:Money saving tip for Amateur Scientists (Score:1)
by kerpo on Sunday June 18, @08:33PM EDT (#74)
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That's to make up for not asking why you wanted the anthrax! Just kidding
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Re:Money saving tip for Amateur Scientists (Score:1)
by burris on Tuesday June 20, @12:49AM EDT (#110)
(User Info) |
You can thank prohibition and pressure from the DEA for that.
Burris
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this reminds me... (Score:3, Funny)
by fluxrad (fluxrad@/dev/null) on Sunday June 18, @10:53AM EDT (#13)
(User Info) |
of a study done my several of my friends and I at our lab up in Boulder, Co.
Basically, it was an experiment in the neural synaptic responses produced by the oral ingestion of Delta-9 TetraHyrdaCanabinol via several metalic media heated on an electronic thermal amplifier.
results: when you smoke weed via the "hot knives" method...you get really fucking danked!!
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
-The Onion |
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But How Do We Get the DNA? (Score:2, Funny)
by The-Bus on Sunday June 18, @10:53AM EDT (#14)
(User Info) |
| Some instructions from the website: First, you will need some of your own DNA and several sterile Pyrex test tubes with rubber stoppers And how do I go about getting this DNA? Can I use this as an excuse in case my significant other catches me one night in the den? Significant Other: Honey, what the hell are you doing? Lotion? A videotape of 'Girls Gone Wild Part IV'?? Me: Uhhh.. I'm just getting some DNA, baby. It's all in the interest of science, trust me. I mean, yeah, you could just extract some plasma but that wouldn't be fun.
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Re:But How Do We Get the DNA? (Score:1)
by Linus H. (es.ollehc@h.l.k) on Sunday June 18, @11:50AM EDT (#34)
(User Info) |
Well, there are actully sevelral quite easy
methods. But a hair with the the blob at the end from your head ( or someplace else ) would do.
They you pour a some stuff on this a spin around ( really really really fast (think 10000rpm)).
You could extraxt from your blood if you ain't afraid of needles. It's quite easy. Just mixes with a few substances.
Or just pour something else in your mouth and out comes alot of fresh skins cells. Why from the mouth you may ask. Well...
In any case semen would really be that god. Thrust me. Or don't.
It's called new wave but it's just the same. |
Re:But How Do We Get the DNA? (Score:1)
by drinkypoo on Sunday June 18, @12:26PM EDT (#43)
(User Info) http://down.on.fascination.st/~drink/
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The "spin around" is known as a "centrifuge", and is a great way to seperate liquids. Try it on salad dressing sometime. Out of curiosity, how does one get the varying liquids out of a centrifuge once they have been seperated into bands? Do you skim them off, or what?
You are what you do when you count --Steakley |
Re:But How Do We Get the DNA? (Score:1)
by Stonehand (lw2j@cs.cmu.edu) on Sunday June 18, @12:59PM EDT (#49)
(User Info) http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~lw2j
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Use a micropipette (sp?)?
-- the silly student / he writes really bad haiku / readers all go mad |
Re:But How Do We Get the DNA? (Score:1)
by joekool (joe@NoSPAMtypeStuffschmoe.virtualave.net) on Sunday June 18, @09:16PM EDT (#76)
(User Info) http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=joekool&threshold=-1
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different specific weights--they stay in bands when they stop spinning--and no it does not make it pure in this method, as their tends to be a little recombination at the meeting of the bands--think choclate milk, before stirring
I know all, I see all--guess which is the fun part!? |
Nostalgia . . . (Score:1)
by LionMan (LionMan6969@yahoo.com) on Sunday June 18, @10:53AM EDT (#15)
(User Info) http://127.0.0.1/
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Ah, some day we'll look back at the "good old times" ...
When you could eat off of your genetic engineering tools ...
When you could tell if that thing in the basement was alive or not by using a spatula ...
When your two youngest children were more or less human ...
When you didn't modify your household plants to fortify the structure of your house ...
When your chromosomes were not patented ...
So, what will it be like then? I'll tell you when I get there.
-LLM |
Ouch, this makes me feel old! (Score:2)
by Jonathan on Sunday June 18, @10:53AM EDT (#16)
(User Info) http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~jhbadger/
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When I was an undergraduate in the late '80s I remember the big fuss when our university received its first PCR machine when PCR was viewed as a high-tech futuristic technique, much as microarrays are seen today. And now look at PCR -- amateurs can do it at home! I wonder if ten years from now microarrays will be cheap enough for amateurs to play with.
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Re:Ouch, this makes me feel old! (Score:1)
by Vanders (vanders@no-spam.cableinet.co.uk) on Sunday June 18, @10:58AM EDT (#17)
(User Info) http://www.vanders.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
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Out of interest, what is a microarray? I have visions in my head of a char array[NULL]; for some reason, but i know it can't be that :)
This .sig here until i think of something funny. |
Re:Ouch, this makes me feel old! (Score:2)
by Jonathan on Sunday June 18, @11:08AM EDT (#21)
(User Info) http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~jhbadger/
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Out of interest, what is a microarray? I have visions in my head of a char array[NULL]; for some reason, but i know it can't be that :)
Good one! But seriously, microarrays (or gene chips as they are sometimes called), allow the researcher to see what genes are active at any given time. To use a computer analogy, using microarrays is like using a debugger to see what is going on when the program is actually run. It's really cool technology, but it still is fairly rare because of the cost.
If you want more info on microarrays, see
http://www.gene-chips.com/
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Re:Ouch, this makes me feel old! (Score:1)
by fatdave on Sunday June 18, @11:14AM EDT (#22)
(User Info) |
Well--
Given that a microarray (glass slide method) is basically a glass microscope slide that has been treated by a few chemicals (takes a few mins with a few old glass jars as supports) and the real expense comes in spotting the array (needing a machine to accurately spot 40K spots on a normal microscope slide) it should be possible to do small arrays (a few hundred spots) at home. Then you need a reader which can detect the spots. Using old tech you could use radiation and xray film, then scan it on your normal PC scanner.
Bingo.. instant home microarrays (but 200K for kit would get it done a lot quicker and more accurately.. wonder if you could build an array spotter from lego mindstorms..)
..d
--- EMBnet - European Collaboration in Bioinformatics Worldwide |
Re:Ouch, this makes me feel old! (Score:2)
by Jonathan on Sunday June 18, @11:24AM EDT (#24)
(User Info) http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~jhbadger/
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wonder if you could build an array spotter from lego mindstorms..)
That's exactly what I thought when I first saw an array spotter -- it's just a robotic pipet, after all. Of course accuracy might be a problem :-)
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Re:Ouch, this makes me feel old! (Score:2)
by drinkypoo on Sunday June 18, @12:32PM EDT (#44)
(User Info) http://down.on.fascination.st/~drink/
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Well, lego has a few things that might make the accuracy easier. I was just looking through a catalog because I think I'm going to start to get into robotics via lego. :) - WORM gear - This is the corkscrew gear which you can run along the edge of a normal gear. Works as a handy dandy torque converter of doom, and if you can get the other bits pretty form against it, has the side benefit of only allowing the motor to work against the gears, not the other way around.
- Rotation Detector - This mindstorms device, when coupled with a motor and some gearing, provides a servo - It knows to what degree a lego shaft (the generally black but sometimes red plus-shaped rods) is rotated.
Okay, I started out doing a much longer list, and sort of flailed. And I know I'm offtopic, but heck, legos are just so darn cool. Anyway, I was thinking about something similar to this, and I decided you'd need four things to get high positional accuracy out of legos. Two of them are above, and the other two are lego blocks with a bearing inset for smooth, tight rotation, and metal drive shafts. If you have some good resistance behind it, those plastic shafts are definitely going to twist and flex, which you absolutely don't want.
You are what you do when you count --Steakley |
Re:Ouch, this makes me feel old! (Score:1)
by sysadmn (sysadmn@netscape.net) on Sunday June 18, @04:57PM EDT (#69)
(User Info) |
I'm feeling even older. My High School, offers a course in Genetic Engineering. They use human cells. When I graduated (20 years ago) this would have been illegal (and probably immoral, expensive, and fattening)!
The only journey is the one within. -- Rainer Maria Rilke |
Think about it.... (Score:1)
by Da Cr33p on Sunday June 18, @11:02AM EDT (#19)
(User Info) |
| Tatoos and piercings are a thing of the past, DIY Devils horns, A "grow it/them yourself" hermaphrodite kit! The possibilites are endless! It could make the fetish scene even more interesting but do we really want a club full of Marilyn Mansons? Da Cr33p
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Re:Think about it.... (Score:1)
by NulDevice on Monday June 19, @04:54PM EDT (#104)
(User Info) http://www.nulldevice.com
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Truth is often stranger than fiction. A while back a lab had grown several mice with luciferase/luciferin genes spliced into certain pigment-producing cells. Glow-in-the-dark mice. Some had glowing tails, others had glowing spots. Imagine having your own bioluminescent tatoos? (Glow sticks at raves would be a thing of the past, for one thing) Granted, you'd have to have had those spliced in at conception, but maybe you've had forethinking parents. Or maybe technology will overcome that sort of problem with some sort of vector that can be safely used in a tatoo ink. I just want a glow-in-the-dark mouse. Must be hell on their nocturnal cycles, though.
----
I haven't been fsck'ed like that since LISA. |
Watch out! (Score:1)
by MostlyHarmless (jlee@diespamdie.sidgames.com) on Sunday June 18, @11:04AM EDT (#20)
(User Info) http://www.sidgames.com/
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... when some teenager starts working on this and accidentally turns the Earth into a giant slab of gorganzola cheese :-)
nuclear cia fbi spy password code encrypt president bomb
Echelon must die. |
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ohh no! (Score:1)
by SnapperHead on Sunday June 18, @11:20AM EDT (#23)
(User Info) |
Teenagers are inhaling paint thiner and now this! Now I can prove that the world WILL destroy it self. In other news, a 15 year old playing around with his own DNA, has grown 4 extra heads. Mean while 17 other deaths from teenagers tring to make there dicks bigger. I can see it now.
until ( succeed ) try { again(); } |
coffee stirrers (Score:1, Funny)
by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18, @11:25AM EDT (#26)
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I'm a biochemist and I use these $250 automatic pipettors (they deliver volumes down to 0.2 microliters) and a robotic liquid handling workstation that really costs an arm and a leg in addition to a selection of other appendages. Coffee stirrers! I think we have been robbed. I would probably sue someone if I lives in the US.
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HS Biology Labs (Score:1)
by dulles (dullesatartifexnospamdotorg) on Sunday June 18, @11:39AM EDT (#28)
(User Info) http://www.base16.net/
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In my biology class, we did a really interesting experiment with recombining DNA plasmids. We had a sample of "Class-room Safe" e-coli. (A supplier, can't remember the name, added a gene to make the e-coli require some compounds which aren't found in the human body). Of course, growing e-coli is fun in itself... but:
We also had plasmids with a gene that made e-coli immune to one substance, and another which made it turn BLUE in another substance. We used recombinant techniques to add the plasmids to the e-coli.
Unfortunately only 1 of the lab groups succeeded, out of about 10 - but apperantly all of them succeeded all the time for the past so-many-years, according to the teacher.
Well, this doesn't have really much to do with Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR method), which is, as we learned it, sort of like "mass-DNA-replication-in-a-tube", but it was fun...
cat: .signature: No such file or directory |
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Re:HS Biology Labs (Score:1, Informative)
by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18, @12:22PM EDT (#42)
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Transformation: inserting a foreign genetic information into E. coli... nobody knows for sure how it works, but there are several methods, and they all work well
I don't think the transformation made the bugs immune, resistant to certain antibiotics (ampicillin, kanamycin, etc) is more accurate...
Blue color is caused by x-gal, a sugar derivative, which when cleaved by beta-galactosidase (an enzyme that breaks down sugar chains into single unit glucose) becomes blue.
My guess to why the transformation didn't work is that the frozen bugs have gone bad or the DNA is deteriorated. Transformations are so fool-proof that even undergrads can do it..
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Re:HS Biology Labs (Score:1)
by dulles (dullesatartifexnospamdotorg) on Sunday June 18, @03:30PM EDT (#61)
(User Info) http://www.base16.net/
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Thanks for reminding me of the names. X-Gal, Ampicillin, etc. We were pretty sure HOW it worked: We used restriction enzymes to cut the DNA at certain locations, inserted the plasmid, and used the ligase enzyme (I /think/) to patch it up.
I still can't remember the name of the supply company, though. I think it started with a W
cat: .signature: No such file or directory |
Transformation (Score:1)
by yardgnome on Sunday June 18, @05:31PM EDT (#71)
(User Info) |
When you say no one knows how it works, do you mean no one knows exactly how the plasmids are received by the bacterium? Or no one knows how F-factors signal for transduction? Or...?
As far as I know, it's been worked out pretty thoroughly...
On the offhand, this undergrad is on his way to publication. So don't underestimate us younger researchers. *wink 'n a grin*
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where to order PCR primers (Score:2, Informative)
by Mondo54 on Sunday June 18, @11:41AM EDT (#30)
(User Info) |
Here's some software to help design your primers. http://www.alkami.com/primers/refdsgn.htm Primers run about $50 a pop and will last about 10-20 rxn's, depending on if you're using a coffee straw or a PipetMan. Find em here: http://www.stratagene.com/pcr/pcrprimers.htm or http://www.lifetech.com You can also buy many reagents (phenol, chloroform, B-mercaptoethanol isopropanol, glycogen, NaAc, etc) relatively inexpensively, and do a decent DNA extraction.
But isn't the purpose of the Doomsday machine lost if you keep it a secret! |
Warning: Ethidium Bromide (Score:5, Informative)
by Guppy on Sunday June 18, @11:42AM EDT (#31)
(User Info) |
Before anyone here tries actually running this, note that (as stated in the article), Ethidium Bromide is toxic and mutagenic. Ethidium Bromide is an intercalator, which means it binds itself to DNA in the spaces between base pairs (thus gumming up DNA replication). Small amounts can be disposed of down the drain, but you probably should neutralize it instead.
Incineration: Ethidium Bromide can be destroyed by burning. I wouldn't advise you to just chuck it on a fire, though, but an incinerator should probably be fine.
Adsorption: You can adsorb Ethidium Bromide with activated carbon (Like the kind you use for aquariums). I've heard that 100mg of activated carbon is sufficient for 100mL of Ethidium Bromide staining solution.
Here are also two ways to destroy Ethidium Bromide chemically. One is uses reagents that are harder to get (but does a better job), while the second uses ordinary bleach (but the destruction is less complete).
Lunn and Sansone method:
Dilute solutions containing EtBr to concentration less than 0.05% w/v (50mg/100mL). Add 20mL of fresh 5% hypophosphorous acid and 12mL of fresh 0.5M sodium nitrite solution per 100mL of EtBr solution. After at least 20 hours, neutralize with sodium bicarbonate, then dispose of down the drain. Note that the sample will give off poisonous nitrogen dioxide during neutralization.
Armour Method: Dilute solutions containing EtBr to concentrations less than 0.034% w/v (34mg/100mL). Add 10mL of fresh bleach for every 1mg EtBr. Stir at room temperature for at least 4 hours. The EtBr is converted to the physiologically inactive product 2-carboxybenzophenone, and the solution should then be rinsed down the sanitary sewer with water.
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Re:Warning: Ethidium Bromide (Score:1)
by Keith_Beef on Tuesday June 20, @09:08AM EDT (#111)
(User Info) |
So if you use the Lunn and Sansone method in California, you'll run fould of NOx emissions legislation...
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Bonus!: Ethidium Bromide (Score:1)
by Pseudonymus Bosch on Monday June 19, @07:41AM EDT (#96)
(User Info) http://www.dmoz.org/
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Adsorption: You can adsorb Ethidium Bromide with activated carbon (Like the kind you use for aquariums).
The activated charcoal will absorb the EtBr, but it should be pointed out that you still have to incinerate the charcoal to destroy it.
Better. You can drop it in the aquarium and wait for the poli-eyed fishes to develop
__
"Free" as in "free 'undred quid". |
gives me goose bumps... (Score:1)
by crovax on Sunday June 18, @11:58AM EDT (#35)
(User Info) http://www.demonstreet.com
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..to think what some people would do if they had the power to edit DNA.
Scares the the shit out of me.
Stuff like this sould only be given to professionals.
Wait... On second thought.....
-----
If my facts are wrong then tell me. I don't mind.
DemonStreet.com |
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Re:gives me goose bumps... (Score:1)
by foolish youngster (madmaxwilliam@netscape.net) on Monday June 19, @01:31AM EDT (#86)
(User Info) |
Stuff like this sould only be given to professionals. Huh. Anybody ever read The White Plague? Frank Herbert. It's a mind blower. All we need is a goddamn scriptkiddie with a home chem set, an autoclave and a Klibold attitude. Thanks but no thanks. * *
From north and south fell warriors,from the venom of the russet-boughed yew; from east and west they fell - do not seek further to ask me why. |
a vote for censorship on a /. post !?! (Score:1)
by Soch on Monday June 19, @07:39AM EDT (#95)
(User Info) |
Why should this stuff be given only to the pro's?
1) Who judges at what point one is expert enough?
2)Since when are the pro's so responsable that you'd trust them? didn't a building fall down or something because of a faulty pentium 75 when it first came out? THAT kind of thing can happen by accident - what if you have a malicious (sp?) pro?
3) How could you maintain even the image of a free market society if you began to limit the simple stuff (I call this simple because there are easy enough instructions out there and available parts, *I* don't understand it myself).
Anyway, even before you Q1 - who would be holding this info back? anybody with a biochem degree could figure it out (I'm guessing) - it's not like this stuff is freshly out of some secret government lab. OK, so someone owns a pattent on some of the method, but that only covers MARKETABLE use. This might even be in last years "science year" for all we know. So Sci Am printed this recently, but how long has this kind of info been easily available from other sources?
I'm raving a bit - sorry. I get rather excited when someone mistakenly thinks that holding back information - especially non-dangerous but highly educational information - can be to anyone's good.
Everything and everyone is an aspect of G•d. So remember to show proper respect! |
The future of hacking (Score:1)
by ignatiusst (pcadams@cetlink.net) on Sunday June 18, @12:04PM EDT (#36)
(User Info) http://web.cetlink.net/~pcadams/home.html
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Does this mean that the media's portrayal of reedy, pale, disturbed youth hacking your computer will fade away in favor of reedy, pale, disturbed youth hacking your genome? Or will these new hackers be strong and tan (being that they will be masters of genetic manipulation). That would be ironic, wouldn't it... alienated because you look like a jock...
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Just to clarify (Score:2, Informative)
by Vanders (vanders@no-spam.cableinet.co.uk) on Sunday June 18, @12:11PM EDT (#37)
(User Info) http://www.vanders.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
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O.K, so it's a fun idea and all, but i thought i'd clarify that the article is simply instructions on Amplifiying and Sequencing DNA, not changing or cloning people :) The two are just a little too diferent :)
This .sig here until i think of something funny. |
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Automate this (Score:2, Funny)
by Ugmo (SmikePlavin@Aerols.Mcom) on Sunday June 18, @12:12PM EDT (#39)
(User Info) |
I would like to see some open source designs for some hardware to automate putting base pairs together. Then hook it up to a computer and have another team write a gcc- cross compiler that compiles genes.
Step three is to write a really high level language so we could write a script such as:
PromDate
{
Blond
Blue Eyes
5 foot 10 inches
36-24-36
}
Feed it to the compiler and out come a set of chromosomes.
Then no geek would ever be dateless to the prom again.
As it is, the closest thing to this PCR I ever did was bake yeast bread. That took three tries because the first two times I killed the yeast when I made the water too hot.
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Re:Automate this (Score:3, Funny)
by drinkypoo on Sunday June 18, @12:36PM EDT (#45)
(User Info) http://down.on.fascination.st/~drink/
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Naturally, you want your specifications to be written in XML. Amusingly, microsoft gave someone a bunch of money to develop a machine that reads and writes DNA. The big problem is the eighteen years the body has to sit in the cloning lab...
You are what you do when you count --Steakley |
Re:Automate this (Score:2, Funny)
by mllenerd on Sunday June 18, @04:29PM EDT (#66)
(User Info) |
Well, at least you'll have a date for the class reunion...
--
The geeks shall inherit the earth. |
Ribofunk (Score:1)
by hopping yak on Sunday June 18, @12:13PM EDT (#41)
(User Info) |
| The next Steve Wozniak will be the person who mass-markets DNA computation for the desk top. It might look like a little gel bag with a few USB and video ports. Paul Di Flippo wrote a truly gnarly set of interconnected short stories that exptrapolate on the whole biotech revolution. It includes cyberpunk style DNA hackers -- Watsons and Cricks. The book is called Ribofunk.
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I bought the home kit from ACME... (Score:1)
by Byteme (james@nospam-pronoblem.com) on Sunday June 18, @12:53PM EDT (#48)
(User Info) http://www.pronoblem.com
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| ... and was pissed when I found the words on the box "Monkeys not included".
Grits! & Pronoblem |
La java des bombes atomiques... (Score:3, Funny)
by Pig Hogger (lugalle@-DOPESPAM-yahoo.com) on Sunday June 18, @01:47PM EDT (#55)
(User Info) |
This reminds me of Boris Vian's song, La java des bombes atomiques , which described some amateur tinkerer making atomic bombs in his garage... (Quick English translation below for the french-impaired)... La java des bombes atomiques My uncle, a famous tinkerer
used to make, as an amateur
some atomic bombs Without ever learning anything
he was a real genius
when it came to practical works He locked himself all day long
in his workshop
to make his experiments And in the evening,
he came back home,
and explained it all to us. To make an A-bombs,
children, believe me,
it's really a piece of cake. The detonator question
is solved is a quarter hour
it's the one we put aside. And for the H-bomb,
it's not much harder,
but one thing bothers me,
is that the bombs I make
only have a action radius
of only three meters fifty. There's something wrong there,
I'm going back right now. He worked at it for days
trying, with love,
to improve the yield. When he ate with us,
he wolfed down his soup
We saw to his appearance
that he fell upon a hard part
but we dared not say anyhing. Then one evening, during the meal,
here he sighs, and starts shouting: As I'm getting older,
I see better
that my brain is failing
it ain't a brain anymore
it's like béchamel sauce
It's been months and years
I've tried to increase my bomb's
yield, and I never noticed
that the only thing that matters
it's the place where it falls down. There's something wrong there,
I'm going back right now. Knowing that success will be close,
all the great heads of state
came to visit him. He received them and excused him
that his shop was so small. But as soon as they were all in,
he locked-them up,
telling them be nice! And when the bomb went off,
of those people nothing remained. My uncle, in front of the result,
didn't chicken-out
He played the dummy
In front of the court
Before the jury,
he mumbled Gentlemen, it's a horrible bad luck
But I swear in front of God
That in my soul and conscience
That by destroying those crooks,
I am convinced of having
Served my countryu. They were embarrased,
So they sentenced him,
then they pardoned him. And in reward, the country
elected him head of the government.
--
Here's my mirror
of all the popular censored sites discussed here. |
Nasty mutagen (Score:1)
by SEWilco on Sunday June 18, @01:50PM EDT (#56)
(User Info) http://www.wilcoxon.org/~sewilco
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Gee, if you need special warnings about chemicals for biological experiments then stay out of my garage. 10% of the writing in there must be warnings, including the labels under the hood of the car. [Say, does anyone have a link to the study about benzene binding to a protein in lab rat livers which is not in human bodies?] Not to mention how quickly a circular saw can alter your body structure...
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Interesting article, but... (Score:2, Insightful)
by No Such Agency on Sunday June 18, @02:41PM EDT (#58)
(User Info) |
I'm not sure it's such a good idea for Sci Am to suggest that individuals play with carcinogenic/mutagenic reagents at home. I mean, I am growing increasingly leery of all the shit I use in the lab (I'm a molecular biologist) and its cumulative effects on my body. I'm only 26 and I don't want to have flipper babies because I breathed in some fumes once or twice.
That said, this is an informative article, because it serves to "de-mystify" the science of DNA manipulation. That's important because IMHO, a lot of the public's fear of this technology stems from not understanding it. Of course, that portion of the public probably doesn't read Sci Am...
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while you're waiting for your PCR to work... (Score:2, Informative)
by sesquiped (sesquiped@hotmail.com) on Sunday June 18, @03:46PM EDT (#62)
(User Info) |
... why not try reading something by the inventor of the reaction itself, Kary Mullis? He wrote a book called Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, which is mostly just a large collection of stories, opinions, and anything else he wanted to put in there. As you should be able to see immediately, this guy is no ordinary scientist. As for the book, I loved it, and most of you probably would too. There's a lot of stuff in there that will make you challenge how you've been thinking about science, such as the chapter about HIV and AIDS. The whole thing is very not-politically correct, like the chapter on his experiences with LSD and related substances, and that makes it more fun to read. Pick up a copy, you won't regret it.
the book at bn.com - http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=0679774009
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Re:while you're waiting for your PCR to work... (Score:2, Interesting)
by luke_ (luke_sjulson@hotmail.com) on Sunday June 18, @04:47PM EDT (#68)
(User Info) |
There's a lot of stuff in there that will make you challenge how you've been thinking about science, such as the chapter about HIV and AIDS
Kary Mullis may have invented PCR, but he is still a half-insane hallucinogen user with an ax to grind. I work on HIV, and I'm all for less popular viewpoints in science, but Mullis and Duesberg's theories on AIDS pathogenesis are purely politically motivated.
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Re:while you're waiting for your PCR to work... (Score:1)
by sesquiped (sesquiped@hotmail.com) on Tuesday June 20, @11:10PM EDT (#112)
(User Info) |
Let me state I'm not taking sides. I wouldn't consider doing that until I've read and considered material from both groups, and I have not done that, nor do I have the training and background required to make a judgement. I only mentioned Mullis' opinions about HIV and AIDS as an example of the "underdog" in the academic community who may or may not be right, but is nonetheless crucial to the progress of science. And to remind people of the necessity of hard evidence to back up results, which is missing in a lot of today's "science". There are probably better examples than Mullis, but I wrote this in response to an article about PCR.
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Re:while you're waiting for your PCR to work... (Score:1)
by chriscappuccio (lrh@skientology.net) on Monday June 19, @07:30PM EDT (#106)
(User Info) http://www.dqc.org/
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Would you care to explain these political motivations?
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Re:while you're waiting for your PCR to work... (Score:1)
by luke_ (luke_sjulson@hotmail.com) on Monday June 19, @08:54PM EDT (#109)
(User Info) |
As far as I can tell, he just hates Bob Gallo, the guy whose group first discovered that AIDS is caused by HIV (for those who don't know, Mullis and Peter Duesberg's whole thing is that HIV does not cause AIDS). Gallo is the guy played by Alan Alda in that ridiculous inaccurate "And the Band Played On" movie, if anyone's seen that. I've never met Kary Mullis or even looked at his data if he has any; this is just my impression from reading his web pages. I can't remember the URLs, but they're full of quotes like "People are going to know I'm right, as soon as they find out what an asshole Gallo is!" As far as Gallo, I could see why people would dislike him since he seems a little too politician. I've seen him around several times but never met him personally (yet I get gold-leaf xmas cards stamped ROBERT C. GALLO AND STAFF), but my boss and all the other faculty doing HIV stuff in my department know him really well and think highly of him. FWIW, the whole stealing data from the French thing was basically entirely fictionalized for the movie. As far as I can tell, Mullis's motivation seems to be proving that AIDS is caused by the use of amyl nitrite poppers, or ingesting semen, or a complex combination of retroviruses, or whatever they say it is now, as long as it isn't what Gallo and probably some other enemies said it was, HIV.
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Alright (Score:1)
by BluedemonX on Sunday June 18, @04:10PM EDT (#63)
(User Info) |
So you can amplify your DNA...
I didn't realise mine wasn't loud enough.
Here you go, my dear. What is it Ralph? 25 pounds of DNA. Uh, thanks, I guess....
But seriously though, I realise that the Scientific American was for Bio/Chem/Biochem geeks, but what's the practical upshot of this? Seriously, why would you bother making a "backup" of your DNA?
--- "You're ugly - but you're my kind of ugly." - LEXX |
Warning: patents ahead (Score:3, Interesting)
by jbuhler (jbuhler@cs.washington.edu) on Sunday June 18, @05:15PM EDT (#70)
(User Info) http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/jbuhler/
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The article neglects to mention that PCR is covered by several patents. For instance, here's the fine print from an advertisement for Clontech's AdvanTaq DNA polymerase:
"Purchase of Advantage PCR reagents is accompanied by a limited license to use them in the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) process for research in conjunction with with a thermal cycler whose use in the automated performance of the PCR process is covered by the up-front license fee, either by payment to Perkin-Elmer or as purchased, i.e., an authorized thermal cycler."
Roche holds most of the relevant patents on PCR, though they recently lost one of them as a result of a long, ugly lawsuit against Promega. For details, see this page at about.com. Perkin-Elmer holds a bunch of patents on machines for performing the thermal cycling step.
Fiddling with PCR in your own home is arguably an "experimental use" (i.e. you just want to see if it works) and therefore permitted under patent law, but don't make any commercial plans to Make DNA Fast.
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My 14-year-old son engineered E-coli (Score:1)
by ODBOL (michael_odonnell@acm.org) on Sunday June 18, @06:54PM EDT (#72)
(User Info) http://www.cs.uchicago.edu/~odonnell/
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Junior High students can do genetic engineering
Several years ago my son, then 14 years old, took a summer course in genetics. The class performed recombinant DNA experiments on E-coli. The chemicals came from grocery-store shelves. The most sophisticated piece of equipment was the temperature control for growing the culture. I expect you could whip one up from a yogurt maker. The first step was to make the culture resistant to pennicilin (since that's so easy to test). The most difficult raw material to acquire was the starting culture of E-coli, already engineered so that it would not thrive in the human gut. I find this a bit scary.
Mike O'Donnell |
Brewing up some drugs... (Score:1)
by swm (swmcd@world.std.com) on Sunday June 18, @08:46PM EDT (#75)
(User Info) http://world.std.com/~swmcd/steven/
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I'm waiting for someone to splice the genes for THC, cocaine, morphine, etc. into yeast, so you can brew up your fix in the privacy of your own home.
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Ack! Cloning increases spamming! (Score:1)
by mr_shifty (sue_em_all@metallica.com) on Sunday June 18, @10:46PM EDT (#79)
(User Info) http://members.home.net/eye-of-skerros
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Uh, guys, I think I need some help here. I read the article and cloned myself, but now he keeps signing me up for mailing lists I don't want. Is it morally wrong to throttle your own clone?
Mr Shifty, Defender of Dead-End Technology (DDET) "Good generally conquers evil. Unless, of course, good is stupid." - |
distributed.net client (Score:1)
by generic (lwc@betteros.org) on Sunday June 18, @10:46PM EDT (#80)
(User Info) |
I wonder how long it will take for ditributed.net to come out with dna crunching clients?
I only moderate up. |
BioHacking (Score:1)
by mindpixel on Monday June 19, @12:12AM EDT (#84)
(User Info) http://www.mindpixel.com/chris
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For those of you that are interested, you can subscribe to the BioHacking mailing list from my web page. This list is specifically for people into hacking DNA in their kitchens and basements.
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PCR at home (Score:1)
by NexusIV on Monday June 19, @07:05AM EDT (#94)
(User Info) |
OK people, this is serious: Ethidium Bromide is dangerous!!! Please do not try genetic experiments at home. Especially when children are around. There are strict rules in laboratories how to deal with this stuff. You can be hurt severely. In my opinion the whole topic of PCR at home isn't funny at all.
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Never use your own tissue as a sample. (Score:1)
by chris_wells on Monday June 19, @08:50AM EDT (#97)
(User Info) |
A fairly ubiquitous rule in all the labs I've ever worked in.
Reason: Do you really want to provide a walking mobile human host that has all the same growth characteristics as the thing you're growing in a dish.
Why do you think research labs pay people to donate samples of blood etc.
I used to entice Med students in with promises of beer, unfortunately as they became older they started asking questions: "If this makes a million I'll get a cut, right?"
Aks a neighbour for a sample, never use your own tissues, it's just asking for trouble.
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Re:Never use your own tissue as a sample. (Score:1)
by luke_ (luke_sjulson@hotmail.com) on Monday June 19, @08:10PM EDT (#107)
(User Info) |
never use your own tissues, it's just asking for trouble.
This makes sense if you're doing tissue culture and infecting the cells with HIV in vitro or something, but I don't think there are any dangers in extracting your own DNA to use as a template for PCR. I use my own DNA for PCRs all the time. Fooling around with EtBr in dishgloves is much more dangerous.
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Re:wvWare (Score:1)
by wampus (wampus@spam.n.eggs.mindless.com) on Sunday June 18, @11:44AM EDT (#32)
(User Info) |
Methinks you wanted this article...
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Re:this is a waste of time (Score:2, Informative)
by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 18, @01:43PM EDT (#54)
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Sorry--hit submit by mistake.
This article is seriously a waste of time. Why would anyone want to sit around for 3 hours moving tubes from water bath to water bath like grad students did 15 years ago?
All the supplies needed would cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars. A vial of amplitaq gold polymerase (the enzyme I use) alone costs $130. The dNTPS cost probably another $80, the agarose costs $100, the EtBr costs $30, the primers cost $40, etc. If someone packaged just the reagents you would need for a few PCR reactions together, it wouldn't be so bad.
The reason why this would be a waste of time is because the article makes it sound a lot easier than it really is, and I can imagine how much work it would take to get this going in the kitchen, and in the end you will have only replicated something idiotically routine by lab standards. But if someone really wants to try this, a few suggestions: first, the first time you put the tubes in the 94C water bath, make sure you leave it there for about 5 minutes, not just 1 as on the remaining steps. Second, the temperatures of the water baths are critical. Don't let the first water bath get over 95C or your polymerase will degrade too rapidly. Make sure the second water bath is at EXACTLY the right temperature for the primers you're using, within 2 degrees. The third water bath is not as critical. Another thing, when you're making your DNA template from a cheek scraping, a few mls of water will probably be too much. Try several concentrations of template DNA. Also, the drop of mineral oil has nothing to do with damaging the polymerase when freezing; it's to prevent refluxing inside the tube. One other thing is that you should not try to add the MgCl2 to the buffer yourself if you're using a coffee stirrer instead of a pipette, but you can buy buffer with MgCl2 already in it.
Optimizing the reactions can also be a bitch, but here's a URL to help with that:
http://www.immunologists.net/sxprotocols/molbiol/pcr_notes.htm
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Re:this is a waste of time (Score:2)
by Zurk (zurk@SPAMSUCKSgeocities.com) on Sunday June 18, @04:40PM EDT (#67)
(User Info) |
cos its fun and it teaches you something. It may be routine for lab folks but it isnt for the average /. reader (who's not a biochemist). plus, more people working with DNA can lead to some serious breakthroughs, given enough time.
A coupla $100K labs avaiable to the general public would be nice, but isnt going to happen. A few hours or days and a $1000 budget is ok for most /. readers working in hitech anyway...and tinkering is a natural reaction with most of us.
they have packed most of the stuff together..check out the link at the bottom of the article.
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Re:this is a waste of time (Score:1)
by luke_ (luke_sjulson@hotmail.com) on Monday June 19, @08:25PM EDT (#108)
(User Info) |
Sorry, I didn't see the link in the article. That would certainly decrease the cost of it, but I still have to say that the thought of doing PCR without a decent thermal cycler or even pipettes makes me cringe. My real problem with the article wasn't even the cost issue as much as the fact that the person who wrote it obviously didn't know what he was talking about, and I think it would be a lot tougher to people to get this working in their kitchen than he implied. Anyway, I think it would be much more interesting if someone took this one step further and packaged a kit that actually DID something, such as amplify a region of DNA and test it for a restriction fragment length polymorphism ("hey Dad! You're predisposed for heart disease!"). You could sell some polymerase, dNTPs, primers, and a bit of restriction enzyme to test the product afterwards. You could even put a shrink-wrapped agarose gel in there so people wouldn't have to boil ethidium bromide solutions in their microwave.
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Recombinant DNA For The Home Hobbyist