Bio-link depot now has a channel

Here's the new youtube channel for Bio-link depot.  You can subscribe and get the latest news on events and learn how to get free equipment and supplies for your school science lab.

Holiday Plasmid Exchange in Oakland California

It’s like a holiday cookie exchange, except with plasmid DNA! 

into the unknown - risky research

DIY self experiment in gene therapy. 

biohack the planet and beyond

Videos of Biohack the Planet 2017 have been upped on youtube by Josiah Zayner.   
Actually Michael Flynn goes off this planet, taking us on a journey to mars and beyond.  

Learn about calibration and repair of micro pipettors

Plus, have a slice of pizza.   The event, "pipettes and pizza" takes place in Oakland (Laney College) on Friday September 8 at 4PM.  It's free to attend however registration is mandatory.
Register here

Biohack the Planet - starts tonight

The annual conference Biohack the Planet is opening in Oakland, CA tonight.

List of Speakers: 

http://biohacktheplanet.com/2017-speakers/

Schedule:

 http://biohacktheplanet.com/schedule/

Tickets:

 https://www.eventbrite.com/e/biohack-the-planet-2017-tickets-34021546361

7 Steps of Protein virtual event

This is coming up on 7 September 2017 and it looks interesting as we always like learning more about useful lab procedures with protein:  https://www.labroots.com/webinar/7-steps-protein-virtual-event

Advances made in type 1 diabetes therapy - new trials

Here:

http://www.guysandstthomasbrc.nihr.ac.uk/2017/08/09/pioneering-immunotherapy-shows-promise-in-type-1-diabetes/


also see:

https://www.diabeteshealth.com/reprogrammed-cells-in-mice-reverse-late-stage-type-1-diabetes/

Article in Nature behind today's news stories on gene editing

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature23305.html?foxtrotcallback=true

New Open Insulin video

International biohacker project Open Insulin is hard at work.  At Counter Culture Labs, after early experiments with expression in E. Coli Bacteria, the emphasis has shifted to the yeast Pichia Pastoris. Here's a new video by Noel Carrascal PhD, who is working with us on computational design and simulation of the insulin protein.  

Summer in the lab updated 07 July 2017

We are starting our synthetic gene expression experiment soon.  This will be to see if we can express a peptide in bacteria that has shown properties as an entry inhibitor antiviral.  It has been a long time getting to this stage of actually doing the wetwork.   Monday we prepared 14 amp agar plates.  

The open insulin project is also going on this summer and we are looking at expression in Pichia (yeast) after a few initial experiments with E-Coli.  This is an international project with multiple biohacker labs so if your  biohacker lab is interested in participating and developing methods for making better and cheaper insulin please get in touch with us. 
Check out the project: http://openinsulin.org/ , and here , and then leave a message here if you would like to join us (or have a bake sale for us to raise more money, as we are all volunteers but materials cost $).  

Update: 7 July 2017  
Here at Nenufar molecules for life we are waiting for the fedex delivery today of our gene of interest (VRBNCR-01) in the  pET 15b plasmid.  Last night we made 100mL of SOC, again, as our first batch appeared to be contaminated.  Tonight we'll start more media prep as the LB amp agar plates we poured are too old and the ampicillin is likely losing potency.  
Open insulin is working on size exclusion chromatography of the pichia pastoris expressing pro insulin (both inducible and constitutive expression constructs are being researched)  

Viruses of the non-biological sort

We hope that none of the readers of this blog have had their machines compromised by the recent ransomware attack.  This attack was shut down by malware tech and friends, but created a lot of havoc and dangerous situations when physicians were unable to access their patients records, etc. Since these kinds of attacks will likely become more prevalent in the months to come, please take a look at latest prevention security measures which can be found here:  https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/protecting-your-organisation-ransomware 
Big thanks to malware tech for this link and for taking out the threat.  

protein expression virtual event 10May2017

Sign up and attend this interactive event on Wednesday.

https://www.labroots.com/ms/virtual-event/gibco-expressionworld-advancing-world-protein-expression



Log in anytime May 10, 2017 after 8:00 am regardless of your time zone

Attendees will receive first-hand knowledge of the newest technologies for high-titer recombinant protein production as well as protein expression system design, workflows, purification, and characterization methods. 

Insulin Pioneers

After attending a meeting of biohacker scientists today doing research on methods to make better, more affordable insulin, we are looking back at the development of insulin and the birth of the modern biotech industry. Here are a few short film clips of interviews with Walter Gilbert and David Goeddel and other insulin related materials:

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15259-Cloning-the-human-insulin-gene-Walter-Gilbert.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15927-Isolating-DNA-to-make-human-insulin.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15088-Gilbert-s-approach-to-synthesizing-insulin-David-Goeddel.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/16117-Close-but-no-cigar-Walter-Gilbert.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/16118-Recombinant-DNA-David-Goeddel.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15088-Gilbert-s-approach-to-synthesizing-insulin-David-Goeddel.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15255-Producing-human-insulin-using-recombinant-DNA-Walter-Gilbert.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15257-Trying-to-produce-insulin-using-recombinant-DNA-Walter-Gilbert.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15085-Fierce-competition-to-synthesize-insulin-David-Goeddel.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15258-Government-restrictions-on-working-with-recombinant-DNA-Walter-Gilbert.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15087-Genentech-s-approach-to-making-insulin-David-Goeddel.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15086-Synthesizing-DNA-David-Goeddel.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15928-How-insulin-is-made-using-bacteria.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15929-How-insulin-is-made-using-yeast.html

https://www.dnalc.org/view/15084-First-steps-toward-making-insulin-David-Goeddel.html

Wenesday 24 April 2017 - The Bugs Within

Emeryville, California:

There will be a seminar on  microbial genomics and next generation sequencing "The Bugs Within: Illumina Sequencing Takes You Inside Human Health" The time is of the seminar is 9:30AM - 12:30.  
More information and registration here
(No cost, hosted by Illumina)

CRISPR/CAS9 Delivery Webinar 4-18-17

Allison Mayle, PhD. Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Teaching Fellow, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center presents this webinar.  
The webinar covers best practices for increasing CRISPR/Cas9 editing efficiency. Viewers will learn discover online tools to aid in CRISPR/Cas9 design and delivery, and tips for optimizing your CRISPR/Cas9 experiments.

Dr. Mayle will review the factors influencing genome editing, including target sequence selection and CRISPR/Cas9 delivery methods. A comparison of plasmid and viral vector delivery will be provided, as well as an introduction to DNA-free CRISPR/Cas9 ribonucleoprotein reagents. Additionally, Dr. Mayle will cover best practices for CRISPR knock-in mutagenesis via homology-directed repair (HDR) and applications available from new Cas9 protein variants.

The webinar is free but registration is required HERE by the hosts GenScript.

Dragon blood inspires synthetic peptide

The peptide DRGN-1 may have a pharmaceutical application to prevent wounds from becoming infected.

http://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-017-0017-2

win a pink spectrophotometer

This contest will end in a couple of days.  A new DS-11 FX+ will be being given away to a lucky winner, enter here

Does green light act effectively as a pain killer?

http://www.rdmag.com/news/2017/03/researchers-see-promise-light-therapy-treat-chronic-pain

This week: CRISPR-Cas9 superstar Jennifer Doudna, Ph. D.

This Thursday 2-23 from 7-8 PM  Jennifer Doudna, Ph. D. will speak in Room 431 of Berkeley City College.  This event free and open to the public.
More information here:

http://www.berkeleycitycollege.edu/wp/sci-biotech/science-seminar-series/

http://news.berkeley.edu/2017/02/15/berkeley-statement-regarding-patent-boards-decision-on-crispr-cas9-gene-editing-technology/

Through the looking glass - 2017 update

Here’s some of what I saw this year at BiOS and represents only a small fraction of what was there.  I’ll put up a few more links soon.  It is fascinating to see all these amazing developments in biophotonics, biomedical optics, and imaging being made at such a rapid pace.  Thanks to all who graciously let me point my little camera at them.  Please visit their linked websites to learn more about what is outlined here.

In the order that they appear in the video we present:

Dipl. - Phys. Uwe Ortmann of  PicoQuant returned this year from Berlin with the latest Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging (FLIM) development to capture motion in cells at 10 frames per second (FPS). 

http://www.picoquant.com/

Aileen Chen of Vista Optronics Inc. came to San Francisco from China and demonstrated a tiny endoscope (1.5mm outside diameter) - not much larger than an acupuncture needle. 

www.VistaOptronics.com

Justin Harris Ph.D. of  NanoHybrids Advanced Imaging Solutions came from Austin, Texas and explained how gold and light are used for non-invasive cancer diagnosis and treatment.

www.NanoHybrids.net

Markus Geiser Dr. sc. ETH of  IRsweep came from Zurich Switzerland and demonstrated a new spectrometer with  bandwidth of up to 150 cm^-1 in the mid-IR range of 5 µm (2000 cm^-1) to 10 µm (1000cm^-1).

www.irsweep.com

Ben Alexander of Caliber Imaging and Diagnostics from Lakeway, Texas demonstrated a new technology for quickly scanning and stitching together confocal microscope images of biological samples up to 80 x 120 mm.

www.caliberid.com

SPIE BiOS 2017 this weekend in San Francisco

A world class event showcasing the biological applications of light is once again illuminating The Moscone Center in San Francisco.  Part of the huge Photonics West Expo, BiOs is an annual event. Here under one roof we can see many of the latest developments in technologies such as biophotonics,spectroscopy, microscopy, optogenetics, laser surgery, and much more.  We shot a video at last year's bios, which will give a basic idea of some of the technology shown there: 

http://nenufarmolecules.blogspot.com/2016/02/through-looking-glass.html


more on SPIE BiOS 2017


http://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west/bios


and Photonics West:

http://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west/photonics-west-exhibition

Biomanufacturing major at Laney College in Oakland, CA

This is an excellent program for learning the correct laboratory procedures used in molecular biology labs.  Classes start next week so enroll now.

http://www.laney.edu/wp/biomanufacturing/