42 Zero to Genetic Engineering Hero - Chapter 2 - Setting Up Your Genetic Engineering Hero Space
kits will have components that will need to be kept
frozen and you can use a standard freezer for this.
While you are in the middle of your experiments or
once they are completed, it is not recommended to
put petri dishes containing grown or engineered
cells directly in your fridge. While the cells you use
in these experiments are not pathogenic, it is still
recommended that you follow the golden rule of
separating food from experiments! A solution is
to use a large airtight Tupperware-type container
that can seal your experiments when you store
them in the fridge to prevent them from coming
into contact with food. Always advise your family or
roommates if you have science in the fridge!
Once you progress towards becoming a Genetic
Engineering Hero, it is recommended that you
acquire dedicated a mini-fridge, a thoroughly
cleaned used fridge, or a refrigerated cooler to keep
your experimental samples cool for longer storage.
Consider this as soon as you can.
•
Pets or small children: Just as you want to main-
tain a pest-free space, you need to prevent pets
and children from touching or eating your experi-
ments! To help you, the Minilabs have built-in locks
for locking in samples while incubating. However,
you may need a locked room or cabinet to store the
rest of your experimental samples and to keep curi-
ous pets or children from interferring.
Setting up your space should be straightforward. We
have completed experiments in many different envi-
ronments and owe this to the Minilab; we’ve set it up in
state-of-the-art university teaching labs at the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology, in budget hotel rooms,
and even in the car on longer road-trips. Consider the
simple guidelines above, and get going!
Equipment and materials for your
Genetic Engineering Hero space
Setting up your space is almost as simple as setting
up a new computer or home ofce! In Figure 2-2, you
can see a timeline of the equipment and materials
you’ll need for each chapter if you are doing all of the
experiments in this book. Let’s start by looking at the
equipment that you’ll need to complete the full jour-
ney: a Minilab, a microwave, microcentrifuge and a
small scale.
1. The DNA Playground Minilab
Incubating, cooling, heatshocking and transform-
ing samples (Chapter 3-7)
The DNA Playground is about the size of a toaster
oven. It will enable you to incubate and engineer cells.
This versatile Minilab replaces the need for a large
petri dish incubator, an ice bucket with a constant
supply of crushed ice, a hot water bath, and a ther-
mometer. This Minilab is used in chapters three
through seven and will be essential for all of the exer-
cises in this book!
The DNA Playground is available in two sizes: Home
(Small) and Classroom (Large). There are two differ-
ences between them:
•
The incubator capacity: The small unit can incu-
bate two of the 6cm petri dishes at a time. The large
unit can incubate eight of the 6cm petri dishes or
two large 10cm petri dishes at once. In the kits
recommended in this book, you will only be using
6cm petri dishes. If you will be working with a part-
ner and will each be doing your own experiments,
then you may want to consider the Classroom
(Large) size DNA Playground since you can have
up to four experiments running simultaneously!
Figure 2-3. The DNA Playground Minilab and an experiment
kit set up on a home desk covered in epoxy for easy cleaning.
Ch 3
Ch 3
Ch 3
Ch 3
Ch 5
Ch 5
Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8
Ch 1 Ch 2 Ch 3 Ch 4 Ch 5 Ch 6 Ch 7 Ch 8
Microcentrifuge
MiniLab: DNA Playground
Small Scale (optional)
Microwave
Cleaning & Safety Supplies
Experiment Kits (’wetware’)
Figure 2-2. Timeline of needed equipment, supplies & kits.
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