Treasure hunt for symbiolab equipment!

The first hurdle on our way to awesome open-source bioscience is getting the symbiolab up and running. We are starting this project with very limited resources but with a strong motivation to make it a success. We are appealing to everyone, who shares the vision of an open science, to support our cause by contributing with donations of equipment and/or sharing this appeal. Your support will be greatly appreciated.

We will be pursuing the goal of setting up an open bio lab over the course of this year in 3 stages. First, we will reorganize our new facilities and equip them with basic furniture and “kitchenware”. This will be followed by constructing, installing and testing the basic open source lab equipment for sample preparation and general biochemical analysis. Finally we will be establishing an ambient controlled lab for growth experiments, with aseptic working capabilities.

We will build our lab in several stages of progression, which follow an experimental protocol. The first phase before any analysis is normally sample preparation, therefore equipment for this stage will be acquired first. This will enable us to begin some of our projects and experiments, while we are still setting up the lab. “Wet” preparation typically includes equipment for buffer, solution and other sample preparation.

• Precise weighing scale: To ensure standardized buffers and other solutions, the reagents need to be added in very exact amounts, with a precision to a fraction of a gram.

• Microliter pipettes: Like the weighing scale, a pipette is used to accurately add reagents to a sample, which are, however, in liquid form.

• Magnetic stirrer + heating plate: To evenly mix a solution (in a glass container) and adjust it at the same time, it is placed onto a magnetic stirrer.

• pH meter: Some solutions are required to have an exact pH value (a function of the amount of protons in the solution) to function as buffers, required for some chemical reactions and very important for preparation and cultivation of biological samples.

• Centrifuge: Sample preparation often requires isolation of some molecules from a mixture. If these are lighter or heavier than others, they can be separated with by centrifugation.

• Vortex mixer: Sometimes, instead of being separated, components of a sample need to be well mixed to become homogenous. Especially for small amounts, this is best achieved with a vortex mixer.

• Reverse osmosis system: To create functioning and standardized solutions, we need to control every component inside. As many contain water, this needs to be as pure as possible, regardless of our location. This can be achieved in different ways, most commonly it is filtered by reverse osmosis, where the water is forced through a very fine membrane, through which other molecules cannot pass.

• Fume hood: Preparation of biological samples, often requires the use of volatile and dangerous chemicals. To ensure safety at work, fume hoods are used, in which various toxic fumes are constantly drained from the workspace.

We’ll be very grateful for donations of the above equipment or any other tools from our full list of to-be acquired equipment.

Please share and help us bring symbiolab to life!