DIY Biology (extreme beginner)

[iPeppers]

Hello all!

 

So here's the deal... I don't have much biology experience (a couple first year university courses, and of course highschool, but I am starting a biotech program in college in the fall), but I am extremely interested in starting some do it yourself (myself?) biology experiments.

 

I subscribed to the DIYbio emailing list, but I have to admit that it seems like an overwhelming amount of info being thrown at me, and I don't know where I could begin.

 

** I was wondering if any of you lovely ladies and gents had any great links to experiments or experiment ideas to do with manipulating and growing cells, and maybe some nice lists of equipment I would need and how to go about getting it. It would be greatly appreciated. **

 

I have found agar recipes online, but am not sure what is the best for growing different cultures. And I can't seem to find a place around me which sells agar, which is weird. A couple of weeks ago when I was in spain, I saw a big package of agar agar in the local grocery store, but I hear that powder might be easier to make consistent batches.

 

Thoughts, ideas, or stories?

[Mokele]

Well, what sort of biology experience are you looking for? You could do anything from culturing cells to ecological field experiments.

[iPeppers]

Well, what sort of biology experience are you looking for? You could do anything from culturing cells to ecological field experiments.

 

Culturing cells that won't kill me or make me sick would be fun. Sorry, I should have clarified earlier that I was looking for an experiment that I could do in my cramped room. Something to do with culturing and/or manipulating cells.

[Paralith]

Culturing anything besides bacteria that is floating around in your environment will be difficult in your bedroom. Even culturing lab grade E. coli needs to be done in a sterile environment with sterile technique to prevent other common bacterias and molds/fungus from contaminating the plate and taking over, and you'll need an incubator that can hold a specific temperature for a long period of time. Culturing actual animal cells would be even less practical - those need liquid media that has to be changed regularly, all of which needs to be done in especially sterile areas, preferably a fume hood and incubator dedicated to cell culture alone. In other words, not something you can really do at home.

[iPeppers]

Culturing anything besides bacteria that is floating around in your environment will be difficult in your bedroom. Even culturing lab grade E. coli needs to be done in a sterile environment with sterile technique to prevent other common bacterias and molds/fungus from contaminating the plate and taking over, and you'll need an incubator that can hold a specific temperature for a long period of time. Culturing actual animal cells would be even less practical - those need liquid media that has to be changed regularly, all of which needs to be done in especially sterile areas, preferably a fume hood and incubator dedicated to cell culture alone. In other words, not something you can really do at home.

 

Then my choices seem to be limited to bacteria that is already present floating in my room, or some other hardy bacteria that will hold it's own in a petri dish.

Is there a large risk that if I culture bacteria from my room, it could turn out to be pathogenic and harm me? Also, is there even anything I could do with regular bacteria in my room, besides culture it and watch it grow?

[CharonY]

Actually it is unlikely that they turn pathogenic. It is possible that you inadvertently culture bacteria that are pathogenic (in other words bacteria that are on you or your room to begin with). With the right medium you can lower the chances for that, though (that is, keep away from blood agar and suchalikes). Minimal salt media are usually quite good. But maintaining a pure culture is, as Paralith pointed out, quite tricky. And you really do not want a culture with undefined bacteria. Remember, those floating around your room have a relatively low titer. But by cultivating them you will amplify their numbers enormously, including potentially harmful ones...

[iPeppers]

Actually it is unlikely that they turn pathogenic. It is possible that you inadvertently culture bacteria that are pathogenic (in other words bacteria that are on you or your room to begin with). With the right medium you can lower the chances for that, though (that is, keep away from blood agar and suchalikes). Minimal salt media are usually quite good. But maintaining a pure culture is, as Paralith pointed out, quite tricky. And you really do not want a culture with undefined bacteria. Remember, those floating around your room have a relatively low titer. But by cultivating them you will amplify their numbers enormously, including potentially harmful ones...

 

Good to know, thanks!

 

Is yogurt bacteria is relatively safe and easy to culture? I remember seeing mention somewhere of people culturing yogurt bacteria and then making it glow with a fluorescent jellyfish gene, and I'm sure I could think of other ways to modify the culture for fun and personal knowledge.

 

I realize that by doing this at home it will be hard to ever culture something without contamination and difficult to do it all by the book, so to speak. Any suggestions or precautions or guides?

[Paralith]

Good to know, thanks!

 

Is yogurt bacteria is relatively safe and easy to culture? I remember seeing mention somewhere of people culturing yogurt bacteria and then making it glow with a fluorescent jellyfish gene, and I'm sure I could think of other ways to modify the culture for fun and personal knowledge.

 

I realize that by doing this at home it will be hard to ever culture something without contamination and difficult to do it all by the book, so to speak. Any suggestions or precautions or guides?

 

lol, adding a new gene to bacteria is a whole other ballgame - requiring a whole other set of materials, equipment, and methods. Expensive materials and equipment, I might add. The best manipulations you can do would probably be adding various nutrients and/or chemicals to the plates and seeing how the bacteria react.

 

If you do want to try culturing some bacteria though, set aside an that is less likely to get cross contamination from other areas (not under a house vent or by a window or anything), and clean the hell out of it with bleach. While you're using that area re-clean it regularly with ethanol. Depending on your budget it would be nice if you could get some kind of plexiglass shield to go above and/or around the area, which also should be cleaned regularly. It would probably be best if you bought plates that already contain the agar medium - you can make your own but again, the area where you make and store them needs to be as clean as possible. And of course, always wear gloves. I'm not sure what else I would add for a DIYer. CharonY will no doubt have some good suggestions.

[iPeppers]

lol, adding a new gene to bacteria is a whole other ballgame - requiring a whole other set of materials, equipment, and methods. Expensive materials and equipment, I might add. The best manipulations you can do would probably be adding various nutrients and/or chemicals to the plates and seeing how the bacteria react.

 

If you do want to try culturing some bacteria though, set aside an that is less likely to get cross contamination from other areas (not under a house vent or by a window or anything), and clean the hell out of it with bleach. While you're using that area re-clean it regularly with ethanol. Depending on your budget it would be nice if you could get some kind of plexiglass shield to go above and/or around the area, which also should be cleaned regularly. It would probably be best if you bought plates that already contain the agar medium - you can make your own but again, the area where you make and store them needs to be as clean as possible. And of course, always wear gloves. I'm not sure what else I would add for a DIYer. CharonY will no doubt have some good suggestions.

 

haha yeah I realize that I won't be gene splicing in my room anytime soon, but I was kind of hoping there would be something else that I could do with bacteria cultures, relatively inexpensively. I have cultured bacteria under strict step-by-step lab procedures in a biology course before, so I was hoping there would be something a little more advanced or something extra that I could try to do with the cultures.

 

Thanks for the good cleaning advice. Would a plexiglass shield really help much if the plates have covers on them anyways?

[Paralith]

Thanks for the good cleaning advice. Would a plexiglass shield really help much if the plates have covers on them anyways?

 

At one point you have to open the plates, if only to plate the bacteria. And if you want to add other things to them you have to open them again. In my old lab any time we opened a plate it was done directly under a lit bunsen burner (in a recently cleaned sterile area, of course). I felt plexiglass would be a little safer in a home environment.

[iPeppers]

At one point you have to open the plates, if only to plate the bacteria. And if you want to add other things to them you have to open them again. In my old lab any time we opened a plate it was done directly under a lit bunsen burner (in a recently cleaned sterile area, of course). I felt plexiglass would be a little safer in a home environment.

 

Right, but without a filtration system, would the air inside the plexiglass shield be any cleaner? And I would have to remove the shield to open the plates... unless maybe I had two holes with gloves attached so I could just slide my hands in. hmmm

[CharonY]

I guess plexiglass could help a bit against aerosols. There are glovebags that you can buy and you can probably sterilize them beforehand.

I remember seeing mention somewhere of people culturing yogurt bacteria and then making it glow with a fluorescent jellyfish gene, and I'm sure I could think of other ways to modify the culture for fun and personal knowledge.

I have read about it, I am not sure whether they actually managed to do that. I only that the basic premise, for which they wanted to do it was faulty.

 

I think yoghurt bacteria are usually either Streptococcus or Lactobacillus species. Problem is that for both there are also pathogenic strains. If you use somewhat selective media and cultivate them isolated and do not keep them around too long before killing them off it may be somewhat safe.

[hlg]

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