a venture in gene swapping

[davidivad]

hello all,

 

i am currently studying the area of genetic manipulation in fungus and bacteria.

my goal is to discover various traits and apply them to other organisms at differing times in the life cycle.

i know that some of the techniques will have to be sent off to a lab, but i want a basic setup for this kind of work.

what i am looking for in this thread is firsthand knowledge of the equipment or some kind of experience that can help me decide how to best set up shop. this is just for personal knowledge, but i may write a paper about my results for fun.

any information would be helpful guys.

[davidivad]

got any lab guys around here?

[hypervalent_iodine]

I'm not sure what regulations are like where you are from, but based on what it is like here I would venture that creating any sort of GMO will not be doable on an at-home basis (which I assume is your plan). They tend to be very strictly regulated and any place in which a GMO is kept has to be listed under certain physical containment protocol and is subject to semi-regular checks. This may not be exactly replicated where you are, but there will almost definitly be something in place. Have you thought about this aspect of it before venturing further into the project?

[CharonY]

Also, it should be noted that aside from very simple things, transfer of a gene does not necessarily result in phenotypes. Moreover cell-cycle control is even trickier.

[davidivad]

i have been considering the legalities and i think a basic lab is ok, but i will not be able to actually experiment in that way.

there are some things i can do at home, but i will probably only get as far as sending samples to the lab. this would not include modified bacterium but only a spectral test or such.

i still find the field interesting and need a decent lab set up advised by someone who has some time under thier belt. i trust first hand experience over books not that i am not researching these things already.

thanks for responding guys.

 

any other advice is appreciated.

i am in the process of making a plexiglass clean box right now.

i have a filter for the intake and continuopus negative pressure planned.

 

edit:

lol, not that i will need it.

Edited October 21, 2014 by davidivad

[hypervalent_iodine]

Modified in what way? It may be worth contacting whatever department looks after such things for you and asking them about the legality of what you are doing. They will want specific information about the species, etc., so be prepared for those sorts of questions.

 

Could you give more information on what specifically you'll be doing? What do you plan on doing at home and what will you need sent off to a lab to do? Are you sure a lab will do it? From what you are saying, an external lab will have to do virtually all of the work and transformation is not always a simple task. Certainly time consuming. I can't imagine why a lab would want to do essentially an entire research project in this way, so this is a question you really need to address.

 

Without meaning to seem like a downer, I think you are putting the cart before the horse in getting a lab ready before you've really thought about how feasible your project is. You should take some time to plan things out carefully: what exactly are you aiming to do? What are your questions and what experiments do you need to do (and how will you do them)? What parts of that project are doable at home? What are the regulations? How much will need to be done externally? Is there a place willing to do it? What materials do you need for your lab? Equipment? Costs? What do you plan on doing with your results?

[davidivad]

absolutely.

like what you are saying, i will have a minimal set up that can't really be called a lab. i am actuallty familiar to some degree because of previous hospital experience.

i will be enjoying the construction of some equipment experimentally. this will be an exercise in learning more than anything. i am getting signed up for some coursework and may eventually try to volunteer some actual lab time.

my overall goal is to become more familiar with the basic techniques employed in a lab (never actually worked in a lab but have spent time talking to cooworkers that would explain what they were doing). it is really a fascinating field. they would show me the process of creating cultures and using the various equipment to complete thier chores.

if i use a lab, it will probably be the spectrography equipment i will need as i plan to compare the genetic profiles of the different cultures to what is already available.

sounds like a loss of time but i would enjoy the confirmation and this may foster further interest.

i hope this sounds more realistic.

my set:

microscope

clean box

chemistry glassware and other odds and ends

centrifuge

set up for electrophoresis

still compiling a list (it gets pretty expensive)

it is obvious to me that i can only do basic things in my lab. i could just imagine the biohazard crew coming in after my arrest for accidentally releasing modified yeast into the environment. lol i will not go this far...

i am just curious about the basics for now, and maybe after some coursework, they will let me in to a real full functioning lab.

just so you know, i will be starting off doing a study on fungus (mushroom spores and structure).

i have already ordered the samples so i have a place to begin... the beginning.

 

P.S.

your sincere concerns for any loss on my part are greatly appreciated.

i will try not to bite off more than i can chew.

please consider my plan to be a preliminary investigation to cure my appetite for knowledge.

my reason for posting here is to establish a relationship with someone at least close to the field.

i will take any information i can get.

forgive any crackpottery i have going on here and thank you for the advice.

Edited October 22, 2014 by davidivad

[CharonY]

As already mentioned, the question in OP is too vague and is unlikely to yield any results. Also there is apparently a misconception what molecular cloning can achieve.

If you are interested in playing around with methods, I would limit it to just the molecular work and skip the steps which are safety concerns (such as the use of selective vectors or transfer of those into bacteria).

 

What you could play around with is simple DNA extraction (with some precautions as the chemicals involved can be harmful), restriction, PCR and electrophoresis. But anything else would requires means of safe disposal.

[davidivad]

thank you for taking the time to respond charony.

 

i will open a thread with a more appropriate topic.

that should make things more managable.