[Hplusroadmap] Fwd: Re: Cheap bioreactor mostly for the construction of further bioreactors

[Bryan Bishop]

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: Cheap bioreactor mostly for the construction of further  
bioreactors
Date: Friday 30 May 2008
From: Frog <gahaga at gmail.com>
To: DIYbio <diybio at googlegroups.com>


Bryan,

Been watching from the sidlines for a while, but now something I can
contribute.  I was at LTI (now know as the mud sucking dogs
Invitrogen) for 15 years, making Taq and DNA polymerases and RT's and
restriction enzymes, proteases, kinases, yada, yada, yada.  Also did
quite a bit of Oligo synthesis

In order for your "aptamers" concept to work, our protein of interest
would need to have some affinity for the oligonucleotide/peptide
"backbone".  The main technical hurdle here would be the length of the
aptamer molecule.  It would need to be pretty damn specific to the
protein of interest.  Typically, this kind of chromatography would be
used as a "polishing" step and really would be characterized as
"affinity chromatography".  I believe it would likely be simpler, less
technically challenging and less expensive to make the antibodies.

Ion exchange is much simpler, first step.  This would separate protein
on the basis of their net charge (either positive or negative).  It
can be done in  aggregate batch mode or in a simple fritted glass or
plastic column.

I am not sure why you think you'll need a "bioreactor" per se.  Most
of the bugs you'd need to grow could be done in a mini-prep format:
1-2 Liters in any clean glass jar.  The proverbial "mayonnaise jar"
approach.

It will be important to have the purest protein prep achievable, as
impurities will compound and amplify mistakes in any synthesis
reactions.

Then there is the necessity of a thermostable DNA polymerase for PCR
and sources of pure nucleotides for the synthesis.

So, I have taken a slightly different approach.We have been successful
scooping up gear (like fermentors, spectrophotometers, stir plates,
heat blocks, microscopes, hoods etc.) and chemicals (including 25L of
Sephadex resin and 25L of Protein G agarose, open market value @ ~
$1,000 per liter) for nearly free.  The catch is you need to find
Biotechs that are going under (which mean you'll need a target rich
environment) and have a means to haul the stuff out of their
facility.  It's simple economics.  Most of these places have already
expensed or capitalized their losses and are not looking to recuperate
any revenue from their "junk".


--~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
Groups "DIYbio" group.
To post to this group, send email to diybio at googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to 
diybio-unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at 
http://groups.google.com/group/diybio?hl=en
-~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---


-------------------------------------------------------
________________________________________
http://heybryan.org/