Could there be any better way to celebrate the extra day in February than by helping build the Madlab biology lab? We've got an OpenPCR kit and will be printing off some parts for a Gel Electrophoresis box too.

What is PCR?

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence. This bit of lab kit is used for amongst other things :

• DNA cloning
• Gene analysis
• Diagnosing Hereditary disease
• Identifying genetic fingerprints  (CSI anyone?)

What is OpenPCR?

The OpenPCR is a low-cost, open source Personal PCR machine used in labs around the world. This little laser cut machine will allow us to do DNA Sequencing ('do I have the athletic gene?') and DNA Barcoding ('is that sushi really tuna?'). We've had a stab at creating our own version with bits of parts from an old computer and an Arduino (Thanks Alex!). Now we'll attempt the IKEA flatpack version, and see how they compare. We'll also have a quick update on the past month in DIYbio (We were on the radio! On the BBC File on 4 programme about Bio Security first broadcast 7th Feb) and check out the progress of our soil-based microbial fuel cells, which are getting to the point where we can actually use them to power stuff). Heated discussions to follow and continue on at Common! Hope to see you there.