
Amino.bio – Homebrew synthetic biology kit - jonbaer
http://www.amino.bio/
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jamessb
The integrating separate pieces of lab equipment into one unit is reminiscent
of the Bento Bio 'all in one' lab: [http://www.bento.bio/bento-
lab/](http://www.bento.bio/bento-lab/)

The bento lab looks more useful for teaching molecular biology: it has a mini-
centrifuge, thermocycler for PCR, and apparatus for gel electrophoresis. The
amino one looks like it only lets you culture bacteria, and track the
pH/temperature/OD as you do so.

I don't really see why anyone would buy this. The sales pitches are
unconvincing, and sound close to mis-selling: this is really not something I
would choose to use in "domestic life" to make "bread, beer, cider or wine",
and I'm skeptical the 'nightlight' makes enough light to actually function as
a nightlight.

~~~
toufka
Bento Bio looks pretty cool. But it also produces nothing tangible or fun.
Much of molecular biology is so abstract - the mixing of particular amounts of
clear liquids to get a band to show up on a gel. It's difficult to ground
those abstractions into every-day tangible lessons. Making a blue paint from
some sugar, water and cells is, on the other hand, a supremely tangible
product. Whether it works and is actually fun and productive is another
question. But it seems to be targeting a different kind of audience.

~~~
jamessb
It's seems confused about who it is pitched at: the founder's personal site
refers to it as "the tamagotchi for synthetic biology" [0]; but the main
landing page [1] says that it enables "anyone to create and grow living cells
for research, education or domestic life", and the about page [2] refers to
use "at home, in labs or in schools" and says it "can be used in pro labs
too".

I think it would be better to market this as a purely fun thing, rather than
as a serious, useful tool. I doubt many will sell: this may have been better
left as an art/design project, without an associated company.

[0]: [http://julielegault.com/amino](http://julielegault.com/amino) [1]:
[http://www.amino.bio/intro/](http://www.amino.bio/intro/) [2]:
[http://www.amino.bio/what/](http://www.amino.bio/what/)

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frozenport
The lack of scientific rigor (why the heck is everything an app!) and
specificity as to the content of these kits makes me skeptical. How do I
engineer a plasmid on this thing? How do I verify gene expression? 900 dollars
is way too much for a mold growing kit.

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bitshiffed
Amino was previously discussed here
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10409433](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10409433)
.

It does look fun and educational! ... But, if you're excited about a "homebrew
synthetic biology kit" you definitely want to read the specifics of this kit.
It actually has very limited uses. Not to dismiss it though; it probably is
the best thing you could currently buy in the area. And the kind of sequence-
grow-repeat DIY synthetic biology that may come to mind is still,
unfortunately, outside the realm of any realistic affordability.

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dubcanada
Does the idea of getting people to grow their own cells in an uncontrolled
environment without any knowledge of exactly what can happen kinda sound weird
to me?

What happens if they accidentally grow a dangerous bacteria?

~~~
toufka
It's called a refrigerator. Or, more precisely, a kitchen. If you have yogurt,
or beer, or bread, or cheese you have such a product. And if you've ever let
any food in your kitchen go bad/moldy/rotten, you have, 'grown cells in an
uncontrolled environment without any knowledge of exactly what can happen'.
Very very few get anything more than a bit of a rumbley stomach from such
'experiments', and in the meantime they learn a significant amount about
themselves and how life works in this universe.

The real world of biology has been out to kill you for your energy for 4
billion years and yet you survive. We're really pretty good at it. It is
genuinely difficult to hurt people with biology if you try, and it is even
more difficult if you're not trying.

~~~
dubcanada
I'm all for the product, I like at home things. It was just a little weird
sounding to me. But I suppose at home chemistry sets are probably way more
dangerous.

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msabalau
For those in New England, they are having a two day workshop: "Welcome to Do-
it-Yourself Bioengineering!" as part of the 2016 Cambridge Science Festival in
April, tickets on Eventbrite.

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mrcactu5
I did iGEM in 2006 as part of the Princeton Team. It all started when I took
Biology I and we made glow in the dark E Coli. And I got excited.

So that summer I did Princeton iGem with Ron Weiss. It was pretty
disorganized, but I did spend 8 hours a day in Biology lab and learned more
genetics. No longer remember any of it.

Now you can do it at home. That's kind of awesome. Possibly dangerous?

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pussinboots
why does the squarespace config popup when i press esc on this page

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searine
>Learn synthetic biology

That term doesn't mean what you think it means.

>Poorly constructed, sealed chambers

This thing will work once, and then be contaminated forever.

>Talk about DNA programs

Replacing standard terminology with non-standard patronizing terms are a key
to proper education, right?

>Random name drop of Obama, and biology "Threads"

I think you mean "threats". But hey obvious typos on your frontpage really
showcase your commitment to quality, right?

>800 dollars

Good fucking lord.

~~~
btreesOfSpring
the $800 price tag seems reasonable if you compare the 1982 introductory price
of the Commodore 64 at $595 (approx. $1,500 today)[0]. Most parents were
buying the c64 or a similarly priced computer for their children's education
and entertainment. From that POV the pricing for this biology kit, if you kids
are scientifically enthusiastic, seems reasonable.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64)

~~~
searine
Give me 200 bucks and an ebay account and I can buy a lab that will run
circles around this crippled mess.

Kids want to be empowered, not patronized. The intended user for a kit like
this would be a 12-16 year old. At that age they are old enough to use real
tools. Buy the kid an incubator, glassware, and a pcr machine.

The commodore is a great example because you could actually program things on
it. Things not listed in the instruction manual. Kids will learn if you give
them the tools to do real biology, not playskool biology.

~~~
haliax
> Give me 200 bucks and an ebay account and I can buy a lab that will run
> circles around this crippled mess.

Could you go into more detail about this? I'd love to know how to build a lab
on the cheap. Can you get genetic material for bacterial transformation within
a K-12 budget as well?

~~~
searine
> Can you get genetic material for bacterial transformation within a K-12
> budget as well?

For a standard bacterial transformation experiment you'll need : An incubator,
a pcr machine, taq, primers, pcr master mix, a centrifuge, petri plates, LB
broth, agar, ecoli, a gel box. Honestly, half of this you could get as cast-
offs from your local university for free. Universities are all about
supporting K-12 science, you just have to ask.

Hardware is going to run you about 200-300 bucks. The real expense here is the
used PCR machine. The incubator, and the centrifuge can be home-made or
repurposed (ie a hand crank centrifuge, and a chicken egg incubator).

The rest of the cost is just reagents. The two big things you need to make
yourself are Taq, and ecoli competent cells. Both of these are fun experiments
in themselves are can be made for 50-100 bucks (resulting in years worth of
reagents).

After that it's just buying primers (10-20 bucks a pop) and refills on
reagents like agarose and LB which are cheap.

DIY lab doesn't have to be expensive if you are willing to sacrifice a little
bit of time.

~~~
ohblahitsme
True. The problem with DIY labs I think is the barrier to entry. It's really
hard to start from nothing to having a DIY lab where you have some idea of
what's going on. Maybe an online lab (videos?) is the way to go? My microbio
and biotech labs in college did serve me pretty well as far as knowing what
the bands in my gel mean, etc.

~~~
searine
>Maybe an online lab (videos?) is the way to go?

Check out the Journal of Visualized Experiments :
[http://www.jove.com/](http://www.jove.com/)

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mjwaz
The amino lab itself is useless - the apps are the useful things. The lab is
basically the equivalent of a big glass bowl.

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rileyzz
My problem with Amino is that it seems like it's basically a shell for the
Synbiota kits (synbiota.com). I met someone in Toronto a few weeks back who
knows the Synbiota guys, and he said the founder of Amino and Synbiota are
dating.

Which is fine, but maybe they should be open about that partnership. The
Synbiota kits are kind of cool, but the Rainbow Factory kit didn't work for me
as promised and they are seriously expensive.

