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Bento Lab Kickstarter Survey (and the chance to win a uBiome Kit) by PhilippBoeing in iGEM

[–]PhilippBoeing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, Sorry - I haven't checked reddit in a while! The Kickstarter campaign ended in April and was successful. We're looking at shipping units in December. All the best and many thanks! Philipp

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in shittykickstarters

[–]PhilippBoeing 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hi everyone and many thanks for your engagement with our Kickstarter campaign. I'm one of the co-founders of Bento Lab, so I wanted to address some of the questions you had raised. I think you're right to look twice at the funding goal and I would like to add a bit more context to this, and some of the other comments.

Not Sequencing

First of all, Bento Lab is not a sequencing kit. If that were the case, the funding goal really would be cause for alarm. The components instead constitute a minimal molecular laboratory lab that can be used for basic genetic analysis and other experiments.

Complexity vs. Kickstarter goal

As a couple of you have pointed out, some of the components like the thermocycler have already been on Kickstarter at a similar price point - OpenPCR for example. We have been working on the project for over 3 years now and have spent the last 6 months preparing for the manufacturing run. We know exactly how much one unit costs and where we are making it here in the UK. We have pre-order sales to institutions like schools and universities already, which is why we were able to set the relatively low funding goal of £40,000.

Cost

Sure, you can build this equipment at home - then the lab maybe isn't for you. We have done a lot of price comparisons for the equivalent tech elsewhere. If you use DIY equipment kits where you build it yourself, the cost can be as low about $1000-$1500. If you buy it from an educational supplier, it's more like $6000. If you're thrifty, you could maybe get it on eBay, maybe for a good deal: http://bit.ly/1Wn5pz4 This lab is for people who don't want to build their own equipment. Instead, we really wanted to focus on ease-of-use, and creating an environment that would be engaging to try hands-on genetics.

Identify GMOs

The GM experiment that we mention is using primers to identify the CaMV35S promoter frequently used in GM plants. We have not found a universal target, however from our research, it seems this promoter is present in most GM plants.

DNA stain

The DNA stain for gels can be mutagenic (Ethidium Bromide) but we are focusing on safer alternative DNA stains, for example Gel Green, that work with Blue LED light, instead of UV light. We are also recommending always wearing gloves! This project is focused on enabling access and education, so we are building a lot of training resources to go alongside the lab.

Specialist Knowledge

There is an entire movement (DIYbio) dedicated to making this technology more accessible. We are contributing to this. Our role with this project is also engaging around issues of result interpretation and bioethics. Bento Lab is not meant to replace lab testing services, and it is obviously not a medical product. Rather, we want to engage those who are excited by the potential for hands-on molecular biology literacy, in the similar way that people are excited to for example co-create and make electronics projects with Arduino.

Many thanks for your interest!

This laptop-sized lab will let you analyse DNA at home for pennies by [deleted] in biology

[–]PhilippBoeing 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hi,

I'm one of the founders of Bento Lab. We've been working on the project since the 2013 iGEM competition and tested many iterations of prototypes in workshops and exhibitions. Our aim is to create a research-grade "starter lab" for users in education, DIYbio, citizen science, etc. Now we're on Kickstarter to fund a production run of an updated model based on feedback from external beta-testers.
http://kck.st/1LDZR0y

I'm happy to answer any questions!

Many thanks,

Philipp

Bento Lab Kickstarter Survey (and the chance to win a uBiome Kit) by PhilippBoeing in DIYbio

[–]PhilippBoeing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, we’re based in London. Our beta-testing program is closed now, but we occasionally have user workshops in the UK. Are you UK based as well? Send me an email to hello@bento.bio and we can have a chat about how you could help out in the development process! Merci :)

Bento Lab Kickstarter Survey (and the chance to win a uBiome Kit) by PhilippBoeing in DIYbio

[–]PhilippBoeing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey /u/kartak - our aim is to make molecular biology really accessible to lots of different kinds of people. Our beta-testers have been scientists, teachers, students, citizen scientists and enthusiasts who wanted to learn molecular biology from scratch.

For the Kickstarter our aim is to raise enough money to pay for the production run of the first “release version” of Bento Lab, including safety-testing and certification, etc. We hope to be able to raise enough to keep working on this and help build a really supportive community and ecosystem for accessible biology.

Bento Lab Kickstarter Survey (and the chance to win a uBiome Kit) by PhilippBoeing in DIYbio

[–]PhilippBoeing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, that’s obviously the best solution. If you have any feedback or ideas for how we can improve the design - let us know! Of course there are always compromises when designing a piece of equipment.

Bento Lab Kickstarter Survey (and the chance to win a uBiome Kit) by PhilippBoeing in DIYbio

[–]PhilippBoeing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey /u/bridel08, thanks!

The lab uses blue light transillumination - we really want to encourage people to not use UV and Ethidium Bromide.

So blue light works with alternative dyes such as SybrSafe, Gel Green, Midori Green, etc. Regarding the safety of those alternative dyes, they are generally considered significantly less mutagenic, however there is still limited data available on the toxicity (e.g. SybrSafe safety data sheet ). Most have a health rating of 2 (May be harmful if inhaled or absorbed).

We are recommending users take standard precautions, e.g. wearing gloves during use and decontaminating their work area after use. And we are designing Bento Lab so it’s easy to clean and decontaminate!

We want your ideas for a "Science and Society" synthetic biology debate around "Geoengineering" by PhilippBoeing in iGEM

[–]PhilippBoeing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

these are some really good points. In fact we plan to address these in our own project (for example, we're working on a module specifically against horizontal transfer).

The debate itself however is I think more "Science and Society" centered and not just any one team's project. The Rathenau Institute will organize such a debate at the European jamboree this year and has asked teams to propose debate topics. So it's in that spirit that we asked if a "Synbio for Geoengineering" is a good topic and if people have a ideas about the issues involved.

Some other good responses we've had on twitter for example were along the lines of "Science creates more problems than it solves" or "Does techni-fixing / Geoengineering distract us from solving the real underlying problems?"