Make:

This weekend I'm going to try get to the local Discovery Store to check out their $80 DNA discovery kit. Has anyone out there picked one up or does anyone know exactly what is in the kit? I suspect it is missing key elements you would need to cut up your own DNA. I am also concerned the equipment is subpar for this kind of DNA work. Still, if the equipment is good enough, you could pick up this kit and buy the reagents elsewhere for a real cost savings.

I used to do this kind of thing for a living, so drawing up a protocol should be pretty easy. If anyone is interested let me know and we'll work something up.

I took a quick look on ebay, and sure enough the professional lab equipment you'd need is for sale there at rock bottom prices (centrifuge, PCR machine, micropipettes, gel rigs). I would estimate you could buy all the professional equipment and the reagents necessary for this project for well under $1000, most of which could be reused over and over again for a rapidly decreasing cost per unit.

Most importantly, somebody gets to have a mad scientist lab in their basement.

just thought I'd mention the link's broken, here's the proper URL: http://www.dna11.com/

I am interested in compiling a list of how-to's on DIY bio-metrics etc.

Doing this sort of stuff with DNA would be fun, so how do we start?

Mark.

This may be of interest to anyone interested in dna art as well:

http://www.locusplus.org.uk/biotech_hobbyist.html

Creative Biotechnology: A Users Manual by Natalie Jeremijenko & Eugene Thacker.

Its available from locus+ as a publication (or online pdf's at the above URL).

Locus+ are a great arts commisioning agency in the UK, based up in Newcastle. They have worked with a lot of artists, including my favourite (apart from Natalie, of course) Gregory Green.

Mark.

anyone interested in persuing this as a maker project please email me at mark@nodalpoints.org

cheers

mark.

Nice art, but way too expensive!. There's an alternative that offers you highest quality, lowest prices and maximum flexibility. The company GENEPORTRAIT Unique Personalized DNA-Art Genetic Portraits creates beautiful and scientifically-solid genetic portraits from a sample of your own DNA. They can include multiple individuals (people/pets) in one single portrait which makes the experience much less expensive and more meaningful: You can directly compare your fingerprint with your loved ones' (family members, couple, pets, friends), generating both a unique sense of closeness and individuality. The artwork is delivered on CD giving you total freedom of choice to handle your work of art and save money in overall costs. Furthermore, you will preserve your DNA-art portrait for a lifetime.

Hi,

I read the article on DNA 11 with their dna art and you should check out www.dna-art.nl (English website) they do a similar thing with DNA but they take it a step further, they show real characteristics in the dna portait and art. It looks really great!

Greetz
Basted

DNAlux is proposing the same art styles www.dnalux.com, they look even less expensive. Moreover they give you a frame with the printed artwork, selling a final product. They propose bespoke artworks as well. The fact there are some doctors among the founders gives credibility regarding the uniqueness of the fingerprint.

Subscribe today, save 42% and get web access to MAKE free. MAKE Digital Edition is available only to subscribers.

$34.95 / 1 year
(4 Quarterly Issues)

Subscribe now