Hate Brussels Sprouts? It's Genetic - Pearl Biotech's Open PCR Project

If you hate the taste of Brussels sprouts it's likely genetic and now you can prove it to your mom and dad with the Pro Biotech's open source PCR project. Gene sequencing at home. http://biocurious.org/

Filmed at Maker Faire California 2010

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Pro biotech
• brussels sprouts
• bitter
• jeri ellsworth
• tastes bad
• horrible
• genetics
• PCR
• gene sequencing
• yt:stretch=16:9

[opikalo]

I think it is Pearl Biotech.

[jeriellsworth]

@opikalo You are right. Thanks I'll update the info.

[briandoom]

I hear the MIDI Gamelan in the background!

[jeriellsworth]

@briandoom Gamelan was neat, but it ran continuously next to the really cool demos all weekend.

[kenatiod]

Jeri, you did a great job of getting him to say all the things he didn't think to say so the whole thing was well explained.

[brenwildaust]

@enliteneer Agarose gels are really cheap (<$1). you need a DNA stain (i.e. EtBr) which is cheap too (probs <$1 per gel). Need a UV source ($25?), filter to protect eye ($10?) and a detector (camera or your eye). The most expensive thing are the enzymes required (probably ~$1-5 per test), and the primers for the specific gene (~$30 for 1'000s of tests). You will also need a lot of other tools (pipettes, tubes, etc.) and disposables (water), you could probably set all this up ~$500 incl. machine.

[harry3647]

This is very cool, but I think EtBr and UV light aren´t a game: they´re

dangerous, and you must be carefully with them. Besides, discard EtBr is a

problem. anyway, I think this could be the begining for a new hackers generation:

"BioHackers" or something that :)

[saxamo]

The unit is finally ready for shipment, it's $512. Thanks for the video i learned a lot! I also thought it was Pro biotech...and glad i looked here to see it was Pearl.

[bejius]

@jigglesnap I was thinking exactly the same things, she was spot on all the time, and when she said this is agar, I was blown away, Jerie knows this stuff !

[electrodacus]

This is great I need to try to build this when I get some time.

[bionerd23]

haha, cool, i just had my genome analyzed for the same reason.

i'm Tt and i like beer and brussels sprouts. =)

PTC nearly makes me gag, tho, which is probably a good thing, considering it's such a potent neurotoxin.

[shodanxx]

ok that's it, I don't care what happens, but next year I'm going to maker faire, FFS this is amazing !!

[enliteneer]

What about testing dna for things other than for brussel sprouts sensitivity? Do you need special gels? Assuming the gels can only be used once, are they expensive?

[enliteneer]

So Pearl Biotech is based on openwetware? Are openpcr and biocurious, related companies that have similar hardware?

[mistral2099]

Astonishing. What an amazing project. Sheer brilliance.