March 24th Meeting - wordsmithing

We held our March 24th meeting in a diner - the Cozy Corner on Broadway near NYU. Not only because the food was good but because we needed to discuss the evolution of our group without the delightful distraction of wet work. The attendees were Russ, Song, and Ellen. Several other folks had planned to attend, but couldn't make it. We hope they will come to the next meeting, especially since it will be more lab-oriented.

The main topics of discussion were 1) the mission of the group 2) looking for space and 3) what kind of project shall we start with?

It occurred to us that it would help us become more legit, and possibly lead to obtaining space, if we incorporate as a nonprofit with a clear mission statement and bylaws. So Russ is going to dig up a template for all this and pass it around. The consensus among those present at the meeting was that science education, public outreach and possibly advocacy would be part of the mission of the NYC DIYbio group. It will take awhile for us to hammer all this out, and the more people that participate in our group, the more brains to contribute to this. But at least the ball is now rolling...

Space, the final frontier. We are starting to amass some basic equipment, due to quick action on Ellen's part when she heard of a biotech that had gone out of business. We have some gel boxes, a transfer apparatus, a big power supply, a dry incubator, a microfuge, and a water bath. But we have no place to put it yet. Minimum requirement would be running water. We need to investigate any hackerspace or biotech space in the area. Song is going to do some research and ask around. It's not clear if there is specific biotech zoning in the New York City area. There is the possibility of renting space in a university lab if we can convince them that we have responsible oversight.

The most tantilizing question is what to do for a first project. Song passed around the abstracts from the Synthetic Biology meeting last year in Hong Kong to generate some ideas. We agreed to start writing them down and fleshing them out. This is an area that anyone can participate in, just by posting in the group. You don't even have to show up at the meetings!

The next meeting will probably be the second week in April, after Dan gets back from his trip. We plan to do more electrophoresis, this time with better control over the dyes and the samples.

March 9th Meeting

Here's a brief summary of the goings-on Monday night in Park Slope. We extracted the DNA from strawberries. Using shot glasses, buffers, alcohol, salt, coffee filters, even a champagne glass, we dripped the DNA free from its luscious abode. Turns out DNA is not nearly as pretty as the fruit. It looks like snot. Then, thanks to Ellen, her jigsaw, and some plexiglass (she made us a homemade gel electrophoresis box), we attempted to separate and visualize the sheared DNA strands. After a little fun with agar-agar (never to be used again) and alligator clips, we watched something, maybe dye, maybe DNA, migrate along the gel. Most probably it was the dye, since to get any kind of accurate concentration with the agar-agar was a nightmare (it had lumps that would not go away, and we ended up filtering it through cheesecloth) and the resulting gel was VERY solid. Oh, and we did all this with a slice of pizza or beer in one hand. And we're going to do it again next time with some other substances, possibly our cheek cells. Also, we'll remember to do some planning beforehand (beer, pizza, strawberries, agarose, you know).

We made a short video of the evening's fun:

(if this version is hard to view, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2HPVs25HlY&feature=channel_page )