Howdy, DIYbio! Here are some great threads that have sprung up in the last two weeks. Do discuss!
SageBase – Sean Zuzu mentioned that Merck just pledged a ton of high-resolution, very expensive data to the public domain, along with some software and other resources to make it work.
Legislation – Daniel Crookston posited that DIYbio is eventually going to face government regulation, and that we should consider the shape of self-regulation. Drew Souza, who “is involved in the federal government’s current efforts to address the risks posed by synthetic biology,” weighs in.
DIY competent cells – Sgt. York proposes DIY protocols for making competent cells, and many folks join in. There’s also a discussion of winning cheap electroporators on eBay.
What are Minipreps, anyway? Cory Tobin and Dan Heidel discourse on a variety of methods for purifying plasmid dna, including “salting out” with ethanol precipitation, chloroform precipitation, and CsCl ultracentrifugation.
DIYbio and Syn Bio software – Jason Morrison asks what kinds of software people would like to see or are currently working on. An open-source alternative to VectorNTI seems to be a popular want. Clotho is a great start, and a project that people should contribute to. Clotho has been described as A Plasmid Editor” for BioBricks.
Lego tube shaker – Douglas Ridgway shares a Lego tube shaker that his son built, and Andrew Hessel and Bryan Bishop chip in with suggestions for furthering the prototype and a DIYbio Kids group and Saturday morning show.
Well, that’s it for DIYbio – if you’re up for cooking up a batch of Ultimate Breakfast Sausage or Chocolate Enchiladas, you should check out this week’s MAKE Blog “Weekend Builder” email in my inbox. But if you’re up for cooking up a batch of RFP or gel boxes, let us DIYbioers know!
DIYbio 
We should develop an inexpensive <$500. diy stem cell extraction kit.
Well, if you want stem cells from a mouse, a pair of scissors and a syringe’ll do it.
I am a US-based correspondent for the Science & Society section in Nature’s EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) Reports.
I am starting to research an article on DIY scientists,
Wondered if you might be willing to speka to me about your work?
Howard Wolinsky