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Tutorials and Learning Resources

Page history last edited by anithabodepudi 8 years ago

Please link to any useful learning resources here!

 

General | Protocols/How-Tos | Apps/Computer Programs | Arts | Bioethics | Bioinformatics | Bioluminescence | BioPrinter | Blogs/Podcasts | Career | Contests/Crowdfunding/Grants | Courses/MOOC Sites | CRISPR/Cas 9 | Events/Festivals | Hackerspaces | Journals and Science News | Kids/K-12/Education | Neuroscience | Plant Biology | Quantified Self | Safety and Maintenance | Vendors and Supplies | ...and of course | Just for Fun | Unsorted Resources


 

 

General:

An Intro to Biotechnology - textbook from Amgen; other Amgen resources.

BioBricks Foundation - 501(c)3 founded in 2006 that supports synthetic bio community through technical and education programs.

  • BioBrick™ Public Agreement - free-to-use legal tool that allows individuals, companies, and institutions to make their standardized biological parts free for others to use.
  • SBx.0 Conference series - preeminent academic meeting in the field of synthetic biology.

BioBuilder - open-access website with informative animations and activities to teach or learn synthetic biology. See Ask Us and Request Reagent Sections.

BioPunk Directory - comprehensive directory of biopunk and DIYbio resources last updated May 2012.

BioScriber - developed to introduce the concept of DNA synthesis/synthetic biology to the general public and how it is used at the DOE JGI and JBEI for bioenergy research.

Citizen Science Alliance - collaboration of citizens (scientists, software developers, educators, and more) over many projects.

  • Zooniverse - internet's largest, most popular and most successful citizen science projects.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory - CSHL actually lists BioCurious in their Biological Sciences LibGuide

E. coli genotypes - List of E. coli strains and their associated genotypes.

The GFP Site - Comprehensive introduction to GFP from Connecticut College's Marc Zimmer.

iGEM - a Cambridge, MA  nonprofit foundation that hosts the international genetically engineered machine competition and Registry of Standard Biological Parts.

LabSpaces - a social network for the scientific community featuring a science news feed, friendship, collaboration, and communication; blogs, forums, groups, protocols, and shop.

MicrobeWorld - interactive multimedia educational outreach initiative rich in content from the American Society for Microbiology.

Molecular Movies - organized directory of cell/molecular animations and a collection of original tutorials for life science professionals learning 3D visualization.

NCBI - National Center for Biotechnology Information; the (Entrez) search engine is a good place to start.

  • BLAST - Basic Local Alignment Search Tool; compares sequences and identifies similar regions.
  • PubMed - search engine for citations of literature, journals, and books; some are freely available via PubMed Central.

Open Science Federation - NP alliance of open source computer scientists, citizen scientists, scientist-scientists, science writers, journalists, educators, makers of/advocates for Open Data, Open Access, and Open Source.

Physics Forums - almost 200K members discuss all sciences.

Science 2.0 - created in 2006 to modernize science communication, publishing, collaboration and public participation.

Science Online -  non-profit that facilitates conversations, community, and collaborations at the intersection of Science and the Web.

Scistarter - place to find out about, take part in, publicize, and contribute to science through recreational activities and research projects.

Society for General Microbiology -  a membership organisation for scientists who work in all areas of microbiology. Check out the links!

  • Microbiology Online - Although referring to UK laws and restrictions, MO provides a wealth of useful microbiology and safety information.

SynBERC - multi-institutional effort by QB3 and NSF. See the Education page for materials for synthetic biology at different levels of education.

Synthetic Biology - OpenWetWare page, including FAQ section.

Synthetic Biology index - development of standards in biology and DNA parts, microbial and plant systems, research/teaching at Cambridge, hardware, and tools for scientific productivity. 

The Synthetic Biology Project - established as an initiative of the Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Tree of Life Web Project - a collaborative effort providing information about biodiversity, the characteristics of different groups of organisms, and their evolutionary history.

 

Protocols/How-Tos:

BenchFly - Lab Videos Made Easy. Like YouTube, but with nothing but videos showing lab techniques. Here's a few good beginning ones:

BioCurious Protocol Library - Hosted on PBWorks, a list of protocols specific to BioCurious.

Cold Spring Harbor | Protocols - Explore hundreds of free, essential methods here.

Competent Cells Compendium - A comprehensive how-to for E. coli strains and competent cell preparation for molecular biology applications and transformation

DnaTube - Although some of the videos come with thick accents, their Experiments channel has some techniques.

eHow.com - the Biological Sciences Education, Biology Sciences, and Science Education sections may be of interest.

Instructables - large online DIY community with projects and how-tos (including those submitted by BioCurians), and even contests. It's now owned by Autodesk.

OpenWetWare - effort to promote sharing of info, know-how, and wisdom among researchers and groups who are working in biology & biological engineering. OWW is managed by the BioBricks Foundation.

Protocol Online - a database of research protocols in life science fields. Protocols are contributed by worldwide researchers and research labs, biotech companies, and personal web sites.

Protocolpedia - the encyclopedia of lab protocols.

WikiHow - has a Science category with a section on Biology

Write a Protocol - Page from Penn State's Biology 110 laboratory Web site.

 

 

Apps/Computer Programs:

LeafSnap - currently only for iPhone and iPad. 

Project Noah - Networked Organisms and Habitats; See the National Geographic sponsored site 

SENSR - a simple and easy way to obtain a custom data collection application running on mobile devices for your project in Android and iOS.

 

 

 

Arts:

Bacteria Portrait - In 2006, a work called GFPixel was created using 4000 petri dishes. 

BioArt 2009 - Blog from University of Minnesota Freshman Seminar on BioArt.

BIOARTSOCIETY - Site of the Finnish Bioart Society, their Ars Bioarctica project, and the synthetic biology oriented Making_Life.

Bio:Fiction - Science, Art, & Film Festival in Vienna, Austria.

David S. Goodsell - molecular biologist and illustrator

Djerassi Resident Artists Program - the Scientific Delirium Madness program merges scientific empiricism and intuition.

GalaxyGoo - Scientists, artists, and technologists develop free educational materials, like The Cell Project.

HHMI Collection of Irving Geis illustrations - a collection of works by molecular art pioneer, Irving Geis. 

Molecular Graphics Laboratory - lab of David Goodsell and other molecular graphics efforts at Scripps Research Institute.

Open Clay Project - Patrick Schmidt's exploration of millefiori technique and science with polymer clay.

Organism: Making Art With Living Systems - Blog including technical, practical, aesthetic, and ethical issues related to making art with living systems. Last updated mid 2009.

Symbiartic - Scientific American's Blog about "The art of science and the science of art."

 

 

Bioethics:

DIYbio Code of Ethics - Drafts from 2011 meeting drafts of bioethics as agreed by European and US delegates. 

NIH | Bioethics resources on the Web - a list of links.

Synthetic Biology Project | ethics - events, publications, and news from early 2009.

 

 

Bioinformatics: 

QB3 Python Bioinformatics Course 2012 - Great for budding citizen bioinformaticians.

Dr. Brown recommends using Enthought's prebuilt Python installer, which includes several useful modules and a robust Python interpreter.

DNA Subway - a bioinformatics workspace that makes high-level genome analysis broadly available to students and educators.

GenoCAD - Developed by Virginia BioInformatics Institute

OpenHelix - bioinformatics and genomics resources, including a search portal, free quick reference cards, and a blog.

Rosalind -  a platform for learning bioinformatics and programming through problem solving.

 

 

Bioluminescence:

Firefly Watch - Museum of Science, Boston, Tufts, and Fitchburg State College team up with citizen scientists to track fireflies.

Isolation of Pure Cultures of Bacteria - written by Harold Eddleman, PhD; e-mail indbio@disknet.com for questions.

Lighting It Up: Using Bioluminescence to Reveal Pollution - a Pleasanton High School's experiments with Vibrio Harveyi and Vibrio Fischeri.

Transformation Experiment Using Bioluminescence Genes of Vibrio fischeri - 1995 paper in JSTOR

 

See the project page on PB works and Google group for more links.

Glow-in-the-Dark Surf explained

The secret social lives of bacteria

 

(from Bioluminescence Web sites)

E. Buskey (U. Texas) 

J. Case (UCSB) 

J.W. Hastings (Harvard) 

P. Herring (Southampton Oceanography Centre, England) 

E. Widder (HBOI)

The Official Bioluminescence Web site
The Bioluminescence Web site of Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution.
Images and movies of various luminescent organisms
Lecture notes on bacterial bioluminescence, SUIC
The DUMAND project and bioluminescence
Bioluminescent Sea Life: BALDRIGE
Bioluminescence measurements by the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO)
Glow with the flow, magazine article on flow-stimulated bioluminescence
Counter-illumination (Smithsonian Ocean Planet exhibit)
Beautiful images of bioluminescence in Phosphorescent Bay, Puerto Rico, by photographer Frank Borges LLosa
Bioglyphs, an art and science collaboration with bioluminescent bacteria

 

 

 

BioPrinter:

Organovo - one of the first companies to use a bioprinting approach regenerative medicine.

From group page:

http://www.jove.com/video/3681/creating-transient-cell-membrane-pores-using-a-standard-inkjet-printer

http://hackaday.com/2011/07/12/re-manufacturing-inkjet-cartridges-for-3d-printing/
http://boingboing.net/2010/07/24/turn-an-inkjet-into.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney.html

http://www.kurzweilai.net/ntd-organ-manufacturing
Making Medical Miracles with Inkjet Printers

http://blog.united-academics.org/2865/researchers-use-a-3d-printer-to-make-bone-like-material/
http://www.igb.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/igb/en/documents/PB_biorap_e.pdf
http://www.innovationnewsdaily.com/artificial-blood-cells-3d-printing-fraunhofer-2259/
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/need-artery-just-print-one-out
http://www.economist.com/node/15543683
http://singularityhub.com/2009/06/15/organovo-pioneers-3-d-organ-printing/
http://openwetware.org/wiki/DIYbio/FAQ/Projects#Inkjet_Printer_Hacking_for_Bio_Projects
http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2009-08/artificial-organs-could-arise-flash-electricity

http://www.explainingthefuture.com/bioprinting.html

(Jing) What I mentioned earlier, potentially better than starch due to faster decomposition time->
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-08/new-gel-glue-method-rejoins-cut-blood-vessels-better-stitches

 

 

 

Blogs/Podcasts:

BioTinker - a 5 part podcast primer on data science in biology and biotech startups looking at members of the BioC community.

Make | Blog Hackerspaces - Read about hackerspaces on the Make Blog.

PLoS - Public Library of Science's blog, blogroll, and podcast

SciBlogs - blog network of scientists in New Zealand

Scienceblogging - aggregator of science blogs.

Science Blogs - in partnership with National Geographic, current and archived blogs are divided into 10 categories and a Jobs section.

Scientific American Blog Network

  • Oscillator - Notes, thoughts, and news on synthetic biology.

Scientists as Citizens: Activism beyond the bench -  Kathy Barker blogs about how scientists can reach beyond their labs to effect change.

Synthesis - a blog by Rob Carlson on issues relevant to synthetic biology.

Synthetic Aesthetics - University of Edinburgh and Stanford blog about synthetic biology, art, design and social science.

The Tree of Life Blog - by Jonathan Eisen, Prof. at UC Davis.

This Week in Microbiology - a new podcast about unseen life on Earth hosted by Vincent Racaniello and friends. 

This Week in Parasitism - podcast about eukaryotic parasites hosted by Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier.

This Week in Virology - A netcast about viruses. The kind that make you sick.

 

 

 

Books:

Biology is Technology - by Rob Carlson. 

BioPunk - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Career:

Also see Events/Festivals section below.

Bay Area Life Tech - a meetup group bringing together our local community of Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Medical Device, Stem Cell, and Health scientists, investors, executives, practitioners and others.

BayBio - maintain Northern California’s leadership in life science innovation through support of entrepreneurship, science education and life science career development.

  • Bio-Community - connects life science volunteers to grade K-14 classrooms to positively impact STEM education.
  • Bio-Link Depot -  free supplies for educators at the City College Campus at San Francisco Airport.

Bio2Device - meets every Tuesday morning in Sunnyvale City Council Chambers and Tuesday night once a month.

BioSpace - biotech, clinical research, and pharmaceutical news and jobs as well as industry-renowned Career Fairs.

BioTechGigs - science job postings, and career building resources.

Kelly | Scientific Resources - staffing agency

LabSupport - staffing agency

 

 

 

Contests/Crowdfunding/Grants:

Crowdfunding 101 - NCFA's 2:15 minute intro to the 3 types of crowdfunding.

Awesome Foundation - worldwide foundation with an SF chapter microfunding of microbrilliance in the arts and the sciences.

Experiment (formerly Microryza) - friend of ours from UW with a crowdfunding site to fund scientific research with an all-or-nothing funding model. See their FAQs for more info. 

Indiegogo - international crowdfunding platform.

Kickstarter - funding platform for creative projects.

Petridish - currently in beta, PD is a way to find science and explore the world with renowned researchers.

RocketHub - Crowdfunding site; see science and research & invention tags. 

SciFund Challengean experiment; can scientists crowdfund research? The current rate of funding science proposals in the US is ~20%.

Upstart - funding platform that allows you to invest in individuals.

 

 

 

Courses/MOOC sites:

Academic Earth

Canvas Network - open platform for instructors and institutions; hosts many basic and introductory courses

Carnegie Mellon University | Open Learning Initiative

Class Central - free online class aggregator.

Connexions - global repository of educational content provided by Rice University.

Coursera 

EdX

Knollop

Udacity

Udemy

 

 

 

 

CRISPR/Cas 9:

CRISPR-Cas.org - maintained by the Joung Lab at the Massachusetts General Hospital

CRISPR Genome Engineering Resources - reagent information, computational tools, and the community discussion forum from Broad Institute's Zhang Lab.

CRISPR method | easier and more precise genome engineering

Easier, Safer Genome Editing

Programmable DNA-Cleaving Enzyme

RNA-Guided Human Genome Engineering via Cas9

 

 

 

 

Events/Festivals:

Academic events

Bay Area Science - The website of the annual Festival every fall also has updates on many events year round. See their calendar

Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous (LASER) - lecture series and presentations on art, science and technology hosted by University of San Francisco, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and UC Santa Cruz. 

Maker Faire - see all Faires celebrating maker culture, including the Bay Area one, usually in May in San Mateo (2013).

Meetup.com - general site for gatherings based on common interest; plenty of science-oriented groups.

Open Science Summit - annual Mountain View event captured on Fora.tv

Science Hack Day - 48-hour event where people excited about making weird, silly or serious things with science see what they can prototype within 24 hours. See the detailed guides on how to host one in your city!

Sci Foo Camp - annual unconference hosted by Digital Science, Nature Publishing, Google and O'Reilly; some YT vids come out of this.

World Science Festival - Takes place in New York every year, see videos and blog for interesting topics; i.e. quadruple DNA.

 

 

 

Hackerspaces and Lab Facilities:

AceMonsterToys - membership based group with regular, free open-to-the-public classes and events dedicated to education, hacking, and maker culture. 

BioFab - world's first biological design-build facility, professionally staffed, and for public-benefit; initiated by an NSF grant.

  • Contact holly(at)biobricks(dot)org for more information about joining Stanford BIOFAB led by Drew Endy.

BioSpace - part of the Victoria Makerspace in British Columbia.

BrightWork CoResearch - Houston's research space dedicated to supporting independent researchers / science focused entrepreneurs.

BOSSLAB - The Boston Open Source Science Lab.

BUGSS - Baltimore's UnderGround Science Space.

Counter Culture Labs - East Bay citizen science community (facebook/meetup/twitter/wiki).

GenSpace - Brooklyn's counterpart to BioCurious.

Hackerspaces.org - Index of most hackerspaces worldwide. 

HiveBio - a DIYBio hub in Seattle, WA.

Indie Bio - world's first accelerator devoted to startups using biology to solve fundamental human problems. 

L.A. BioHackers - diverse and eclectic group of amateur scientists with a lab based in Downtown LA.

Maui Makers - makerspace providing tools, space, instruction and community to support the making of things.

  • SpaceGAMBIT - federally funded program run by Maui Makers.

Noisebridge - infrastructure provider for technical-creative projects, collaboratively run by its members.

  • BioBridge - kombucha-loving and possibly defunct :)

Northern California Bay Area Biotechnology Center (NCBC) - hosted at Ohlone college (Josie Sette), NCBC promotes and supports industry-specific education, training and services.

RockHealth - Startup incubator for digital health and health technology startups.

San Jose BioCenter - Prescience Innovation center/business incubator/university foundation for budding biotech companies.

Sudo Room - East Bay creative community that has open membership, and is non-hierarchical and collaborative.

Tech Liminal - not a hackerspace, but sponsors events like Workshop Weekend in Oakland; popular with biohackers.

The Wet Lab - San Diego's DIYbio maker community of algae enthusiasts.

 

 

 

 

Journals* and Science News:

See Journal Access.

BioCoder - O'Reilly quarterly newsletter edited by Nina DiPrimio and Mike Loukides for DIYbio, synthetic bio, and anything related.

Bioflukes - rebooting research through JoEInnovators 4 Hire, and Lab Critics.

  • Journal of Errology - learn from the mistakes of other researchers and their negative outcomes.

Citizen of Science Quarterly - two-volume effort to report on citizen science life; 

Journal of Citizen Science (JOCS? One from Idea Lab) - Effort to publish findings in citizen science led by Nina DiPrimio.

International Open Access Week - October 21-27, 2013 everywhere. 

Journal Lab - beta service that helps you find relevant research. 

JoVE - Journal of Visualized Experiments; Peer reviewed, PubMed-indexed, scientific video journal.

Mendeley - useful site for sharing articles; many groups at BioCurious have a dedicated group.

New York Times - Health, Science, and Technology sections.

PeerJ - open access peer-reviewed scientific mega journal covering research in the biological and medical sciences.

PLoS (Public Library of Science) - publisher of open access, peer-reviewed journals: PLoS BiologyPLoS Computational BiologyPLoS CurrentsPLoS GeneticsPLoS MedicinePLoS Neglected Tropical DiseasesPLoS ONEPLoS Pathogens

ScienceDaily - source for topical science articles, images, videos and reference indices about astronomy, computer science, nanotechnology, medicine, psychology/sociology, anthropology, biology, geology, physics, mathematics, chemistry, archaeology/paleontology, and others.

 

 

 

Kids/K-12/Education:

Ask a Biologist - sponsored by NSF as a K-12 educational resource.

BABEC - Bay Area Biotechnology Education Consortium; curricula and biotech resources.

The Biology Corner - resources of tutorials and lesson plans for biology and science teachers.

Galileo Innovation Summer Camps for Kids - innovations camps that draw on the innovation process developed at Stanford d.school for children in Pre-K through Grade 8.

Google Science Fair - a global online competition open to students from 13 to 18 years old.

The Learning Network Blog - vast supply of resources to teach using the New York Times.

Mad Science of the Bay Area - offers after-school, preschool, summer and vacation programs, workshops, special events and birthday parties.

National Lab Network - building local communities to foster ongoing collaborations among volunteers, students and educators.

Next Generation Science Standards - Several states are updating their state science standards, including California.

NIH | Science Education - research and training for students and educators.

PBS Teachers - becoming PBS Learning Media in June 2013; instant access to classroom-ready, digital resources. Free for educators.

Pipet Art - introduce kids to pipettes and 96-well plates with art!

Playful Science - offers resources for families to engage in "playful" science exploration in everyday activities and settings.

Resource Area for Teaching (RAFT) - non-profit that supports educators in learning-by-doing style teaching with affordable materials and lesson plans.

Rock-It Science - Santa Clara nonprofit charitable organization providing hands-on science instruction to children.

We Teach Science - organization that teaches 7th-10th graders via a remote tutoring platform. Apply to be a mentor here

Youth Science Institute - bringing hands-on science to K-8 students in Santa Clara County at nature centers and in the community.

 

 

Neuroscience:

Backyard Brains - Detroit-based company with products like the SpikerBox to learn more about neuroscience.

Society for Neuroscience - world’s largest organization devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system.

  • BrainFacts.org - authoritative source of information about the brain and nervous system for the public.

Emotiv Systems - Australian company developing a computer-brain interface using EEG technology and 14 electrodes.

Genes 2 Cognition Online (G2C) - Cold Spring Harbor site about modern neuroscience.

NeuroSky - BCI technologies adapting EEG and EMG to consumer product applications.

Neurotic Physiology - blogger SciCurious writes all about neurophysiology.

Open EEG - GNU Matlab toolbox for processing data from electroencephalography (EEG); can be used as neurofeedback tool.

Posit Science - company that works to improve brain functioning through exercises.

Synthetic Neurobiology Group - research group led by Ed Boyden PhD.

 

 

Plant Biology:

ATTED - co-regulated gene relationships to estimate gene functions in Arabidopsis and rice. 

GARNet - network that supports Arabidopsis researchers and the wider plant science community. 

PPDB - Plant Promoter DataBase; not to be confused with Plant Proteome DataBase. 

 

 

 

Quantified Self:

American Gut - part of Human Food Project, AG is the largest, open-source effort to characterize the microbial diversity of the Global Gut.

Fitbit - SF company that provides fitness tracking devices and services.

Quantified Self - place for people interested in self-tracking to gather, share knowledge and experiences, and discover resources.

uBiome - based in UCSF, uBiome focuses on "sequencing your microbiome."

Zeo Sleep Manager - company that makes sleep monitoring devices, and tracking software; possibly closing its doors as of Mar 2013.

 

 

 

Safety and Maintenance:

Ask a Biosafety Expert - Questions submitted to DIYbio are sent to a panel of professional biosafety experts and members of the American Biological Safety Association.

Escherichia coli K-12 Derivatives Final Risk Assessment - EPA's explanation of why E.Coli K-12 is safe to use.

Flinn Scientific Safety Courses - Safety courses including a Laboratory Design Course.

How to Clean Laboratory Apparatus - eHow article on cleaning glassware with different levels of residue.

Lab Manager Magazine - the Lab Health and Safety section may be of use.

The Lab Safety Institute (LSI) - an international nonprofit education organization for laboratory safety providing safety training, audits, inspections and consultation services.

Lab Setup | Safety - Indiebiotech's guide to lab safety (Europe). 

Open Directory Project: School Safety | Labs and Experiments - Directory of over 15 professional resources for non professionals including quizzes.

PPE: Gloves, Lab Coats & Respirators - UV's discussion of PPE choices, including the differences in glove types.

Safety in the Laboratory - Guide from an introductory textbook on biotechnology.

S3: Science, Safety, Security - DHHS's Public Health Emergency developed this program to address biosafety, biosecurity, biocontainment, and biorisk management. 

 

 

 

Vendors, Lab Supplies, and Services:

AddGene - non profit plasmid repository

AlgaeLab - Focused on Spirulina, AL holds workshops and sells kits from their base in Berkeley, CA.

Amazon.com | Lab & Scientific - products from an obvious source. Also see Occupation Health and Safety and Science Education sections.

Bio Basic - Canadian supplier and manufacturer of life science products and services.

Carolina Biological Supply - a leading supplier of science teaching materials to teachers, professors, home-school educators, and health/science professionals.

Culture Collections - compilation on PB Works of places to order various organisms from, including cheaper educational sources.

DNA 2.0 - largest US provider of synthetic genes, with a global customer base comprised of academia, government and the pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural and biotechnology industries; made in the USA.

EMPCO - specializes in the culture of marine and freshwater microalgae.

Flinn Scientific - only sells to state certified teachers and ships only to accredited schools, regardless of the types of items ordered.

GeneWiz - global CRO specializing in DNA services.

Integrated DNA Technologies - largest supplier of custom nucleic acids in the US.

IO Rodeo - smart lab technology

LabPro -  full line distributor in Sunnyvale of laboratory products, chemicals, microscopes and imaging equipment. Open 8 AM - 4:30 PM, Mon - Fri.

Mango Biotechnology - Here in Mountain View, CA.

Molecular Cloning Laboratories (MCLAB) - cost-effective consumables and reagents, first generation/next-generation sequencing, and DNA fragment analysis 

NCMA - National Center for Marine Algae and Microbiota; strains and media for sale.

New England BioLabs (NEB) - produces and supplies recombinant and native enzyme reagents for life science research.

The ODIN - the Open Discovery Institute makes biohacking easier through its online storefront, tutorials, and ODIN community projects. 

OpenBiotech - open source biotech supply; a couple of people had trouble with their MasterMix.

p212121 - lab supplier that specializes in aggregating the best deals on chemicals, supplies and tools.

Sigma Aldrich - produces and sells biochemicals, organic and inorganic chemicals and related products.

Thermo Fischer Scientific - analytical instruments, laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables and reagents.

UTex - extensive collection of over 2800 strains of algae, as well as bulk microalgae, teaching kits, and photobioreactors for sale.

VWR - find discounted VWR supplies at VWR LabShop.

  • Members may wish to take advantage of the BioCurious account.

Ward's Natural Science - supplier of science education materials for high school and college students.

 

 

 

Virtual Environments

Emerald Cloud LabEmerald Cloud Laboratory (ECL) comes from Emerald Therapeutics in Menlo Park and is currently alpha-testing their services, to include these listed experiments

DNA Extraction Virtual Lab

Gel Electrophoresis Virtual Lab

Labster - virtual lab environment created in Denmark using Unity 3D.

 

 

...and of course:

FORA.tv - the web's largest collection of conference and event videos; great for finding science talks.

Khan Academy - over 3000 mini-lectures on a wide array of subjects including math, computer science, chemistry, biology, physics, astronomy, healthcare and medicine.

Ignite - global conference where speakers are limited to 5 minutes and 20 slides at 20 seconds each; great for introductory learning.  

MAKE - DIY marriage of art and technology; Magazine, Faire, and Shed, all part of O'Reilly Media. 

PBS.org - especially, the Science & Nature and Technology sections.

PBS Learning Media - resources for (self) educators

TED - "ideas worth spreading" in the form of short lectures usually on technology, entertainment, and design each no longer than 18 minutes.

Vimeo - BioCurious, Biocurious: Eri, and search results for 'biocurious'

Wikipedia Science Portal

YouTube - with channels like Bozeman Biology, Garland Science, Nature/NPG, Science In SecondsTechNyouvids , YT can help you brush up on relevant concepts.

 

 

Just for Fun:

Games?

BioComicals - webcomic about science, medicine, lab life, genes, mice, proteins; written/illustrated by Alper Uzun, PhD.

GIANT Microbes - Plush toy models of mostly microbes and other small, related novelty items.

Ig Nobel Prizes - Research that makes you laugh, then think.

PHD Comics - comic strip about graduate student life that dips into the well of research and science quite often.

Screenology - Awesome tees for the science enthusiast.

Strain - The Bioengineering Game.

UbiqBio - An effort out of MIT's STEP program to create bio-themed games for mobile devices; funded by NIH.

Venom! - learn about proteins in this computer game from ASU's Ask a Biologist.

 

 

Unsorted resources:

SnapGene - way to plan, visualize, and document DNA cloning and PCR. Good for designing primers.

ApE - A plasmid editor; 

Bookboon.com - Download free eBooks and textbooks from a collection including many Natural Science titles, without making any account.

DIYbio on the PBS NewsHour - 10:00 minute YouTube video from 2008.

Hackteria.org - Their Projects page offers 62 ideas to work on.  

GenoCon

GeneSynthesizer

Biotech Boulevard - Hosted by Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News, highlighting new entrepreneurial biotech firms based all over the globe. 

Asilomar_Conference_on_Recombinant_DNA - wiki article about historical event in science.

Genome Compiler - a simplified solution for designing DNA.

Genevestigator - find out in which tissues, at which stages of development, and to what stimuli, drug treatments, diseases, or genetic modifications genes of given organisms (human, mouse, rat, Arabidopsis, barley, rice, wheat and soybean) are activated.

 

LegaLinks  - PB Works page on some laws that pertain to BioCurious.

Tekla Labs - Research Grade DIY Lab Equipment; Contribute to or use Tekla Guides.

Shift Labs - makes low-cost medical devices to help improve healthcare in low resource settings; based in Seattle.

Citizens in Space (formerly Teachers in Space) - 10 Citizen Astronauts; 100 Citizen Science Experiments. A project of the United States Rocket Academy.

Algae Geek - free designs for DIY photobioreactors and resource for the algae-community.

Aquinas - $800 reusable microfluidic interconnect system by Carlo Quinonez. 

B10NUMB3R5 - the database of useful biological numbers. 

Microorganisms Safety Guideines - Resource written for kids to understand at sciencebuddies.org.

Society for Social Studies of Science (4S) - global organization dedicated to researching the social dimension of science. 

Benchling - see non-profit pricing.

San Francisco Microscopical Society - A non-profit educational institution dedicated to the teaching of microscopy. 

Quartzy - free lab management software, used by more than 10,000 labs.

StrainControl - software that manages all inventory items such as strains, cell-lines, plasmids, oligos, chemicals, and equipment.

 

 

 

 

 

 


* See Journal Access for more resources.

** Use it or lose it - share what you've learned in the BioCurious Crowd-Sourced Glossary.

*** Please "strikethrough" any dead links you may find, instead of deleting them. 

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