{"id":405,"date":"2010-08-05T16:03:45","date_gmt":"2010-08-05T16:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/?p=405"},"modified":"2010-08-05T17:00:13","modified_gmt":"2010-08-05T17:00:13","slug":"lavaamp-minipcr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/05\/lavaamp-minipcr\/","title":{"rendered":"LavaAmp: miniPCR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

LavaAmp<\/a> is a thermocycler (aka PCR machine<\/a>) that promises to bring PCR<\/a> to the masses. The aim is to have it available by 1Q 2011 for about $400<\/a>. This post<\/a> at Synthesis.cc has more details on the engineering: <\/p>\n

We continue to refine the hardware design of the LavaAmp, and it looks like we have the production hardware down to 5 or 6 components, 4 of which are injection molded plastic. The labor will only be in assembly of the final box, as all sub-assemblies should all come off automated fab lines of one kind or another. All the real cost is in the design and tooling — once we get up and running the per unit costs should be quite reasonable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Update on OpenPCR<\/a>: This similar effort is making progress as well. Their funding round was wildly successful, generating 202% of their goal!<\/p>\n

The relatively recent expiration of several PCR patents help make these projects possible (OpenPCR writes about this<\/a>). The democratization of this technology is important, as Guido from LavaAmp describes (via<\/a>):<\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object>
\n(Espa\u00f1ol<\/a>)<\/p>\n

What is also needed is a cheap source of reagents and supplies for molecular biology. A PCR machine isn’t much use if you can’t afford polymerase. Molecular biology labs blow most of their budgets on consumables, not equipment. This isn’t a criticism of the LavaAmp and OpenPCR projects, which are very important. I hope they catalyze a renewed, broader effort to democratize biotech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

LavaAmp<\/a> is a thermocycler (aka PCR machine<\/a>) that promises to bring PCR<\/a> to the masses. The aim is to have it available by 1Q 2011 for about $400<\/a>. …<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","tag-pcr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":416,"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/labrigger.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}