Microbiology / Genetics question (dear ask a nerd)

[Pappa]

I've got an idea for something I'm hoping to work on soon and could do with a bit of input to help me get some creativity flowing...

Anyone know of the kinds of machinery, lab equipment, chemicals, tools, etc. that might be found in a microbiology/virology/genetics lab? Anything at all that might be used in the lab that relates to the microbes/viruses/bacteria/genes and their upkeep, research, etc.. Just the names of things would help, but if you're give a short explanation of what they do that would be really awesome too.


Edit: I'm fishing for ideas for a game I'm working on, not planning to set up a smallpox lab at home.

[Pappa]

Just putting these here for safekeeping:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:M ... _equipment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument ... crobiology

[Azathoth]

Pappa is making a zombie virus

[Clinton Huxley]

You'll need a licence for what you're planning

[Feck]

You'll need a licence for what you're planning

no you don't ! you just have to be careful what you order and from whom .

[Clinton Huxley]

You'll need a licence for what you're planning

no you don't ! you just have to be careful what you order and from whom .

I thought for weaponised necrotising viruses you needed a licence from the Post Office?

[Feck]

I can help but it's a bit of a tall order just to start with Everything ! Is this for writing about or doing ?

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/labware/lab ... talog.html

[Pappa]

I can help but it's a bit of a tall order just to start with Everything ! Is this for writing about or doing ?

I'm not planning on doing any actual science. It's for a game idea I'm working on.

Mostly, I'm just fishing for the most common things you might find in these kind of labs as they will form part of the game.

[Clinton Huxley]

You need one of those chambers, where you stick your hands inside encased in rubber gloves

[Pappa]

You need one of those chambers, where you stick your hands inside encased in rubber gloves

Oh god yes.... for sure. What are they called?

[Clinton Huxley]

Get one of these, to freak the neighbours out

[Calilasseia]

A virology laboratory will almost certainly have as part of its equipment lineup an electron microscope. Because most viruses are of a size requiring such an instrument to render them visible. I can tell you right now that this is not something you pick up at your local branch of Tandy.

Anyone who is serious about wanting to purchase an electron microscope needs to be prepared to write out a cheque for around $1 million in the USA - here in the UK, you're looking at around £700,000 for a high quality instrument capable of both scanning and transmission microscopy work. That's just the capital costs for the equipment and its installation. Once you've shelled out for the special building it needs, the electricity supply, the air conditioning and a couple of other ancillaries, then you've well and truly blown a hole in £1¼ million here in the UK, and you're on your way to spending $2 million in the US. Then there's the matter of running costs. Which includes the cost of maintaining a step-up transformer that provides the machine with a whopping 1 million volts, which is needed to provide the high-energy electron beam that will be used in a top-spec TEM. A step up transformer capable of handling a 1 million volt potential difference will almost certainly need a dedicated 3 phase AC supply into the bargain. A top spec machine will let you resolve features that are separated by distances as small as 0.5 angstroms (50 picometres), which is about half the covalent radius of a ruthenium atom.

[Feck]

You need one of those chambers, where you stick your hands inside encased in rubber gloves

Oh god yes.... for sure. What are they called?

Women ?

[Pappa]

A virology laboratory will almost certainly have as part of its equipment lineup an electron microscope. Because most viruses are of a size requiring such an instrument to render them visible. I can tell you right now that this is not something you pick up at your local branch of Tandy.

Anyone who is serious about wanting to purchase an electron microscope needs to be prepared to write out a cheque for around $1 million in the USA - here in the UK, you're looking at around £700,000 for a high quality instrument capable of both scanning and transmission microscopy work. That's just the capital costs for the equipment and its installation. Once you've shelled out for the special building it needs, the electricity supply, the air conditioning and a couple of other ancillaries, then you've well and truly blown a hole in £1¼ million here in the UK, and you're on your way to spending $2 million in the US. Then there's the matter of running costs. Which includes the cost of maintaining a step-up transformer that provides the machine with a whopping 1 million volts, which is needed to provide the high-energy electron beam that will be used in a top-spec TEM. A step up transformer capable of handling a 1 million volt potential difference will almost certainly need a dedicated 3 phase AC supply into the bargain. A top spec machine will let you resolve features that are separated by distances as small as 0.5 angstroms (50 picometres), which is about half the covalent radius of a ruthenium atom.

Cheers Cali.... that series of nuggets will actually be very useful to me.

[nellikin]

I think 'clean bench' is the name of the sterile workspace (which blows air to avoid microbes settling on it). You need an autoclave to sterilise your flasks etc. prior to cultivating microbes. Cultivation generally is done on agar plates with specially added nutrients for specific bacteria, though this is being replaced by genetic identification. These days PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is used to amplify DNA for sequencing. Also, FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridisation) with RNA probes for genetic identification of microbes. Bacteria and stained (often with DAPI or other nasties) prior to identification with a micorscope.

Cultivation is done in standard ovens at different temperatures. You'll need pipettes and vitamin mixes and millipore water (sterile, ultrapure) and all sorts of things. Microtiters and bacterial assay kits are also used to identify / quantify microbes. I think viruses are cultivated using tissue cultures, in funny flasks that lie on their side.

Are these the sorts of things you meant?