Recently I’ve gotten very interested in bio-manufacturing and synthetic biology in the context of precision fermentation. I have an academic background in physics and computer science, and the last time I took a biology class was as a senior in college at MIT.

To educate myself, I’ve equipped a home garage lab and am doing a series of education projects from kits available online, suitable for a safety level of BSL-1. I intend anything more serious than the kits to be done at a more professional, outside of home lab, alongside a seasoned biologist. With that caveat, what follows is the equipment and kits that I bought. I spent about $2500 in total.

Equipment

• Bento Bio Lab Pro — contains a centrifuge, gel electrophoresis, and thermocycler (for PCR aka DNA replication and incubation capabilities)
• Mini trash can
  • Biohazard stickers
• Magnetic stirrer hot plate
• Lab tray
• 1L glass storage bottles
• Deionized water
• Mini fridge/freezer
  • No food no drink sign
• Lab Coat
• Safety Glasses
• Gloves

Kits

• BioBits Central Dogma @home — In this activity, you will use BioBits® cell-free technology to visualize the flow of genetic information and monitor transcription and translation in real time through fluorescence. Learn about the central dogma of molecular biology with cutting-edge synthetic biology
• Biotechnology 101 Kit (Bento Bio) — Learn the basics of Pipetting, Gel Electrophoresis, Centrifuge, and DNA Analysis
• Bacterial CRISPR and Fluorescent Yeast Combo kit —
  • CRISPR: This kit includes everything you need to make precision genome edits in bacteria at home including Cas9, tracrRNA, crRNA and Template DNA template for an example experiment.
  • Fluorescent Yeast: The kit uses a genetically designed extra chromosomal DNA(plasmid) that contains a form of the Green Fluorescent Protein. This protein makes it so that when you expose the engineered yeast to a “black light” or blue light and the yeast glow as seen in the picture. 

Safety Precautions

For my garage lab, I’m working with low-risk microbes and maintaining a requisite safety level of BSL-1. BSL-1 is typically used in teaching laboratories, such as the high school and college classrooms my kits target.

The lowest of the four biosafety levels, biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) applies to laboratory settings in which personnel work with low-risk microbes that pose little to no threat of infection in healthy adults — for example, a BSL-1 laboratory might work with a nonpathogenic strain of E.coli. BSL-1 labs typically conduct research on benches, do not use special contaminant equipment, and do not need to be isolated from surrounding facilities.

Safety protocols for biosafety level 1 labs — which require only standard microbial practices — include:

• Mechanical pipetting (no mouth pipetting allowed)
• Safe sharps handling
• Avoidance of splashes or aerosols
• Daily decontamination of all work surfaces when work is complete
• Regular handwashing
• Prohibition of food, drink, and smoking materials
• The use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as goggles, gloves, and a lab coat or gown
• Biohazard signs

BSL-1 labs also require immediate decontamination after spills. Infectious materials should also be decontaminated prior to disposal, generally through the use of an autoclave.

Citation: https://consteril.com/biosafety-levels-difference/

My garage lab is a now a great home base to learn from but anything requiring BSL-2 safety precautions I would move to a local shared laboratory facility. There are several in Los Angeles, where I’m based, including:

• https://www.lablaunch.org/
• https://www.calstatela.edu/labiospace
• pasadenabio.org

Searching “Biohacking Space” or “Shared Biology Laboratory” on Google might produce results in your region. These can range in price from $100-3000 per month for bench space and facility access.