You can make your own portable laminar flow hood from a Vacuum Cleaner, some plexiglass, and a HEPA Filter. A thorough article on instructables walks you through the process. The authors paid $200 in parts for their laminar flow hood, including the vacuum cleaner. If you are worried about achieving actual laminar air flow, you […]
An Extremely Cheap Venturi Vacuum Pump
A Venturi vacuum pump works by flowing water through a tube that has a narrow point where a second tube is connected. The faster speed of water through the narrow point pulls a vacuum in the connected tube. There is a nice little instructable on how to put one together using an eppendorf tube, 3 […]
Fluorescent Dyes
A new spin-off of Click Chemistry Tools called Fluoroprobes, is creating generic versions of fluorescent dyes. Our lab recently switched from buying Alexa Fluor® 647 NHS Ester from Thermo Fisher ($339/1mg) to the generic AF 647 NHS Ester from Fluroprobes ($139/1mg). Saves us quite a bit of $$$. We use this dye to label proteins […]
Easy Expansion of Field of View in Two-Photon Set Up
Two-photon micrsocopy is useful for reducing photo-damage and seeing deep into tissue samples. First patented in 1990 by Winfried Denk and James Strickler, it’s a technique that has been used for decades in neuroscience as a minimally invasive way to image neurons in real time. But we’ve already covered how to make one of those […]
Backyard Radio Astronomy
Want to build yourself a radio telescope? The Society of Amateur Radio Astronomers has a rich catalog of tutorials to build them on the cheap. Of particular interest are instructions to create an “Itty Bitty Radio Telescope” out of a TV Satellite dish, as well as VLF radio reciever kits for $120. And since we […]