#OpenPore: A low-cost, portable, battery-powered, #OpenSource exponential decay pulse generator for #electroporation: - 2 batteries: 1.5 V, 9 V - pulse: max. 330 V - 0.4 cm commercial #cuvette - #3Dprinted chassis - cost: CAD $85 doi.org/10.1016/j.oh... #DIYbio #lab #instruments #transfection

Gel-o-meter - a simple afternoon DIY project to build non-contact thermometer for monitoring molten agar/agarose out of the autoclave or microwave oven before adding your precious antibiotics or vitamins. No need to hover, as it has a customisable audio alert. biomaker.org/gel-o-meter

A large curated archive of DIY builds for the lab (labonthecheap.com/index.html) from Bezia Lemna (bezialemma.com)

Patent (expired) documents for bufferless gel cassettes - looks like it is the original base for Thermo Fisher E-Gels. Interestingly, it has recipes for anode and cathode ion exchange mixtures that supply fresh ions while running - in lieu of buffer. patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/de...

Construction details for building a low-cost centrifuge force microscope module for single-molecule force experiments www.halvorsenlab.com/publications and doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Quantitative comparison of conductive filaments for 3D printing - some significant differences from manufacturer's specs! (article: Characterization of the Anisotropic Electrical Properties of Additively Manufactured Structures Made from Electrically Conductive Composites...) doi.org/10.3390/poly...

3D printed micro gel electrophoresis system - development of tiny gel rigs with 3D printed conductive plastic electrodes and battery power supply. Likely some big opportunities for extending this approach! doi.org/10.1021/acsm...

📢 New publication 'microRNA-mediated control of cell fate specification and patterning in #Marchantia polymorpha' by Adolfo Aguilar-Cruz et al. in @newphyt.bsky.social 🧪 doi.org/10.1111/nph.... #auxin #microRNA

microRNA‐mediated control of cell fate specification and patterning in <fi>Marchantia polymorpha</fi>

The gemma developmental program in Marchantia polymorpha is coordinated by MpMIR166-mediated repression of MpC3HDZ and auxin homeostasis.

doi.org

Build a lab shaker to agitate parts with PVA supports! This DIY shaker uses an Adafruit Crickit, Circuit Playground Express and DC motor. The speed is adjustable with a potentiometer! Guide: learn.adafruit.com/crickit-lab-... youtu.be/Tfv6wo20pNc #3dprinting #adafruit #diy #electronics

A video view of a prototype micro touchscreen interface for a DIY PCR device - working with a 2.0" screen, and using UiFlow2 tools to build a small multi-page user interface, that's no-code and easy to customise. biomaker.org/airflow-pcr

Shrinking a PCR control interface down to the 2.0" M5Stack CoreS3 SE touchscreen is a bit of a challenge, with only 320x240 pixels, but integration of screen design and LVGL programming in UiFlow2 makes it easy to tweak the display interactively, without being buried in code. biomaker.org/software

Some info about alternative LED panels for the DIY Midi Grow-pods - used for split NFT hydroponic culture of Marchantia. marchantia.org/midi-nft-gro...

Use of a stackable GoPlus2 module allows no-code programming of servos and motors with three extra ports for general I/O. V. useful extension for fast prototyping of electromechanical stuff - especially with integrated design of flexible touchscreen interfaces. Example at: biomaker.org/airflow-pcr

A simple plug-in module for connecting and calibrating thermocouples for temperature control - used for my microreactor, but might be useful for other bioreactors and incubators. Calibration curves suggest that single point offset corrections are necessary - as well as easy. biomaker.org/airflow-pcr

New design for a DIY mini bioreactor from David Jordan in Cambridge - with accurate temperature control, gas composition monitoring, illumination, and pumps for feed and waste - ready for reactor networked arrays. Full details at: (notes.livingphysics.org/build_posts/...)

Ever had issues with contamination in #Marchantia or #liverwort tissue culture? We've developed a protocol that is simple and low-effort (albeit slow) to get rid of fungi and bacteria: dx.doi.org/10.17504/pro.... Work led by Isaac Coven and supported by Chetan Pandey, myself & @dromius.bsky.social.

DIY guide for building specialised hardware on the back of a M5Stack Tab5 device (Carsen Groen, bouncing radio signals off the moon! - building a custom wide range dual RF sensor) moonbounce.dk/hamradio/dua...

The Tab5 and M5Stack modules share a common bus - so many kinds of modules can be plugged in to the touchscreen device, and UiFlow2 provides built-in no-code (Blockly) and Micropython support. Neat engineering, and eases the programming transition for biologists... biomaker.org/hardware

Using the M5Stack Tab5 device to prototype touchscreen control and display for a new AirFlowPCR device. M5Stack offer a plug-in dual thermocouple reader for monitoring temperatures. No-code programming and cost-effective. biomaker.org/airflow-pcr

Different sets of 3D printable test tube racks for Eppendorf, 15mL Falcon and 50mL Falcon tubes - useful point of reference with nice clean designs (from uranium235) makerworld.com/en/collectio...

First installment of a project to build a cheap and compact PCR device based on a 12V air heater module and switched air flow. biomaker.org/airflow-pcr

Excited to share this story in its final form, now published in ACS Synthetic Biology. #PlantBiology #Synbio pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Engineering Auronidin Production in Marchantia polymorpha Enables a New Class of Plant-Derived Textile Pigments

Plant-derived pigments offer sustainable alternatives to synthetic colorants, yet their practical deployment in textiles is limited by restricted chemical diversity and low abundance. Liverworts represent a source of diverse chemical compounds, and the model liverworts Marchantia polymorpha are emerging as chassis for bioengineering and synthetic biology. Here, we report the biotechnological application of auronidins, a rare class of flavonoid pigments, as textile dyes. Using M. polymorpha, we engineered enhanced auronidin production through controlled expression of the R2R3-MYB transcription factor MpMYB14. We systematically benchmarked constitutive and inducible gene expression systems, including heat-shock, glucocorticoid receptor, and β-estradiol (XVE) circuits, identifying inducible strategies that decouple biomass accumulation from secondary metabolite production while achieving high pigment yields. Extracted auronidins were used to dye cotton yarn directly, demonstrating the feasibility of auronidins for textile dyeing. Our results establish M. polymorpha as a versatile plant chassis for programmable secondary metabolite production and introduce auronidins as a promising natural pigment platform for sustainable textile biotechnology.

pubs.acs.org

Facundo Romani@fromani.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Marchantia might seem an unlikely biotech crop, but it’s worth trying. In Aurore’s thesis, we pushed this concept by engineering the auronidins with MpMYB14 and using the pigments to dye cotton. It ended up giving a very unique and beautiful product. #PlantScience www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Nice design for long term solar-powered environmental monitoring with M5Stack hardware, flexible sensors, comms and AI analysis. PETG printed Stevenson shield. www.hackster.io/redknario/qu...

Design for a small 3D printed laminar flow unit that couples two 120mm computer fans to a cheap IKEA “uppåtvind” airfilter - shroud and floor could be added for sterile tissue culture work www.printables.com/model/149072...

Nice review preprint with a comparison of particle vs. continuum methods for computer modelling of molecular and cellular scale interactions. arxiv.org/pdf/2604.138...

An explanation of the split-flow NFT scheme that I've been using for Marchantia propagation - likely helpful for other bryophyte plants - and maybe adapted for seedlings, etc. if a more porous surface mat is used. Info and assembly instructions at: marchantia.org/spilt-nft

...and matching info about assembly pneumatic systems at: blog.rahix.de/pneumatics/

Lots of useful tips for better design of 3D prints - very useful long read for DIYers at blog.rahix.de/design-for-3...

Backpack modification to an M5Stack Tab5 - shows what's possible for this flexible device. In this case it is extended hardware and software for probing wireless networks - but the idea would also work for bioinstrumentation. From github.com/C5Lab/M5Mons...

Super Breadboard 2 for electronics prototyping with short circuit protection, accessory components and separation of input and output signals. From 8bitflux.com