For those of you who have access to a machine shop, check out this post from the Djoko Lab with technical drawings on how to machine an inoculating turntable. The parts go for about $20, and the results look solid:
Computer Vision with OpenMV
Looking into machine vision? OpenMV provides the hardware and free software as well. You can buy the whole OpenMV Cam M7 for just $65 or buy individual parts to mix and match and make the device fit your custom needs.
Getting a Waterjet Cutter for Under 10k
Waterjet cutters are often so expensive and esoteric that I’ve only ever seen one in an actual lab. But in principle they should be a fantastic alternative when CNC mills, laser cutters, knife printers or 3D printers can’t get you where you need to be. As the Applied Science youtube channel shows, with some know […]
bioRxiv and arXiv
It’s field dependent, but nowadays a lot of papers will have preprints on the arXiv or bioRxiv. So if your looking for a paper and Google Scholar keeps sending you to journals behind pay walls, see if these preprint servers have a pre-print of the same paper.
A User-Friendly, Low-Cost Turbidostat
For various experimental applications, microbial cultures at defined, constant densities are highly advantageous over simple batch cultures. That’s where a turbidostat comes in, which keeps a culture at a constant turbidity. Here’s a paper by Stefan Hoffmann, Christian Wohltat, Kristian Müller and Katja Arndt where they present a 3D printed small-scale turbidostat for under half a […]