Appendix A. Laboratory Reagents and Materials

Equipment

A well-stocked lab will have things such as timers, micropipetters, permanent markers, and ice buckets (as well as ice!). The BioBuilder labs also assume that some consumable materials are available. These consumables are provided if the kits are purchased from Ward’s Science, but many labs have the following:

  • Nitrile or latex gloves

  • 15 ml and/or 50 ml conical screwcap tubes

  • Microfuge tubes (1.5–2 ml) and racks

  • Sterile test tubes and racks

  • Sterile toothpicks, inoculating loops, and/or spreading rods

  • 10 cm polystyrene petri dishes—if pouring your own plates

The following specific lab equipment is needed for each of the labs described.

  Roller wheel or shaker Stir plates and 125 ml Erlenmeyer flasks Spectrophotometer and cuvettes/glass tubes* Incubator ** (30°C or 37°C) Water bath (42°C)
ETS x x x    
iT x   x    
CW       x x
GB       x x
*Can substitute turbidity standards. **Can also incubate at room temperature, but requires longer incubation times.

Reagent Preparation and Storage

Unless otherwise indicated, you can purchase reagents from major chemical vendors, such as Sigma-Aldrich and VWR. They might also be available for lower prices through specialty vendors such as Gold Biotechnology and Ward’s Science.

Solid and Liquid Media

You can also purchase media through vendors such as Teknova.

Luria Broth (LB) liquid media
Dissolve 10 g tryptone, 5 g yeast extract, and 10 g NaCl in water ...

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