Hello TF,
I'm pursuing a new cheap project! Recently, I was assigned a project in school where we have 7 weeks to pursue anything we want, and then we give a presentation on the process and what we have learned by the end. It's an awesome opportunity, and I have decided to move up my summer plans of attempting Tissue Culture. I am a student, and do not have access to any of the $15,000 laminar flow hoods or other equipment typically used. I'm not even going to try doing this with the typical MS agar and growth regulators. I'm going cheap, with a budget of $50. So, I'm going to have to get inventive and be careful, because I know how sensitive this practice is, and I by no means expect to be successful. But I'm going to try very hard to be, and hope I get it right the second time around . What follows is where I am in the process of acquiring materials.
Today I bought most of the supplies I think I will need. These include:
As per very nice instructions from BigBella, I still need for my media:
In terms of equipment, all I need are:
For those that have taken the time to read this far, I really appreciate that. There are a few questions I still need answered. They are the following:
Thank you so much for any help you can offer, and I will update this thread with the process and results.
I'm pursuing a new cheap project! Recently, I was assigned a project in school where we have 7 weeks to pursue anything we want, and then we give a presentation on the process and what we have learned by the end. It's an awesome opportunity, and I have decided to move up my summer plans of attempting Tissue Culture. I am a student, and do not have access to any of the $15,000 laminar flow hoods or other equipment typically used. I'm not even going to try doing this with the typical MS agar and growth regulators. I'm going cheap, with a budget of $50. So, I'm going to have to get inventive and be careful, because I know how sensitive this practice is, and I by no means expect to be successful. But I'm going to try very hard to be, and hope I get it right the second time around . What follows is where I am in the process of acquiring materials.
Today I bought most of the supplies I think I will need. These include:
- A plastic box as a pseudo sterile hood as seen on the HTC webpage
- 91% isopropyl alcohol
- 70% isopropyl alcohol
- Hydrogen peroxide (3% I believe)
- 8.5% bleach (It was the best I could find, this was the super concentrated version too)
- Inositol tablets
- Multivitamin pills
- Spray bottle to sterilize surfaces
- Distilled water
- Table sugar
- Coffee filters to hold samples during sterilization
As per very nice instructions from BigBella, I still need for my media:
- Agar
- 10:10:10 fertilizer
In terms of equipment, all I need are:
- Baby food jars
- Long forceps
- Pressure cooker
For those that have taken the time to read this far, I really appreciate that. There are a few questions I still need answered. They are the following:
- Are there alternatives to agar that I can also buy in a supermarket? I was informed that agar may not be available for a while around me. I could always order it if there is no alternative.
- Is a 10% bleach solution 10% sodium hypochlorite or 10% of the bleach solution mixed with water (so would I just buy a 10% sodium hypochlorite version of Clorox Bleach, as opposed to mixing 10mL of the 8.5% Clorox Bleach I bought in 90mL of water)?
- Is there any (preferably cheap) alternative to PPM I can use in the media to try and prevent unwanted growth? Any ideas with which I can experiment?
Thank you so much for any help you can offer, and I will update this thread with the process and results.
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