Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Hi, Tito here from OpenPCR. That's a fantastic question! The typical use case for PCR is "doing stuff with DNA" along the lines of what you read on the wiki page about PCR. We hope that OpenpCR will enable new uses of PCR, where perhaps the user doesn't need to know much about DNA. What if PCR could "tell you whether you have the flu or a cold", or "is this sushi really yellowfin tuna", or "is this genetically modified corn?". What do you think of those apps?

Tito




The first two definitely seem like things that one could easily imagine a kit for: include primers for the species of interest, a bit of positive control, and perhaps even the Taq and other reagents you'd need. Then, the user could just collect their sample and run the PCR and a gel.

The third might be a bit harder to make a commercial kit for while steering clear of patents. It's also not clear to me what kinds of samples you'd be able to test. An ear of fresh corn would probably work, but what about (un-)popped popcorn, or cornflakes, or corn starch? It would definitely take some experimentation.

To make these kits really user friendly, ideally you could figure out some quick, easy way to determine the result of the PCR without running a gel, which require a relatively high voltage DC power supply and usually use Ethidium Bromide (a chemical that, depending on who you believe, is either nasty or really, really nasty) and UV light. I'm thinking maybe some kind of spectrophotometer-like setup, which are used in things like a NanoDrop, but I don't know how easy/economical it would be to build a DIY-level work-alike.


GMO testing: there's a kit available for high schoolers (and we've used it too) http://www.carolina.com/category/teacher+resources/classroom...

Pretty sweet!

Tito


Congrats on shipping Tito!

(This is Mike Katsevman btw :>)




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: