You can. A CRISPR kit lets you edit one gene in harmless E. coli bacteria and see the result on an agar plate, using the same Cas9 enzyme research labs use.
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Tubes, a pipette and agar plates are most of what a kit contains.
What a CRISPR kit does
CRISPR uses an enzyme called Cas9 and a guide RNA that leads it to one spot in the DNA. Cas9 cuts there, and the cell repairs the cut.
In a bacterial kit you put the Cas9 gene, the guide RNA and a DNA repair template into E. coli. The ODIN's kit changes a gene called rpsL so the bacteria can grow on streptomycin, and The ODIN says the colonies that survive on those plates are the edited ones.
miniPCR's Knockout! lab targets a gene called lacZ. Bacteria with a working lacZ turn blue on X-gal, and the ones CRISPR has knocked out stay white.
A kit makes the one edit it was designed for. It won't let you pick a new gene, or edit a plant or an animal.
CRISPR or pGLO?
The pGLO lab, the classic school transformation experiment, works differently. In Bio-Rad's pGLO kit the bacteria take in a whole extra loop of DNA, the pGLO plasmid, carrying the green fluorescent protein gene from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. Colonies grown with the sugar arabinose glow green under UV light.
So pGLO adds a new gene, while a CRISPR kit edits one the bacteria already have, such as rpsL in The ODIN's kit. Both use a lab strain of E. coli; Bio-Rad's kit ships HB101, a K-12 strain.
Advanced high school to college, after a transformation lab
miniPCR bio
Carolina CRISPR in a Box
DNA in a tube, with no living cells
Several editing outcomes from one reaction
Advanced high school and intro college
Carolina Biological Supply
Edvotek 210 A-Maize-ing Editing
A simulation: you design four guide RNAs for a crop gene
An agarose gel
Enough for 8 gels
Amazon, below
A classroom CRISPR kit on Amazon
Edvotek's A-Maize-ing Editing kit works on DNA, with no bacteria to grow. Groups design four guide RNAs, check how specific each one is with BLAST, and test all four plus a control.
The results show up on an agarose gel, so it needs a gel box and a light to read the gel. Edvotek lists a DNA electrophoresis setup as required, with 5 to 50 µL micropipettes as optional, plus a microwave or hot plate.
The M12 Ultra package is Edvotek's chamber with the TruBlu Jr. blue light, which shows gels stained with SYBR Safe or GelGreen without UV.
CRISPR classroom kit
Edvotek 210 A-Maize-ing Editing CRISPR kit
A CRISPR-Cas9 simulation for 8 lab groups. Design four guide RNAs, check them with BLAST, then test them with a control on an agarose gel.
Edvotek M12 Ultra electrophoresis and blue light package
An electrophoresis chamber with accessories and the battery-powered TruBlu Jr. transilluminator, which lights blue-light dyes such as SYBR Safe and GelGreen at 470 nm.
In 2017, Bavarian health authorities found harmful bacteria, including Klebsiella pneumoniae, in two ODIN bacterial CRISPR kits ordered from the US. Europe's disease control agency, the ECDC, judged the infection risk low for healthy users. The ODIN's current kit lists a non-pathogenic DH5α strain.
What you need besides the kit
The kit's lab strain grows faster when it's kept warm. An incubator holds a steady temperature for the plates, and The ODIN's own guide says a foam cooler with a jar of warm water can stand in for one. Do you need an incubator? covers the options.
The ODIN ships its biological materials freeze-dried and says some reagents go in the refrigerator or freezer once they arrive.
Extra agar plates let you practice streaking and transforming before you open the kit. How to use a micropipette covers the pipetting, and lab safety equipment covers gloves and goggles.
Agar plates
EZ BioResearch LB agar plates and swabs
10 pre-poured 100 mm LB agar plates and 10 sterile 6-inch swabs, made in the USA.
Bacterial CRISPR kits are sold openly in the United States, to schools and hobbyists alike. Human use is where the law steps in, and other countries draw the line in other places. Our page on whether DIY CRISPR is legal covers the FDA, California, the UK, Canada and Australia, with the sources.
Reading about CRISPR
CRISPR, A Powerful Way to Change DNA is an illustrated introduction for readers 14 to 17. It starts with DNA and genetic modification, then asks what CRISPR should change.
The Code Breaker follows Jennifer Doudna, who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for CRISPR. More titles are in genetics books worth reading.
Book, Walter Isaacson
The Code Breaker
Jennifer Doudna and the discovery of CRISPR gene editing, from her lab to the ethics of editing human embryos. Paperback.
An illustrated 116-page introduction by Yolanda Ridge and Alex Boersma, covering DNA and genetic modification before what CRISPR could change. Paperback.
Yes, in bacteria. Home kits from The ODIN edit a gene in harmless E. coli, and you read the result from which colonies grow on the plates.
It depends on the kit. The ODIN's bacterial CRISPR kit is its entry-level option, and classroom kits cost more. Prices change, so check the seller's page.
The ODIN's kit includes the bacteria, plasmids, media, plates and a pipette. You add a warm place for the plates, such as an incubator, and a refrigerator or freezer for some reagents.
No. CRISPR runs on reagents, the Cas9 enzyme and a guide RNA, so there is no single machine to buy. The equipment around a kit is a warm place for the plates (incubator options), a micropipette and, for kits read on a gel, a gel box with a blue light.
The bacterial kits edit E. coli and nothing else. The FDA said in 2017 that selling DIY gene therapy kits for self-administration is against the law.
No. pGLO adds a plasmid carrying a jellyfish glow gene, which switches on when the bacteria are grown with arabinose. A CRISPR kit edits a gene the bacteria already have.
No. Each kit is built for one edit in bacteria. Edvotek's crop kit is a simulation run on a gel, with no living plant.
The ODIN lists the DH5α lab strain, which is non-pathogenic. In 2017 the ECDC judged the infection risk low for healthy users, even for a kit found contaminated in Germany.
