Six pieces of equipment cover most home biology work, from pouring agar plates to measuring DNA extraction buffer. None of them needs a dedicated room.
Agar, salt solutions and buffers need heat and steady mixing at the same time. A stirrer hot plate spins a coated magnetic bar inside the beaker while it heats, so nothing scorches on the bottom.
Start the stirring slowly. A bar that spins too fast jumps off the magnet and rattles around the glass.
Borosilicate glass handles going onto a hot plate and back to the bench. Ordinary soda-lime glass is more likely to crack.
A set from 10 to 1000 mL covers a small sample through a batch of agar. The printed graduations are for rough volumes. Measure exact amounts with a pipette or a scale.
Recipes for agar, stains and buffers come in grams, and small batches need small amounts. A scale that reads to 0.001 g can weigh out a pinch of powder.
Tare a weighing boat or folded paper first. Keep the scale away from drafts and the hot plate, since moving air and warmth both change the reading.
{'A micropipette measures and moves liquid in microliters. A 100 to 1000 µL model covers most transfers, such as moving a culture or measuring buffer. Loading a gel takes a smaller one': 'miniPCR loads 5 to 15 µL per well with a 2 to 20 µL pipette.'}
It only works with tips that fit its nose cone. The pipette tip guide lists which tips fit the major brands, and how to use a micropipette covers the technique.
Press a closed tube onto the cup and the vortexer swirls it in seconds. It mixes cells back into liquid, dissolves small amounts of powder and blends reagents before you pipette them.
Hold the tube firmly and keep the cap closed.
An alcohol lamp gives a small, steady flame for sterilizing a wire loop or the mouth of a tube, with no gas line.
Put the flame out and let the lamp cool before you refill it. Keep it well away from the alcohol bottle and anything you sprayed with ethanol.
Goggles, gloves and a fire extinguisher belong on the list ahead of any of this. The lab safety equipment guide, linked below, covers what to buy and how to use each piece.
Pouring your own agar or storing enzymes calls for more: a fridge and freezer that hold steady, a pressure canner for sterilizing and a bigger centrifuge.
The high-end home lab guide explains what to look for in each and shows a model that has it.
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Hot plate and magnetic stirrer in one, heating to 520°F and stirring at 100 to 2000 rpm, with a stir bar and a thermometer stand.
Six Griffin low-form beakers in 3.3 borosilicate glass: 10, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000 mL, with double metric graduations.
Reads to 0.001 g with a 50 g capacity, with two 20 g calibration weights, tare and counting modes, and six units.
Single-channel adjustable pipette for 100 to 1000 µL, supplied with a calibration certificate. The tip cone comes off for autoclaving.
Touch-start vortex mixer for test tubes, centrifuge tubes and containers up to 50 mL, with a brushless DC motor.
A 150 mL lamp in thick lead-free glass, with five spare 6-inch wicks and a funnel for filling.
