This article was first published in the January 2016 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
This little kit contains everything you need to uncover the next horsemeat scandal. "It's got all the key tools of molecular biology," says Bethan Wolfenden, co-founder of Bento Lab. "You can go from a DNA sample -- saliva or food -- through to identifying a gene and comparing it to another sample." "Lab kit has to be very accurate -- that's why it's so expensive," says co-founder Philipp Boeing. "But for education, prototyping or field work it might be OK to trade this off and have 99 per cent accuracy, rather than 99.9, if the kit is a tenth of the price."
Fifteen of the 3kg, 30cm x 21cm x 5cm Bento Labs have been sent to researchers, educators, biohackers and artists for beta-testing, at £450 per kit. A professional polymerase chain reaction machine (see below) costs about £20,000. "People have tested sushi to see if restaurants really are serving tuna," says Wolfenden.
The plan is to distribute Bento Lab through schools and universities. "They are much easier to work with in the sense of supply chains," says Boeing. "But we're also thinking what a 16-year-old whiz-kid might do with one at home."
CENTRIFUGE[/b]##Description¬##Credit¬This spins a sample around to separate the parts of a cell by weight, allowing the kit to extract the DNA.##DisplayStyle¬2]
PCR MACHINE[/b]##Description¬##Credit¬This creates millions of copies of a specific section of DNA, allowing you to select what you're interested in.##DisplayStyle¬2]
GEL ELECTRO-PHORESIS[/b]##Description¬##Credit¬This uses a current to separate out DNA by length, allowing you to check which gene you've selected.##DisplayStyle¬2]
Photography: Stephen Lenthall
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
