#SciTwitter After a lot of research and asking around, I'm making the lab equipment recommendations 🧵 I wish I'd had 2 months ago. RT/share with a #newPI or startup 🔬⚗️🛒
Note, much of the equipment hasn't arrived yet, will add comments after actual use.
-80 #freezer
Two clear winners: PHC (@panasonic) and Stirling Ultracold. Both low energy, quiet, reliable. We went with PHC because I know those to last many years, and slightly cheaper.
Thanks @MarcoJost_ @letUbeU @aryelipman #MBCBiolabs
-20 #freezer
Less clear, many viable options. We ended up getting a split of PHC MDF -30 (recommended as quieter) and much cheaper Corepoint Scientific/@VWR, will see which we prefer. Thermo hasn't failed #MBCbiolabs, but $$$ and several people said poor customer support.
Manual vs Auto defrost?
I never really resolved whether auto defrost accelerate reagent failure. Some autos use sublimation rather than heating to prevent ice, so don't go much above -20. And clearly many use them without disaster. We went manual, in part due to availability.
CO2 incubator
No clear winner, people recommended Heracell, PHC, and @Eppendorf_USA. We went with CellXpert C170i partly because we've used before. Logs temp+O2, claims low gas usage, and size works for #AAV production. Got air jacket + full copper for reduced contamination risk.
Tissue culture hood
Labconco C2A2 is very standard, NuAire is "nicer" and pricier. Make sure you get the width you want. This item is often available used, and no concerns as long as you decontaminate properly.
Shaking #incubator
New Brunswick 42/44s from @Eppendorf_Group are clear favorites. They have a new S44i w 25% more internal capacity than 44, same external dimensions. Our offer made it a great choice, but note installation costs are higher so include that in your comparison.
Centrifuges
@BCILifeSciences for high-speed floor. Most wear is on rotors, so you can get used but with new rotors (need to find 2nd hand warranty then). We got new J-E model, due to discounts. @Eppendorf_Group for all the smaller benchtop centrifuges.
Ultrapure water
Close call between MilliQ Direct and @AviditySciUK Duo iSeries. Avidity is a bit cheaper and has cheaper maintenance. Users reported ~same reliability, but faster service from Avidity. MilliQ can wall mount though, which saves space. Either would have worked.
FACS
We tested @BioRadFlowAbs S3e and @Sony SH800. Both in $200k range, ~2', and less maintance than Aria. 3 color but colinear. Sony has 3 "nozzle" sizes, BioRad only 100um. BioRad >50% faster and no separate compressor cart, Sony better software. We went BioRad, and like it.
Plate reader
Needed multimode. Close call btwn @moldev 3id and @Tecan_Talk Spark. Both ~$30k, 3id claims better UI, Spark lower contract cost and claim better support. Went Tecan, also due to praise from fluorescence nerd friends. BioTek synergy 2 seemed popular lower-end option.
Fluorescence microscope
Picked @LeicaMicro DM IL as best in the ~$25k range, due to great optics, customer support, and upgradeable. EVOS is clearly worse image quality, and the fancy features in no makes up for that.
qPCR
Very happy we tested @AnalytikJena_US qTOWER (redoing a prior run). Smaller footprint than QuantStudio/Lightcycler, cheaper, longer warranty, has everything we want in a qPCR (e.g. save data after each cycle). Plus it looks like it might evolve AGI and start running the lab.
Cell counter
We got an EVE Plus from Nanoentek, who make the Countess for @thermofisher. ~same $3k price, faster and much better at resolving clumps of cells, but bigger (size of a 5910 centrifuge) and UI less smooth. Which one wins depends on your needs (#InVivo means clumps).

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More from @MartinBJensen

Jan 5
Something is changing about how scientific research is funded.

@Jasonmmast @endpts covers a growing set of science funding experiments: endpts.com/inside-the-mul…
These include high-throughput grants (e.g. #Fast, #Impetus), new institutes (@ArcadiaScience, @AltosLabs, @arcinstitute... I guess A is for new beginnings?), and new structures like 'nonprofit startups' (@Convergent_FROs) & @newscienceorg.
As with all experiments, I expect that some of these will disappear and that others will be a central part of science in ten years.
But them happening at all is enough to renew a conversation about how science is funded and conducted.
Read 9 tweets
Dec 27, 2021
💸 98 Longevity Impetus Grants were awarded in 2021, thanks to generous donations from @juanbenet @jamesfickel @VitalikButerin @JedMcCaleb @KarlPfleger @FEhrsam and 1 anonymous donor.
I'll summarize outcomes in this thread, awardees listed in prior one:
🦸🏽 While I've been doing most of the tweeting, the Longevity Apprentices @LNuzhna @kush__sharma @edmarferreira & Tara Mei are the real heroes for running the operations.
This has been a great Apprenticeship project, merging action and exposure to research
martinborchjensen.com/apprenticeship
🚅 The review + awards process was fairly smooth, thanks in part to @kush__sharma's custom reviewer UI. Several reviewers told us unprompted that it was their best review experience ever; the UI took 2 wks to make, so there's low hanging fruit for other agencies in that area.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 7, 2021
Thrilled to announce the Longevity #Impetus Grants, $21M+ towards basic research that could accelerate our understanding and control of human aging.
We welcome proposals from researchers in- and outside the #Aging field. Please share!

More info: impetusgrants.com & this 🧵
Impetus Grants are $10k-500k (w max 10% overhead). Smaller requests favored, to support more projects. No project period and no strings attached. Scientists at non-profits worldwide can apply with ideas that shift perspectives & capabilities in #Aging research, starting Sep 13th.
Inspiration came from @tylercowen & @patrickc's #COVID19 Fast Grants. Their team made funding decisions in 2 weeks, and the grants have already led to both discoveries and better tools for #testing.
If it's feasible to fund science this way, shouldn't we? future.a16z.com/what-we-learne…
Read 15 tweets
Jun 23, 2021
Arlan Richardson showing that JAX-housed mice, like humans, have undergone a dramatic improvement in #lifespan this century ... by reducing deaths from pathogens. #MindYourModels
Recommends looking at lifespan data as the best indicator of husbandry quality at different institutions/sources. Mean survival should be at least 27-30 months.
Example: 2003 Igf1r study showing 33% lifespan extension (in het ♀️s), but mean lifespan of controls was only 19mos. Lifespan effect largely disappeared when replicated in cohorts with longer control lifespan.
This was my go-to question for fly lifespan studies as a postdoc.
Read 7 tweets
Dec 20, 2020
I'm often asked how to learn about #AgingBiology, which I hope this thread can address.

Will first list recommended introductory resources, then contextualize and interpret.
There's exciting progress! But also many fanciful ideas, so you can't take everything at face value.
Will mostly skip the Why/philosophy of #AntiAging, since those asking for resources are likely already bought in.

If interested I wrote a Why/Why not post back in 2016: martinborchjensen.com/hypotheses/agi…, and most of the websites I'll list have a version of this discussion too.
The most comprehensive #Aging primer is @ArtirKel's FAQ: nintil.com/longevity.
It does a great job of introducing the field, and distilling the science for non-biologists. Bonus points for contextualizing how biology is different from engineering.
Read 13 tweets
Sep 15, 2020
Very excited (enough to get up at 5am) about this Temporal Single Cell Analysis organized by @singlecellomics. First talk by the amazing Caroline Uhlers, recently snagged from MIT by @ETH_en #SCOGtempSC #SingleCell
Livetweets here. Apologies in advance to any sophisticated 'ML on scSeq/spatial' presenters whose work I misinterpret/misrepresent, still a novice to that field.
Very nice talk by Caroline. Two parts: 1) mapping RNAseq and images to the same latent space, to enable timecourse measurements (w images) of (inferred) RNA state. Seems like WIP but cool.
Read 11 tweets

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