Doing some research for a book. How feasible would it be for

>>9136128
>sequencing and altering DNA
This is not illegal.

If he's making some actually spooky stuff, like reviving old diseases, then he'll probably need around 2-10k EUR or USD. There was recently some research about how easy it actually is, since the genomes aren't secret and the tools are pretty much a commodity now.
I don't see why he'd need a lab, most of the equipment probably fits in a corner.

>>9136128
Maybe a little over $1000 but it would be really crued and you'd still need to buy more supplies after each experiment.
http://www.the-odin.com/diy-crispr-kit/

>OP forgets that the NSA spies on everything

for bacterial cloning, assuming you're doing chemical competency and not electroporation:
growth media
agar
petri dishes
sterilizing equipment (pressure cooker will do in a pinch)
antibiotics
thermal cycler
primers
electrophoresis setup
agarose
buffers
uv box
gel extraction kit or pcr cleanup kit
temperature controlled shaker
plasmid prep reagents, columns
centrifuge (benchtop mini centrifuge is fine, you can get them cheap off ebay, but you might need something heavier duty and bigger for some applications)
freezers (a home lab probably won't have a -80 but you def need a frost-free -20)
pipettes
disposable pipet tips

that's basic molbio shit

if he wants to actually modify something, it will depend on what he's modifying. plants? for some plants, you just need agrobacterium, the right plasmids, and the shaker you already have and you can do floral dip. for others, you'll need to do cell culture, which means the right mix of plant hormones and a biosafety cabinet. animals? hooo boy you're getting into very expensive territory there

the biggest risk for discovery is waste. lab waste is a pretty distinctive mix. that and disposal of hazardous chemicals will be a pain

>>9136369
also: "sequencing and altering DNA"
sanger sequencing is something that's almost never done in a lab these days, there's commercial companies that you send your stuff off to and get your data back the next day. high throughput deep sequencing machines are something no single individual is equipped to manage.

>>9136369
In the story, he's doing work on human cells and whatnot. Would you need anything super difficult or expensive to grow those in culture?

>>9136128
>Mad scientist
Why is mad? What made him angry? HOHOHOHOHOH!!!!

File: engineer[1].png (23KB, 611x454px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 611x454px

>>9137185

>>9137118
the big problem is storage of cells and having a biosafety/laminar flow cabinet so you can keep your experiments sterile and your cells from getting contaminated. he could probably make his own biosafety cabinet if he's not using infectious materials, a class II equivalent would probably be easy to make, but if he is then he'd need a gastight class III cabinet and I wouldn't trust a homemade one with my life.

a used class II cabinet will probably run between 700-1500 bucks on ebay, new ones can get up to 3-5 grand. no idea how much a class III will cost.

for cell lines, he'd have one of two options: continuously culture cells or store them cryogenically. culturing cells will become a tedious, time consuming task if he has a lot of projects going at once. storage is more convenient, but the standard for storage is liquid nitrogen. liquid nitrogen is pretty cheap in small amounts (about the cost of milk), but if you're talking long term storage for more than trivial amounts of cells then it adds up quick.

>>9136369
Not to mention a decent microscope

>>9138491
Thank you, this has helped a lot. I have one final question though, which is how hard would it be for him to get specific DNA samples from people in general. For instance, if he wanted to get samples from genetically "superior" people, could he go to a sperm bank and somehow get some of the sperm or a DNA sequence from them?