About the author

Nick Oswald

Nick is a molecular biologist-turned-publisher. After a PhD in Developmental Biology and an eclectic seven years in biotech he is now Editorial Manager of Neuroendocrinology and the founder and Editor-In-Chief of Bitesize Bio. You are welcome to connect with Nick on LinkedIn

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Lazy DNA ligation, low carbon footprint bunsens and back-to-basics E.coli… they’re among our top picks of the kit (molecular/Cell bio kits, reagents, services and other stuff) for this week.

The lazy way to efficient DNA ligation.
Mighty Mix (Takara) is a single reagent, quick ligase kit. Just add the reagent to your fragments then incubate at room temperature for 5 minutes at rooms temperature and your done.

A lower carbon footprint alternative to bunsens.
Fireboy (Integra) is a mobile bunsen burner whose flame is automatically activated when sample is placed over it. The time that the flame remains on after activation can be set by the user. This saves on fuel and helps stop the lab from getting too hot on a summer’s day

A bare bones competent E.coli strain

MDS42 Competent Cells (Scarab Genomics) are based on E.coli K-12 but with 15% of the non-essential regions of the genome removed it is a more lightweight beast that is better for transformation and protein expression. It is also the only commercially available competent cells with a fully sequenced genome.

Guard against smelly water baths
Bath Armor (Lab Armor) is metallic thermal media, in the form of small beads, that can be used in place of water in water baths. This eliminates the need for cleaning and also holds the sample up, so no more bottles tipping over in the water bath.

Amplification of any template, or your money back.
The FailSafe PCR system (Epicentre) is guaranteed amplify even the most problematic template.The kit has 12 mastermixes, each of which is optimised for the amplification of different types of template. Just make up a single mix containing template, primers and enzyme blend, add it to each of the 12 premixes and then do the reaction.

If you have a favorite piece of equipment, kit, service (or anything else) that you’d like us to include in our pick of the kit, let us know.