[sci.bio] dna kits

dhj@hugin.dmt.oz (Dennis Jarvis) (12/21/88)

I would like to build a sizeable model of a dna molecule.
Can anyone point me in the direction of commercial suppliers of such kits? 
I believe there is a company in Britain which sells such things, but I 
can not remember their name, let alone their address.
________________________________________________________________________
Dennis Jarvis,		CSIRO Division of Manufacturing Technology,
			PO Box 4, Woodville, South Australia 5011, Australia.

PHONE: +61 8 268 0156	ARPA  : dhj%hugin.dmt.oz@uunet.uu.net
FAX  : +61 8 268 6757	CSNET : dhj@hugin.dmt.oz
TELEX: AA88863		UUCP  : {uunet,ukc,mcvax}!munnari!hugin.dmt.oz!dhj
			ACSNET: dhj@hugin.dmt.oz

dd@beta.lanl.gov (Dan Davison) (12/23/88)

In article <109@hugin.dmt.oz>, dhj@hugin.dmt.oz (Dennis Jarvis) writes:
> I would like to build a sizeable model of a dna molecule.
> Can anyone point me in the direction of commercial suppliers of such kits? 

Unless you are independently wealthy, I would advise going rather
modestly here. The standard CPK (space filling) atom models are roughly
US$1.00 per atom.  Even a couple basepairs can really get up there in
cost.  At one point I was going to build a small section of the 16s rRNA
from _E. coli_; the section, about 100 bases, was going to cost over
US$10,000!

If no one on the net can come up with the vendors, send me e-mail and I
will go digging through my files.

(Note: LANL is going to be off the air intermittently 12/23-1/3; best to
send mail *after* that date).

-- 
dan davison/theoretical biology/t-10 ms k710/los alamos national laboratory
los alamos, nm 875545/dd@lanl.gov (arpa)/dd@lanl.uucp(new)/..cmcl2!lanl!dd
'The true mark of intelligence is an unwillingness to fill in the many
gaps in our understanding with a set of irrational beliefs'(Keats,paraphrased)

ian@murdu.OZ (Ian Musgrave) (01/03/89)

In article <109@hugin.dmt.oz> dhj@hugin.dmt.oz (Dennis Jarvis) writes:
>I would like to build a sizeable model of a dna molecule.
>Can anyone point me in the direction of commercial suppliers of such kits? 
>I believe there is a company in Britain which sells such things, but I 
>can not remember their name, let alone their address.

Commercial models are dammed expensive, there is another solution though.
Some years ago a friend and I made a model af DNA, a fairly hefty one, using
styrofoam spheres that we bough from a local plastic maker. This was very
cheap, however we had to paint all the spheres ourselves, and work out the 
appropriate bond angles. Nonetheless we produced a 6' DNA molecule which
won a prize in a local science competition. 
 
p.s. Are there any pharmacologists out there in net land?
__________________________________________________________________________
Ian, the network gnome.

kibo@pawl17.pawl.rpi.edu (James Parry) (01/05/89)

In article <1506@murdu.OZ> ian@murdu.UUCP (Ian Musgrave) writes:
>In article <109@hugin.dmt.oz> dhj@hugin.dmt.oz (Dennis Jarvis) writes:
>>I would like to build a sizeable model of a dna molecule.
>Some years ago a friend and I made a model af DNA, a fairly hefty one, using
>styrofoam spheres that we bough from a local plastic maker. This was very
>cheap, however we had to paint all the spheres ourselves, and work out the 
>appropriate bond angles. Nonetheless we produced a 6' DNA molecule which
>won a prize in a local science competition. 

 Note that such styrofoam(tm) spheres are easy to get, in various sizes,
 in craft stores (the kind that sell yarn and plastic eyeballs, etc.)
 But remember: chemical solvents (most spray paints, plastic cement, etc.) will
 MELT them!  Be very careful...
 --
 james "kibo" parry  kibo%pawl.rpi.edu@itsgw.rpi.edu  userfe0n@rpitsmts.bitnet