this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
0 points (50.0% liked)

Ask Science

16394 readers
34 users here now

Ask a science question, get a science answer.


Community Rules


Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.


Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.


Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.


Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.


Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.


Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.


Rule 7: Report violations.Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.


Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.


Rule 9: Source required for answers.Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.


By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.

We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

What kind of lab equipment and tools would be needed and is there any open science oriented resource on the process?

top 3 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Koprov@piefed.social 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

That really depends on your budget.

What you need is a plasmid (a peace of DNA) with all of the machinery needed for cobalamin production on it. You can do in-silico modeling to get the plasmid sequence but then you will need to make it. In order to make a plasmid you can either do all the wetwork yourself, which requires a lot of equipment and reagents or you can pay a company to synthesize do it for you.

Once you have a plasmid the rest if pretty straightforward: get the plasmid into bacteria (can be done with ice and calcium salts), get the bacteria into a container with sterile media (a fancy chicken broth with salts) and let them rip :)

Finally, you will need to isolate your cobalamin form the used media, but you'll need to look into that, I haven't done it before (filtration and fractioning most likely) ;)

If you need specific guidance on the process and materials to do it at home then look into biohacking and DIY Science communities, maybe there is even a physical one somewhere nearby if you are lucky! ;)

Good luck and take care!

peace of DNA

☮️🧬

[–] frongt@lemmy.zip -1 points 23 hours ago

I googled "cobalamin bacteria" and I found this paper about the exact topic: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8123684/

It's fairly high level, but it's a good starting point. I only skimmed it but I don't think it covers how to actually build a bioreactor. I'm sure there's info on how to do that out there already, but maybe not for this specific process.