Bento Lab

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Take your lab wherever you go. Combining centrifuge, PCR, and gel visualisation. The mobile genomics setup. For research, education and beyond.

Bento Lab is a personal DNA analysis lab that enables scientists, artists and all curious minds to engage with biology and biotechnology. Subscribe to our mailing list to be the first to learn more details.

22/10/2026

You wanted a single band for DNA barcoding. Your PCR had other ideas.

Fortunately, there are some surprisingly low-tech ways to isolate the fragment you actually want, and one of them requires little more than a pipette tip.

Full answer, including the original papers, on our site at https://bento.bio/lab-mentor/

16/10/2026

A few hours south of San Felipe, in La Paz, marine scientist Dr. Camila Mac Loughlin is finding another way to bring people closer to the molecular science of the Sea of Cortez.

Through her independent initiative, Sequencing Baja, Mac Loughlin combines marine conservation, scientific tourism and hands-on citizen science. Rather than simply showing visitors the ocean, the project invites them to help study it.

Back on land, Mac Loughlin brings the filters to her home-based molecular biology setup, where she uses Bento Lab to extract DNA before samples move on to external library preparation and sequencing. The project is designed so that participants can follow the journey from field collection through to biodiversity data, with some samples ultimately contributing to public records in GenBank, as well as building biodiversity inventories.

https://bento.bio/story/searching-for-vaquita-dna-and-building-conservation-capacity-in-mexico

15/10/2026

What happens to a water sample after you collect it from the sea?

It was a question marine scientist Dr. Tania Valdivia Carrillo heard a lot from the people working on vaquita conservation in San Felipe, Mexico. So she brought the lab to them.

In a two-day workshop, participants who were already involved in local conservation got hands-on with the next steps, including DNA extraction, PCR, Gel electrophoresis, and DNA visualization

All set up in a local classroom using Bento Lab.

Tania's research is exploring how environmental DNA can complement visual and acoustic monitoring of the critically endangered vaquita porpoise, including in shallow areas that are difficult for larger vessels to survey.

Read the story at bento.bio

30/09/2026

🚨OPPORTUNITY ALERT: Need a PCR setup for your research?

The eDNA Collaborative is offering a new round of microgrants, and successful applicants will receive a Bento Lab Pro to help support sample prep, PCR and gel electrophoresis.

Deadline: 9 October 2026

Check out the link in our bio for application details.

29/09/2026

How do you pack a genomics lab for a road trip? The Hawai'i team has it down.

Their Genome on the Go programme takes Bento Lab, Oxford Nanopore sequencing and graduate student mentors directly to learners, so participants can work through a complete sample-to-sequence workflow wherever the workshop happens.

The team has already run workshops across Hawaiʻi, the Pacific and the continental US, and the program is gaining further momentum as organizers explore additional field research and workforce training opportunities.

Check out the link in comments to read the full story.

21/09/2026

Some summer camps have canoes. HelmCamp has necropsies, microscopes, PCR and parasite DNA.

At La Selva Research Station in Costa Rica, participants spent 10 days learning how classical taxonomy and molecular methods can work together, then followed their own samples all the way through sequencing and analysis. All with howler monkeys as a soundtrack.

See what they discovered:
https://bento.bio/story/one-sample-many-skills-inside-helmcamp-2026/

16/09/2026

Thinking of making your genetics lessons more hands on? Get inspired by Oakland University prof Colin Wu, who packs a whole lot of practical PCR learning into his mobile lab.

Find out more (and steal his set-up!): https://bento.bio/story/taking-hands-on-genetics-from-the-university-lab-to-local-schools/

03/09/2026

We recently caught up with Tunisian researcher & educator Nabil Amor, and were delighted to hear how his work has progressed since we first shared his work on the Arabian leopard.

That research has now been published, and he’s already exploring what comes next: faster DNA extraction for field barcoding, airborne sampling, and even a low-cost 3D-printed fluorometer.

Read the updated story: https://bento.bio/story/decoding-the-leopard-genome/

24/08/2026

👀 What if a species is there, but you just can't see it?

At Bosley Reservoir, traditional surveys found no signal crayfish. But when graduate researcher Molly Doyle tested water from the site for environmental DNA, her LAMP assay detected traces of crayfish DNA.

That's one of the things that makes eDNA monitoring so interesting. Instead of needing to catch or observe an animal, researchers can look for the genetic traces it leaves behind.

Molly developed her assays to work in the field using Bento Lab, with results visible through a simple colour change in around 40 minutes.

t makes our day to see molecular biology helping researchers uncover what might otherwise remain hidden.

Read the full story: https://bento.bio/story/finding-hidden-species-with-lamp-edna-monitoring-in-merseyside

20/08/2026

We know that a successful practical requires more than choosing a protocol, so we’ve mined the knowledge of our own experts and experienced educators to present an overview of some of the things you should consider when planning your first (or fifth!) hands-on learning session, whether it takes place in a classroom, a community center, or a remote field station.

https://bento.bio/resources/educator-advice/how-to-plan-a-hands-on-molecular-biology-lesson/

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London
E33DA

Website

http://www.bento.bio/

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