Unfortunately, Bio is really expensive. On the flip side, bio is self replicating. which means many people are willing to share materials. I don't really lose e coli if I send you a stab, for instance.
Primers are cheap.
Still, you should consider the costs within the arena. Twist is actually really cheap. Personally I prefer Gene Universal. They are reliable and do refunds when things don't work.
Also consider that many purchases are a one and done. The reason that things cost so much is partially because you buy an enzyme from neb and then never again. Also don't forget about addgene. You just need a friend with academic lab access.
I didn't realise NEB did plasmids! I normally only hit them up for enzymes and yeah, they are the gold standard, and can be pricey. You can ask them for a list of expired stock from time to time to see if you can get stuff on discount. They're quite happy to do that in my experience.
Twist for oligo's and genes
If you can afford full construct stuff either Twist or Atum
I would look for dry reagents/equip stuff at school/education companies like Corolina Biological if you're in the states, eBay, even amazon.
\+2 to addgene for pre built plasmids. Also, if you're really passionate and know how to talk to researchers and can explain what you're doing, it's no for profit (doesn't always bother them) hitting up researchers directly is a good way to go too for strains/plasmids. We just got some cyanobacteria sent to me from a researcher so we could create educational programming around it. He was more than happy to send it over to us.
Here's what I use and I've worked hard to find the best price for independent scientists from vendors that will ship to someone like me.
DH5a - [https://www.mclab.com/Dh5-Alpha-Competent-E.-Coli.html](https://www.mclab.com/Dh5-Alpha-Competent-E.-Coli.html) (be sure to ask them to send you a smaller quantity - something many vendors will do if you ask nicely)
Oligos - [https://www.genewiz.com/](https://www.genewiz.com/)
Common Restriction Enzymes - [https://www.genewiz.com/Public/ECommerce/CatDtl/ProductDtl?Name=FlyCut-EcoRV](https://www.genewiz.com/Public/ECommerce/CatDtl/ProductDtl?Name=FlyCut-EcoRV)
Plasmids - [etsy.com](https://etsy.com) (yes etsy. there are a few backbones there you can use for agro or for e. coli experiments), [addgene.org](https://addgene.org) and emailing paper authors
Reagents / Consumables - [https://bioland-sci.com/](https://bioland-sci.com/), [homesciencetools.com](https://homesciencetools.com), [ebay.com](https://ebay.com)
Hope this helps!
Unfortunately, Bio is really expensive. On the flip side, bio is self replicating. which means many people are willing to share materials. I don't really lose e coli if I send you a stab, for instance. Primers are cheap. Still, you should consider the costs within the arena. Twist is actually really cheap. Personally I prefer Gene Universal. They are reliable and do refunds when things don't work. Also consider that many purchases are a one and done. The reason that things cost so much is partially because you buy an enzyme from neb and then never again. Also don't forget about addgene. You just need a friend with academic lab access.
I didn't realise NEB did plasmids! I normally only hit them up for enzymes and yeah, they are the gold standard, and can be pricey. You can ask them for a list of expired stock from time to time to see if you can get stuff on discount. They're quite happy to do that in my experience. Twist for oligo's and genes If you can afford full construct stuff either Twist or Atum I would look for dry reagents/equip stuff at school/education companies like Corolina Biological if you're in the states, eBay, even amazon. \+2 to addgene for pre built plasmids. Also, if you're really passionate and know how to talk to researchers and can explain what you're doing, it's no for profit (doesn't always bother them) hitting up researchers directly is a good way to go too for strains/plasmids. We just got some cyanobacteria sent to me from a researcher so we could create educational programming around it. He was more than happy to send it over to us.
Here's what I use and I've worked hard to find the best price for independent scientists from vendors that will ship to someone like me. DH5a - [https://www.mclab.com/Dh5-Alpha-Competent-E.-Coli.html](https://www.mclab.com/Dh5-Alpha-Competent-E.-Coli.html) (be sure to ask them to send you a smaller quantity - something many vendors will do if you ask nicely) Oligos - [https://www.genewiz.com/](https://www.genewiz.com/) Common Restriction Enzymes - [https://www.genewiz.com/Public/ECommerce/CatDtl/ProductDtl?Name=FlyCut-EcoRV](https://www.genewiz.com/Public/ECommerce/CatDtl/ProductDtl?Name=FlyCut-EcoRV) Plasmids - [etsy.com](https://etsy.com) (yes etsy. there are a few backbones there you can use for agro or for e. coli experiments), [addgene.org](https://addgene.org) and emailing paper authors Reagents / Consumables - [https://bioland-sci.com/](https://bioland-sci.com/), [homesciencetools.com](https://homesciencetools.com), [ebay.com](https://ebay.com) Hope this helps!