Dear amazing Kickstarter people,

The eagerly awaited OpenPCR kit is now shipping! UPS picked up the first batch of kits and OpenPCRs are on their way to users in 5 continents and 13 countries around the world. For $512, every OpenPCR kit includes all the parts, tools, and beautiful printed instructions - you ONLY need a set of screwdrivers.

Josh and I prototyped OpenPCR over about 4 months -- it was a lot of fun. Last May we unveiled the first OpenPCR prototype to all you crazy people on Kickstarter, 158 people gave us a total of $12,121. With that we designed and manufactured a repeatable, works-all-the-time device -- it took a lot of hard work. Now we're done and ready to share!

OpenPCR is designed for labs, classrooms, and garages. Tell your science-y friends about OpenPCR, "Like" us on Facebook, or write us and tell us what's new with you! You can also get your own OpenPCR kit.

Do you want to see us develop more breakthrough biotechnology? Along this journey we uncovered a lot of opportunities for PCR and other biological devices. We're a new company and would love to meet other passionate people. Our hurdles right now are manufacturing (mechanical engineers!), distribution (sales + marketers!), and new hardware/software/bioware + industrial design. If you're in the Bay Area and want to get in on making all this crazy DNA stuff useful to regular people, send us an email: contact@openpcr.org.

Visit the OpenPCR blog for the full story!

Thanks again for all your support!

Tito and Josh

Hi everybody,
Just a tiny little teensy weensy update for you. A sexy picture of OpenPCR is featured this month in a little magazine called Nature. Maybe you've heard of it? It's one of THE MOST IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS IN THE SCIENCE WORLD. BOOM!

You were mentioned too!

"Other biohackers have also come up with creative ways to fund their projects. Several have used websites such as Kickstarter, which allows inventors to post their projects and funding targets online. Visitors to the site make donations, usually small ones, but the hope is that enough visitors making tiny contributions will add up. Two California garage biohackers, Tito Jankowski and Josh Perfetto, used Kickstarter to fund the development of a small, low-cost PCR machine known as OpenPCR. They reached their fundraising goal of $6,000 in ten days. By the time their Kickstarter listing closed 20 days later, they had doubled that figure. Another group of biohackers used Kickstarter to raise funds for a hackerspace called BioCurious, based in Silicon Valley, California. They raised more than $35,000."

Read more on the OpenPCR blog where we keep everyone constantly updated on OpenPCR developments: http://openpcr.org/2010/10/openpcr-in-nature-magazine/

Congrats to all!

Tito

Hey everybody,

Thought you might enjoy seeing OpenPCR on the Kickstarter blog today, where I had a nice interview with Cindy from Team Kickstarter:
http://blog.kickstarter.com/post/1138357266/biocurious-and-the-diy-science-movement

Of course, if you have any questions you can always get in touch with us at titojankowski@gmail.com and josh@snowrise.com.

Have a great weekend!

Tito

Howdy folks,
If you've read the blog lately you know we're working on the thermistor and the heated lid for OpenPCR. I've got an alternative design for the heated lid coming together today that uses springs which is actually very simple to build. Several trips to the hardware store!

Some of you by now are receiving your kickstarter prizes - stickers, origami, and photos! Take a picture of your prize and email it to us -- or upload it to our Flickr stream at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/openpcr/
(I haven't used Flickr much before, let me know if we're missing a setting that makes it easy for you all to add photos)

If you haven't recieved your prizes, but have sent in your address via the kickstarter survey, give it a week or so (just sent out the last few enevelopes last week) -- and then give us a big holler.

In other big news, President Obama has put together a commission on bioethics in Washington DC. Jason Bobe, founder of DIYbio, presented to the commission and had an OpenPCR and Pearl Gel Box to show off! LavaAmp, Otyp, Genspace, and BioCurious were featured as well. Congrats to all. See below for a picture of Jason showing off OpenPCR. Get the full story at:
http://openpcr.org/2010/09/openpcr-goes-to-washington/

Tito

Hi everyone,

We're really jazzed with the reception of the OpenPCR project on
kickstarter -- you put $12,121 towards making an open hardware PCR
machine a success. That was 202% of our goal, which is a huge
accomplishment! We are hard at work on the design through the end of August, after
which we'll be sourcing our parts in larger quantities to make the
first batch of kits.

Much of this past week was spent working on the heated lid, one of the
trickier components of the design due to the mechanical precision
needed. We're also looking forward to moving to a printed circuit
board over the next few weeks, which should solve quite a few problems
of loose connections caused by trying to stuff a breadboard into the
OpenPCR case.

Josh gave a talk on the OpenPCR project at the Open
Science Summit in Berkley California. We got to speak with a lot of
scientists and hackers -- among many exciting efforts we heard about a
DIY Electron Microscope coming out of Chicago, and a new DIYbio Safety
effort which is supported by The Woodrow Wilson Center. Check out more
about the Open Science Summit at Reason.com: http://reason.com/archives/2010/07/30/scenes-from-the-open-science-s

I know a lot of you are really enthusiastic about open source, education, and biotech. Check out BioCurious -- a community biotech lab starting in the Bay Area raising $30,000 on Kickstarter, a group of friends and us are founders. The video is really funny!!
http://www.biocurious.org/kickstarter

Tito and Josh

PS
Early access : We sent you an invite to get on our early access list -- send us a note if you didn't receive it!

And, if you haven't filled out the Kickstarter "name and address"
survey, please do -- that way we can send stuff to you!

Hi everyone,
We're in the home stretch -- 49 hours to go!

We've added a new prize so *everyone* can become a supporter of OpenPCR. Our new $4 reward gets your name onto the Sponsors list, which will be displayed on openpcr.org. If you're not already a sponsor, hop on board!

Please keep spreading the word, and telling your friends and coworkers about OpenPCR. This is the last opportunity to sign up for design documents and kits for a few months, so don't miss out!

Thank you,
Tito and Josh

Wow! Thank you for your overwhelming interest in OpenPCR -- together we reached $6,000 in 10 days! We're really happy that there's such an interest in making this happen :)

Josh and I are so inspired by all your comments, questions, and stories! We've talked with teachers who want to use PCR in their classrooms who wouldn't be able to otherwise, entrepreneurs who want to start biotech businesses in their garages with OpenPCR, Makers who want to explore DNA, and software engineers who say "*finally*, biotech talks with computer tech!". With your support we'll knock the OpenPCR project out of the park!

Now that we're past our minimum funding goal, we'll be using further funds to make this even better. We're looking at ways to make the heated lid more sturdy and effective, adding Wi-Fi and a REST control interface, and using more integration to reduce the component cost further.

Of course, early access lets you get the inside scoop on the OpenPCR design, and signing up for a kit is the best way to get an OpenPCR machine in your hands, so please continue to sign up for those rewards.

Let's kick start the biotech revolution!

Thank you all so much,
Tito and Josh

Hi everyone,
Thank you all your support and excitement! Josh and I love hearing your stories and learning about how you would use an OpenPCR machine. Whether you're interested in identifying new species from the ocean, using OpenPCR as a teaching tool for students, or working on synthetic biology, it inspires us.

The success of OpenPCR is in your hands, so please keep tweeting and posting and spreading the word!

Tito and Josh