Originally Posted by twomoose
Sophisticated gene sequencing, PCR, Western blots, etc, are not something you can do in your basement.

Au Contraire!! One person's trash is another's treasure!!

I see Thermal Cyclers on EBAY for less than $500. A kid could easily do PCR in their basement.

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&...mal+cycler&_sacat=See-All-Categories

A tremendous amount of data is archived and publicly available - you don't need machines to get gene sequences these days. Just download it.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/guide/dna-rna/

If there was no grant money, what would people work on? What would be the really interesting questions and how would you get to the answer on the cheap?

You do not need big money to get big results. Just some hard work, imagination, and some support from those who like you or love you.