Bento Lab

March Round-up: Snake Genomics in a Van, Biotech Education, and Building a Bird Sexing Business

Snake Genomics in a Van, Biotech Education, Bird Sexing Business March highlights: mobile snake genomics, a bird breeder’s journey to a commercial lab, Ulster University’s Biotech MSc, and new portable metagenomics research.

Genome sequencing goes off-grid! 🚐🧬

Researchers from Johns Hopkins successfully sequenced the Red Coachwhip snake (Masticophis flagellum piceus) genome using a mobile lab in a camper van.

Using a ONT Nanopore P2 Solo sequencing and Bento Lab, they show that genomes can be assembled at relatively low cost and without the need for a large laboratory.

🐍 Nuclear & mitochondrial genomes of Masticophis flagellum piceus sequenced
🐍 Genome BUSCO completeness score better than most current snake genomes
🐍 All work done in field- or field-simulated settings

A great step toward decentralising and democratizing genomics, especially for research in remote locations!

You can read the article here:

Scott & Mohr (2026). A Nanopore-Only Assembly of a Nuclear and Mitochondrial Genome of a Red Coachwhip (Masticophis flagellum piceus). Genes, 17(3), 307.
https://doi.org/10.3390/genes17030307

Images copyright Alan F. Scott.

From poultry enthusiast to bird-s*xing lab owner! 🐤🧬

Brittney Knight started out with no PCR experience, learned how to s*x birds using Bento Lab, and now runs her own successful bird s*xing laboratory (Knights Poultry and Lab LLC).

We’re very excited to share her story of how she got started! 👇

From PCR Beginner to Commercial Chick DNA Sexing Lab See how Brittney Knight used Bento Lab to go from poultry enthusiast to professional. Learn how to start your own DNA bird s*xing lab without a PhD.

February Round-up: Leopard Detection, Malaria Surveillance, New Teaching Lab, and Molecular Pathogen Training in the Philippines

Leopard Detection, Malaria Surveillance, New Teaching Lab February 2026 round-up: Leopard Detection and Malaria Surveillance with ONT and Bento Lab, Molecular Pathogen Training in Philippines, Teaching Primers

Amazing to see the range of topics and techniques covered during the PSPxPHBio Training Course 2026: Molecular Detection of Pathogens for Public Health Research, at UP Diliman!

Sampling, DNA extraction, PCR analysis, and data management; working with snail-borne parasites, pathogens, STIs, and water samples; and PCR, eDNA and qPCR....

And we love the photos of trainees in action on their compact PCR table: one of the great things about portable PCR equipment like Bento Lab is how easy it is to set up a temporary lab space anywhere!

It's great to see Bento Lab being used in this molecular biology pathogen detection training workshop, run at the Institute of Biology, University of the Philippines, Diliman!

Skill-sharing like this is so important, and we hope using a Bento Lab made the event that little bit simpler and more accessible for teachers and trainees!

Looking for a hands-on way to teach PCR and molecular biology?

DNA barcoding gives students a real-world reason to use these tools — from identifying species, to building phylogenies, to explore evolutionary relationships between organisms.

This article brings together four great teaching case studies that could help you plan your own course:

🌿 Find out how DNA barcoding can be used to teach lab and bioinformatics skills

🌿 Read about DNA barcoding of invertebrates, fungi, and algae

🌿 Explore classroom-tested formats, from short modules to full courses

🔗 Read it here:

Teaching DNA Barcoding: 4 Case Studies Discover 4 case studies to bring DNA barcoding into your classroom through student research and PCR-based projects.

Can high school students contribute real data to biodiversity research by learning PCR?

In a pioneering project, BeeCode Berlin enabled students to get hands-on experience with PCR and DNA barcoding by leading them in an investigation of the genetic diversity of honeybees across Berlin.

Using Bento Lab for DNA extraction, PCR, and gel electrophoresis, students worked with samples from local hives and produced barcode sequences to contribute to public DNA databases.

Find out about:

🐝 What the project discovered about Berlin’s honeybee populations
🐝 Why genetic diversity matters for honeybee health and conservation
🐝 The hackathon-style sessions where students analysed DNA sequences independently

🔗 Read the full story here:

Honeybee DNA Barcoding for Subspecies Identification Discover how BeeCode Berlin used Bento Lab to empower high school students in DNA barcoding honeybees, uncovering Berlin’s bee genetic diversity. Learn about honeybee subspecies and hands-on citizen science.

Need a way to teach molecular biology hands-on, even in remote areas?

Here’s an article about the BioSTEM initiative, run in Greece, that shows how portable molecular tools can bring cutting-edge science into schools, and make complex concepts like genetics more approachable for students and teachers!

The article covers:

🧬 A scalable education model using real PCR experiments with Bento Lab
🧬 How 6,000+ students and teachers were reached through a combination of theoretical instruction and hands-on experiments
🧬 Evidence that BioSTEM can improve the understanding of personalized medicine

🔗 Read all about it here:

BioSTEM: A modern educational tool for research and innovation in the field of molecular biology and personalized medicine - Human Genomics Personalized Medicine has the potential to transform modern healthcare by tailoring medical decisions to an individual’s unique genomic profile. However, its integration into routine clinical practice is hindered by limited genomics education among healthcare professionals and a general lack of pu...

For anyone considering portable metagenomics from water samples, here’s a very exciting preprint by Bian et al. (2025) that used Bento Lab and Oxford Nanopore MinION for quantitative metagenomics:

⭐ Five portable and four laboratory DNA extraction protocols compared
⭐ High-molecular-weight DNA recovery
⭐ A barcoded spike-in-based calibration approach for quantification

The authors’ optimal workflow:

🧬 Used Bento Lab, a hand-held bead-beater, and the DNeasy PowerWater Kit
🧬 Was as effective as their laboratory-based methods for on-site DNA recovery
🧬 Produced species-level identification and absolute quantitative results comparable to digital PCR

🔗 Read their preprint here:

www.biorxiv.org

Interested in how portable sequencing could help transform patient care in remote and resource-limited hospitals?

In this case report from Tanzania, the authors describe a completely mobile workflow (involving Bento Lab + Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencing) that helped to diagnose a serious infection in a child when routine diagnostics fell short.

The article shares:

🧬 A fully field-deployable workflow from DNA extraction to bioinformatics
🧬 How Campylobacter jejuni was identified in a single day, guiding effective treatment
🧬 Evidence that portable sequencing can fill diagnostic gaps in hospitals with minimal lab capacity

🔗 Read more here:

Nanopore sequencing technology for clinical diagnosis of infectious diseases where laboratory capacity is meager: A case report In resource-limited settings, patients are often first presented to clinical settings when seriously ill and access to proper clinical microbial diagnostics is often very limited or non-existing. On February 16th, 2022 we were on a field trip to test a completely field-deployable metagenomics sequen...

Great to see Bento Lab used to help characterise protozoan parasites of chickens, in a recent study by Farjallah et al. (2025) from the University of Tunis El Manar!

The researchers focused on a particular species, Histomonas meleagridis, known to cause histomoniasis (= blackhead disease), which can lead to significant mortality in infected flocks.

They investigated protozoa found in chicken digestive systems, plus protozoa associated with a probable nematode vector, and used Bento Lab and Sanger sequencing to produce a multilocus molecular phylogeny of their samples.

Their aim: to gain insights into the identity and distribution of these parasites in Tunisian poultry farms, which could help with disease control and prevention efforts.

Key highlights:

⭐ The first investigation of the diversity of Trichomonadida protozoa across Tunisia
⭐ H. meleagridis (genotype 2) was found in 56% of chicken and 65% of nematode samples
⭐ Other closely related protozoan species were also detected

🔗Find out more here:

First genetic characterisation and phylogenetic analysis of Trichomonadida from Gallus gallus domesticus (Aves: Phasianidae) and its nematode parasite Heterakis gallinarum (Ascaridida: Heterakidae) in Tunisia Sarra Farjallah, Paolo Merella, Abdulaziz Nasser Alagaili, Nabil Amor