recycling qiagen columns

We've been thinking a lot about the environmental consequences of our project's results without spending a lot of time thinking about the environmental consequences of our project's process. In order to address some of the waste that our experiments generate and to save money on expensive plasmid purification kits, we have begun recycling qiagen spin columns. A 2007 paper in Biotechniques describes the process of regenerating the DNA column filters up to ten times. The process is easy to do and we recommend it to all iGEM teams!

Step 1: Collect used columns and soak in 1M HCl for at least 4 hours

Step 2: Wash columns five times with distilled water. Use a vacuum manifold to save time on centrifuge spins!

Step 3: Equilibrate column by washing one time with Buffer QBT

Step 4: Spin one last time to get rid of all remaining liquid and then that's it!